From UPI.Com comes this article concerning a young man’s right to show an American Flag on his bicycle in Denair, California. Apparently it is upsetting to the school officials who told him to remove it! Here’s part of the article:
Student told to take U.S. flag off bike
DENAIR, Calif., Nov. 11 (UPI) — Officials in a California school district said a middle school student was told to take a U.S. flag off his bike to avoid “racial tension.”
Denair Unified School District Superintendent Edward Parraz said Cody Alicea, 13, was told not to fly the U.S. flag from his bike while at Denair Middle School after complaints from other students, KCRA-TV, Sacramento, Calif., reported.
“(The) First Amendment is important,” Parraz said. “We want the kids to respect it, understand it, and with that comes a responsibility.”
Parraz said racial tensions boiled over at the school this year around the Cinco de Mayo holiday.
“Our Hispanic, you know, kids will, you know, bring their Mexican flags and they’ll display it, and then of course the kids would do the American flag situation, and it does cause kind of a racial tension which we don’t really want,” Parraz said. “We want them to appreciate the cultures.”
Alicea’s parents said he flies the flag from his bike as a tribute to veterans in his family.
“He’s got that flag on his bike because he’s proud of where he comes from,” Alicea’s father, Robert Kisner, said.
Alicea folds up the flag and keeps it in his backpack while attend class, the TV station said.
Let me get this straight, a young boy wants to show his patriotism by displaying an American Flag on American soil, (California is still part of the United States isn’t it?) and he is censored for this? But it’s okay to fly another nation’s flag on our soil because of “Racial Tension”? Give me a break!!! Come on people, write or phone these so-called “officials” and remind them of their locale! Doesn’t the First Amendment protect young Cody’s right to display the American Flag also? The “official’s” contact information follows, and thanks to “American and Proud” for the list!
The number to the School District is 209-632-7514 or 209-632-2510, and here is contact info/email addresses for the Board:
Louisa Allen
lallen@dusd.k12.ca.usCarolyn Brown
cbrown@dusd.k12.ca.usKelley Day
kday@dusd.k12.ca.usTim Ellis
tellis@dusd.k12.ca.usRobert Hodges
rhodges@dusd.k12.ca.usRead more: http://chicksontheright.com/#ixzz156QTilKu
Here’s the original article located here.
SparkChaser4
It might not be much, but it took me sixty years to get here!
FYIForYourInformation 
Posted by michaeleriksson on November 14, 2010 at 4:57 AM
The most striking thing here is that the first amendment is used as motivation for a rule which arguably violates the first amendment by limiting freedom of speech/expression. (With some dependency on whether the regulations only apply to congress or not—the spirit is certainly violated.)
More generally, this hysteria of absolutely not offending anyone, under any circumstances, does far more damage than is prevented: Even good things require moderation and a sense of proportionality.
Posted by sparkchaser4 on November 26, 2010 at 10:23 PM
You’re right, Michael. You can always depend on “leaders” and politicians to go overboard in their response to a make-believe problem that they identified and coaxed into being in the first place.