Someone brought the picture below to my attention.  It was taken during one of the protests against the Arizona immigration bill.  See below:

The sign (or signs if you will) carry two messages.  On the first sign, the protester lists a series of goods and services he wants for free – a “package” that currently no one receives.  Even those under the poverty line have to find their own jobs and pay some money to live within a house or apartment. 

The second sign, on the other hand, can be taken as a threat.  “Unless our demands are met…” is the oft-used phrase in many television and movie dramas by criminals when negotiating with the police, especially when the criminals are holding hostages.  In this case, the “threat” is that the mysterious “we” will keep shooting at the police until their demands are met.

How do you view this picture?  Do you think the sign is a threat?  If so, what should be done to the person carrying the sign?

Has anyone found the full text of the NAACP resolution that was suppose to have been passed unanimously?  I’ve been searching online with no luck so far.

Thanks!

I was honored this week to write a guest post for our friends over at the BoBo Files. I chose to write about the fiasco in California on Cinco de Mayo. The following is that article.

Five youths attending the Live Oak High School in California were threatened with suspension for showing up to school wearing t-shirts and/or bandanas depicting the American flag. That’s correct. They were threatened with suspension for displaying the symbol of their nation.

According to the school officials, wearing the shirts and bandanas depicting the American flag on Cinco de Mayo was disrespectful and incendiary to the children of Mexican heritage who attend the school. One of the Hispanic students said, “I think they should apologize cause it is a Mexican Heritage Day … We don’t deserve to be get disrespected like that. We wouldn’t do that on Fourth of July.” A Mexican Heritage Day?

Every year, the Cinco de Mayo display goes up at a near-by grocery store highlighting the Corona beer, Doritos, and other “Mexican” party supplies. And every year, I wonder what people in the United States are actually “celebrating.” Cinco de Mayo honors the day that the Mexican Army defeated the French forces at the Battle of Puebla. This surprising victory is similar to the victory by George Washington and our Revolutionary forces over the British Army at Princeton. While neither battle won the war, they were key moments in their battles against (what was then) the Superpowers of their days.

Another thing that these two events share in common is the lack of any official celebration of those wars in their home countries. In the United States, we remember battles such those from Lexington, Concord, and Antietam (from the Civil War) more than Princeton, but those remembrances pale to that of the Fourth of July – our Independence Day. The same is true in Mexico. Cinco de Mayo is not nationally observed unlike El Grito de Independencia, or Mexican Independence Day.

So, if Cinco de Mayo is such a minor day of remembrance in Mexico (it is primarily celebrated in the Mexican State of Puebla), why should the Hispanic student feel so much disrespect? The student referred to it as a “Mexican Heritage Day.” It is, since it was a remarkable victory by the underdog, but does that mean that citizens of the host country (the US) have to set aside their own national pride to mark an event from a foreign country?

Honoring special days in the United States that immigrants bring from their nation of origin isn’t new. Since we are a nation of immigrants, it is only natural that our cultures will blend. For example, the nation stops and celebrates St. Patrick’s Day every March 17th. St. Patrick was a Catholic Bishop who was instrumental in introducing Christianity to Ireland during the 400s. With the mass immigration of Irish Catholics to the colonies, and later the States, the tradition of honoring this Saint was brought with them and adopted by the local population to create the festive holiday we enjoy today. Even the Protestants (who fought against the Catholics for years) in the United States participate in the event.

Non-Mexicans in the United States celebrate Cinco de Mayo in the same way. Most Americans do not know the history of the event, but find it entertaining because of the history of the culture the holiday comes from. This is why the stores sell so many cases of Corona’s and bags of Doritos.

Maybe this should be a lesson taught to the Hispanic-population at Live Oak, as well as the school officials. When you move to the United States, you add your culture to our melting pot, and not the other way around. The respect that the Hispanic student was looking for was misplaced on his part. He should respect the culture (not to mention national pride) of his host nation, and as such appreciate that the five youths in this case were not chanting down nor threatening them over the Mexican holiday. For the school officials, they should host a school-wide presentation teaching all the students on what Cinco de Mayo symbolizes and place it in context with the openness and tolerance the United States offers to immigrants.

I’m glad to hear that the School District has issued a statement expressing their disappointment over the actions of the school officials. Maybe this will ensure that future non-Mexican students will not be threatened with suspension for wearing patriotic attire in the future. One could always hope.

Martin Luther King, Jr. once said:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

It is a noble dream, and one I want to see within my lifetime. There is no reason why we can’t live in an open and free society without being shackled by our skin color. “Red and yellow, black and white, they’re all precious in His sight,” is how the old children’s’ song goes, highlighting how our skin color shouldn’t matter in our relationships and interactions with those of different racial background. This is the goal of King, but I don’t think we’ll achieve it with policies such as Affirmative Action and race-based Hate Crime legislation in the books.

King wanted people to be judged based upon their merit and quality of work, and not by any special “bonus” because they are a minority. Affirmative action did a lot to quickly integrate the whites and blacks together in the workplace and in schools, but now qualified individuals get passed up because of self-imposed quotas, fearing the risk of negative reputations if their workforce doesn’t match the demographics of the nearby communities. Take the National Football League (NFL) as an example. They have the “Rooney Rule” on their books, where they must interview at least one minority for head coaching and football operations positions. It doesn’t matter if they’ve already decided on the hire ahead of time, making this minority a “token” interview rather than a serious candidate. Is that what King wanted? Of course not.

As far as hate crimes go, what is the point of having a two-tiered punishment scale just because the person happens to be a different race? Is it less of a crime if the two persons involved are of the same race? What is the difference between a white man killing a black man (or vice versa) and a white man killing another white man? The end result is someone dying. The punishment should be the same, since the law is suppose to be blind (hence the statue of Lady Justice holding a scale while wearing a blindfold).

These examples above just continue to the division between the races rather than bringing them together. Of course we will never reach a point where the two races are completely blind to the color of their skins (you will still have racist groups similar to the Ku Klux Klan and the Black Panthers running around), but we will get to the point where organizations such as the NAACP cease to be relevant. Some of this will come about as the races continue to blend together through marriage and procreation, but the majority of the change will come from maturity.

I have a dream, Dr. King. I have a dream of a color-blind society before my life ends. My hope is that those who profess to act on your behalf share that dream (no matter their racial background).