American Flag Raises A Red Flag For CA School Officials

At Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, CA, a controversy erupted on Cinco de Mayo when five male students showed up to school that day wearing clothing adorned with the American flag. Officials at the school (which has a large Mexican-American student population) deemed the garments "incendiary" and "disrespectful". The officials feared that displaying the flag would incite fights between Mexican-American students and their five peers. While the quintet were at brunch break (brunch break?!), the vice principal asked two of the boys to remove the American flag bandannas they were wearing on their heads and for the others to turn their American flag T-shirts inside out. When they refused, the boys were ordered to go to the principal's office (do not pass "Go", do not collect $200!) The students were told that if they returned to class with their American flag-adorned clothing, they would be suspended. To avoid suspension, the students went home for the day.

Below is the story as reported by an NBC affiliate in the Bay area:



The following day, Morgan Hill Unified School District Superintendent Wesley Smith said, "While campus safety is our primary concern and administrators made decisions yesterday in an attempt to ensure campus safety, students should not, and will not, be disciplined for wearing patriotic clothing." For more on the story, click here.

Although I think the five students wearing the American flag on Cinco de Mayo was their way of saying "How ya like me now?" to the Mexican-American students, so what! Forcing them to change or else get suspended was the wrong move to make. It looks to me like the school officials hid behind the "safety of the students" shield to cover their overly PC asses. It's not like the quintet wore clothing emblazoned with swastikas or that said "white power", it was the American flag!

Side note: When I checked out the Wikipedia page for Morgan Hill this afternoon, I found it interesting that the "Politics" section ended with the following: "Morgan Hill is known for its excessive love for America and the American flag." I'd love to know if this sentence was there prior to the Live Oak High School controversy.

The Phoenix Suns Show Their Disapproval of the AZ Immigration Law

In a move that is rare in an era when athletes put making money ahead of making waves, The Phoenix Suns will be making a political statement on Cinco de Mayo. For game 2 of their semifinal series against The San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night, the Phoenix Suns will be wearing jerseys emblazoned with "Los Suns" in protest of the new AZ Immigration Law. The Suns took it to a vote and unanimously decided to wear the jerseys. Phoenix Suns' point guard and 2-time MVP Steve Nash said the following about the decision:

"I think it's fantastic," Nash said after Tuesday's practice. "I think the law is very misguided. I think it's, unfortunately, to the detriment of our society and our civil liberties. I think it's very important for us to stand up for things we believe in. As a team and as an organization, we have a lot of love and support for all of our fans. The league is very multicultural. We have players from all over the world, and our Latino community here is very strong and important to us."

Although it may not seem like much, I think it's a big deal for The Phoenix Suns to take a public stand on such a controversial issue.

If you'd like to read more on the story, click here.

TCM Presents Native American Images On Film During May

As part of its popular "Race & Hollywood" series, Turner Classic Movies presents Native American Images On Film every Tuesday and Thursday nights in May starting at 8 PM EST. Hosted by TCM's own Robert Osborne and Professor Hanay Geiogamah, director of the American Indian Studies Center at UCLA, the 30 film retrospective traces the evolution of how Native Americans have been portrayed (both positively and negatively) on the big screen.

Below are the topics that will be covered each night (along with a sampling of the movies being featured):

The evolution of Native American depictions by director John Ford (May 4)-

• Stagecoach (1939) starring John Wayne, Claire Trevor and John Carradine

• Cheyenne Autumn (1964) with Richard Widmark, Carrol Baker, and Karl Malden

Non-Indians in Indian roles (May 6)-

• The Outsider (1961) starring Tony Curtis as the ill-fated WW II hero Ira Hayes

• Walk the Proud Land (1956) featuring Anne Bancroft as an Apache widow gifted to an Indian agent (Audie Murphy) by a grateful Apache chieftain

Indians as enemies (May 11)-

• Northwest Passage (1940) with Spencer Tracy, Robert Young, and Walter Brennan

• The Last of the Mohicans (1992) starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeline Stowe, and Wes Studi

White men living among Indians (May 13)-

• John Huston's 1960 western The Unforgiven starring Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn

• The 1990 Best Picture Oscar winner Dances With Wolves starring Kevin Costner, Mary McDonnell, and Graham Greene

Indians as “noble savages” (May 18)-

• One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) featuring Will Sampson as Chief Bromden

• 1970's A Man Called Horse starring Richard Harris in the title role and featuring Dame Judith Anderson as Buffalo Cow Head!

Native Americans facing racism (May 20)-

• Devil's Doorway (1950) starring Robert Taylor, Louis Calhern, and future All My Children star James Mitchell

• The 1992 mystery Thunderheart which stars Val Kilmer as a half-Sioux FBI agent

Native American actors and filmmakers (May 25)-

• The 1994 made-for-cable movie Lakota Woman: Siege at Wounded Knee starring Irene Bedard (who in addition to providing the voice of Pocahontas in the 1995 Disney animated film of the same name, was the physical model for the character as well)

• Smoke Signals, the 1998 road movie starring Adam Beach, Evan Adams, and Irene Bedard

Images from outside Hollywood (May 27)-

• The 1922 silent documentary Nanook of the North

• Broken Rainbow, the 1985 Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Feature which tells the story of the mistreatment of Native Americans at the hands of the U.S. government.

For a complete list of movies that TCM will feature in the Native American Images On Film festival, as well as other information on the retrospective, please click here.

Just to make you think.

M.I.A - Born Free (*Warning* Must Be 18yrs Or Older To View)[


Given whats going on in Arizona this video seems appropriate.

The AZ Immigration Law: Legalized Racial Profiling?

For those who know me, it will come as no surprise that my answer to the question in the title of this post is "yes". Something needs to be done about illegal immigration and Washington has failed to address the issue, but this is not the way to go. As you probably know, the law requires police to question anyone they "reasonably suspect" of being an undocumented immigrant and you don't have to be a MENSA candidate to know what "reasonably suspect" means. In a press conference held by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer after she signed the bill, a reporter asked her if she knew what an illegal alien looks like. The governor stammered and finally said she didn't know. Good answer.

For the segment of the conservative base that has spent over a year whining about losing their freedom and liberties, they have taken a callous attitude to the AZ Immigration law. They've argued that the bill is just because it instructs police officers to enforce the law. Imagine if North Dakota had a problem with Canadians entering the U.S. illegally and decided to sign a bill into law requiring police to question anyone they "reasonably suspected" of being an undocumented immigrant. How do you think that would fly with these same conservatives?

On the April 23rd edition of The Young Turks, host Cenk Uygur discusses the AZ Immigration Law and its ramifications:





In keeping with their reputation for putting a humorous spin on topical issues, the April 24th episode of SNL tackled the subject of Arizona's new immigration law in its "Weekend Update" segment: