Jose can you see? By the dawn's early light... (okay, yes, THAT was insensitive)

Everyone who has ever taken an American Government class knows that the first amendment guarantees all citizens a right to free speech, which we have interpreted to be a freedom of expression. Every American has the right to burn the flag of our country, should they so desire. And buddy, I might not light your match for you, and if I see you burning the Stars and Stripes I very well might shake my head in disgust, but I wouldn't ever try to stop you.

(Why? Well, for starters, I have no right to. And secondly, my hair is entirely too flammable to tangle with you over politics next to a raging inferno that used to fly on a flagpole. I use some serious products.)

Okay, so you can burn the American Flag. Cool. But wearing the American Flag? Nuh-uh, says Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, CA (the Bay Area, for those of you who aren't cool enough to be from the Golden State).

I guess I should amend that. "Nuh-uh (on days important to other cultures)," says Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, CA.

For those of you who live under rocks or don't have calendars, yesterday was, of course, Cinco (aka Drinko) de Mayo, a day which commemorates Mexico's unlikely victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla. It is not, as is commonly mistaken, Mexico's Independence Day, which falls on September 16th (I got that one right at trivia night, thanks to Señorita Sanchez, my 10th grade Spanish teacher).

In fact, Cinco de Mayo isn't widely celebrated in Mexico (outside the state of Puebla). But here it has achieved the elusive status of a semi-observed national (drinking) holiday. Like St. Patrick's Day. Or Columbus Day.

(What, you don't get SMASHED in observation of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria? Next thing you'll be telling me is that you don't even observe Emma M. Nutt day on September 1. What kind of heathen are you?)'

The administration at Live Oak High School, however, does observe Cinco de Mayo as a cultural celebration. That's cool. Honestly. I'm from an area that has a large Hispanic (predominantly Mexican) population, and I liked having an assembly on Cinco de Mayo in elementary school. We always had piñatas and dancing. But this year on Cinco de Mayo, when a group of students wore bandannas and shirts that had the American flag on them, shiz got REAL.

These boys were told that their shirts and bandannas could be seen as offensive on such a revered holiday, and that they needed to remove their incendiary articles of clothing before returning to class, or they would be suspended.

Wait, what?

Okay, I understand that Cinco de Mayo is a "holiday" (I use that term loosely, as I personally don't look at it as a holiday but rather a day of observation or commemoration) that has nothing to do with America. But how does wearing a symbol of America and American patriotism (the flag, in this case), make you anti-Mexican? Because that's essentially what these boys were getting in trouble for. They were being, in the eyes of the school administration, culturally insensitive and disrespectful by wearing American symbolism on an (essentially) Mexican-centric day.

Just because you wear the image of an American flag on Cinco de Mayo shouldn't mean you face suspension. You can be pro-America without being anti-anything else. Had these students been wearing mutilated Mexican flags I would understand the school's decision to ask the boys to remove the offending clothing. But as it stands I can't see how the school was at all justified in telling these boys that they would be suspended if they didn't take their bandannas off and turn their shirts inside out.

The administrators said that they didn't want to incite violence by allowing these boys to wear their flag images. If their student body is really so explosive that they can't handle seeing someone wearing one of our national symbols then they really need to get some more quality time in with their "tolerance teachers" at assemblies and rallies.

This school is not a uniform school -- they don't require those cute little skirts/polos that were the bane of my existence in elementary school (even then I was very fashion conscious, and LIVED for the "free dress" days we had every month). All citizens, even those in high school, are afforded their constitutionally guaranteed rights. So, was this school denying them their freedom of speech? Possibly. Even probably.

Telling me I can't wear what I want at a school without a uniform requirement? Telling me I have to be pro-Mexico, not pro-American, on a certain day? Not allowing four high school students to get their full day in school and causing them to fear suspension because they like the good, old USA?

No way, Jose.

(Please don't suspend me.)