The American Flag is not racist

One of the newest Left rantings is in reaction to a number of High School students who wore shirts depicting the American flag on Cinco de Mayo, claiming it was race baiting. The idea is patently absurd which I'll explain later. Race baiting is Nancy Pelosi with a gavel the size of Thor and the Congressional Black caucus walking through a sea of Tea Party members, hoping for a racist reaction. And when nothing racist occurred, it didn’t matter, congressman Emanuel Cleaver, despite the incident being on video tape, claimed he was the victim of the N-word. That is race baiting. I mention the new Arizona law, but solely as another example of race baiting. The issues are certainly not as stated by the Left and Latino activist; it is not racial profiling. The Arizona simply parrots the federal law that is not being enforced. The issue is stopping any real attempt at enforcing the laws against illegal immigration on the southern border. If the federal government suddenly starts to enforce the law, the racist rhetoric will be the same.

Wearing the American flag, no matter the circumstances, is simply a sign of patriotism. But that hasn’t stop the Left from claiming that Cinco de Mayo is a day of Mexican pride, and the appearance of the American flag is a slap in the face of Mexican racial pride, referred to as La Raza (the Race). This is where the argument gets convoluted. When a Hispanic refers to La Raza, they are intimating racial pride. Mexican Nationals have no visceral connection to their form of government and they cannot understand a people who do. Mexican Nationals view their flag as a representation of their race, not necessarily their government. So, when Mexican Nationals, or those with a similar view of the Mexican flag, see someone displaying the American flag, or a shirt depicting the flag, they interpret it as a sign of white racial pride, not patriotism.

However there is also a segment of the Mexican culture that knows very well the meaning of the American flag and those are the Marxist. These self-described revolutionaries believe they are walking in the shoes of Castro, Che and Chavez of Venezuela. The Marxists using the rallying call of "reconquista", or the re-conquest of the land acquired Mexican American wars of 1846 and 1848. These Marxist usually have limited connections to Mexico itself, but are second and third generation Mexicans living in the United States. Like all Marxists their main enemy is Capitalism and they expound continually on the white man’s oppression of the Mexican worker. They proclaim the US/Mexican border as racist against the Mexicans, while combining Marxist rhetoric and racial pride. There is also an attempt to portray all Hispanics as having the same mindset, which conveniently ignores the rampant racism that exist within Mexico and between the Hispanic countries in Central America.

Again, unlike Mexican Nationals, US citizens define themselves by their form of government. The American flag, far from being a representation of a race or even a people born within a nation's borders, represents to the American people, freedom and liberty; that within the precepts of our Constitution and Declarations are the inherent rights of man that is our national pride. Further, it would seem the Mexicans in general have given up on their own country. Within their consciousness, there is a rationalization that the prosperity in the land of the reconquista, is not a result of the prosperity from US industry and Capitalism, but the control over the land. Yet, their own country, richer in natural resources that the US, but controlled by corrupt government, is abandoned. The reasoning harkens back to similar times in history; create a common enemy of the people to distract from the real problems within the state.

Then there are the expected attacks from the Left. One blog writer even went so far as to quote the United States Code Title 4 on The Respect for Flag. This of course was the banning of wearing/burning the American flag, which was determined to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 1989/ 1990. The blogger appears to be typical of the Left, who's values blow the direction of the wind of political expediency. They burn the American flag as a symbol of American Imperialism, but pretend come to its defense when it suits their political purposes. The American flag is the American flag. It does represent a race, it represents the American way of life that is made up of many races. Americans do not see a race violating its southern border, they see (primarily) Mexican Nationals fleeing a corrupt country, for a better life; and generally they have been welcomed. Still, the federal government has been lax with border security and the criminal activity at the border is out of control. The welcoming spirit of the American citizen still abides legal immigration, but has now ended with illegal immigration. The unintended consequences of turning a blind eye to illegal immigration, are the entitlements now expected from the US. The denial of these entitlements is resulting in the accusations of racism and the national conversation is reaching the point impatients. The result has been the mantra, “not racist, not violent, just no longer silent.” Americans know what their flag represents; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Come here legally and it’s all yours. Come here illegally and we’ll be looking for you; nothing that doesn’t happen every day, in every other nation on the planet.