The same thing has happened twice this year, and it proves that we have taken political correctness way too far in this country.  The first happened in May when kids in one California school were chastised for wearing shirts with the American flag on Cinco de Mayo, and the second happened this past week when a boy was told to remove the American flag from his bicycle.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/05/06/2010-05-06_california_kids_blasted_for_wearing_american_flag_shirts_on_cinco_de_mayo.html

http://www.fox40.com/news/headlines/ktxl-americanflagbike11122010,0,3045879.htmlstory

I'm sorry (actually, I'm not), but this is bullshit, especially when the reason turns out to be the same in both cases, and that reason is because people whose heritage stems from a different country are offended.

In the case in California, some Hispanic students complained because they thought the kids who wore the shirts with the American flags on them were "insensitive" to a day that was special in Mexico; however, there's a problem with that...the holiday isn't a national Mexican holiday, has very little to do with Mexican independence (that is celebrated on September 16, but Cinco de Mayo is a lot easier to drink to than diez y seis de septiembre), and it isn't widely celebrated in Mexico.  Cinco de Mayo represents the victory of the Mexican army over the French at the Battle of Puebla in 1862, and it is still celebrated in the state of Puebla, but that's as far as it goes.  Yet it has become big business in the United States, and now it seems at the expense of our own flag.

The second incident stemmed from complaints, again, about how it was offensive to be able to fly the American flag on the back of a bicycle when the Mexican flag couldn't be brought to school.  Are you fucking kidding me?  Last time I checked, I don't live in Mexico, I live in the United States.  I don't go to Mexico and expect to be allowed to fly the American flag everywhere (and I don't expect translators, either; I speak Spanish fluently), and I don't see why the Mexican flag should be allowed to take precedence over our own flag here;  it infuriates me that we have become such a nation of pussies that we cannot take a stand for what that flag represents.  And what angers me even more is that the people complaining the loudest most likely weren't born in Mexico...they were born here, in the United States, which entitles them to the best this country has to offer, including the right to enjoy their heritage.

I am not trying to be racist, and I have no problem with the celebration of Mexican/Hispanic culture; but the celebration of this culture, or any culture, should not supersede the homogeneity that United States was meant to be.  We are a melting pot, not a bunch of little side dishes all demanding equal footing at the buffet table, and our flag represents this homogeneity.  When we start teaching our children that this is no longer the case, and, in fact, start punishing them for standing behind our flag, then we begin to erode the unity that has made this country great for over 200 hundred years.  And that's not fair...not fair to the Founding Fathers, nor to the people who have lived for, fought for, and died for this country, and that includes some people who are very, very close to my own heart, and to whom I have more respect than I can ever convey.

The United States has always entertained a variety in its populations: Republican or Democrat; Liberal or Conservative; Christian or Atheist; but the one thing we have always had is patriotism, and this patriotism has allowed the Christian and the Atheist and the Democrat and the Republican and the Liberal and the Conservative to stand together in defense of our nation.  This is why I insist my children stand every day with their classmates and say the Pledge of Allegiance (complete with the "One Nation Under God" part), and why I make sure they learn our history.  I want them to be proud of who they are and where they come from, and I don't want them to ever feel the necessity to bow to another nation's flag...unless they move there.

To my veteran friends - Thank you, and I will always be proud of our flag because of you.