Reacting to growing strife over immigration issues, one San Diego school district has “banning all symbols of patriotism, both U.S. and Mexican.” The rationale: “School officials in Oceanside now say that flags — whether they are U.S. or Mexican or any other country’s — have now become a divider on campuses, saying that some students are using them to taunt other students.”
The ACLU is getting involved and for good reason, noting that the Supreme Court has taken a dim view of blanket bans on expression. “The school has to be able to show a strong likelihood that there is going to material and substantial disruption of school, and if they don’t meet that standard, then they can’t censor student speech,” said Kevin Neenan of the ACLU.
Ace observes that, “Loose immigration allows in more and more people actively hostile to the US every day.” That’s almost certainly true, although it also lets in plenty of those huddled masses of lore, yearning to breathe free.
Still, that’s almost beside the point in this case. What we have here is almost certainly just a school board going overboard in reacting to some minor incidents rather than any great statements on immigration or patriotism. That they chose an incredibly cowardly, un-American course of action is noteworthy, to be sure, but a sign of gutlessness rather than politics.
