Cinco de Mayo may have left more than a tequila hangover and a fridge full of leftover nachos for one teacher in Idaho. A simple act of confiscating a flag from a student might put him on the receiving end of a lawsuit from the ACLU.
The student in question said he was changing into gym clothes at his high school on Cinco de Mayo and holding the Mexican flag when his teacher told him, "Give me the flag." The student claims he asked what the problem was, and his teacher said, "'The problem is that we are in the United States and not in Mexico.' He grabbed it from me. He threw the flag in the garbage can." The trouble worsened after school when the student went to retrieve his flag — he says the teacher taunted him and refused to give it back.
The teacher remembers the event differently, to see how, and how the ACLU is getting involved, read more.
The teacher says the student was waving the flag around and that he "had to confiscate it so it wouldn't escalate any problems in class. We're worried about that stuff all the time. We always have kids saying stuff to each other, and we have a lot of fights between kids." He says he stored it in the trashcan because there was no other place to keep it.
The ACLU has contacted the student who's now considering a lawsuit against the teacher. The school superintendent said this of the incident, "We believe in nondiscriminatory practices and cultural sensitivity. We train for that and talk about that. If there is a teacher making derogatory comments we don't approve of that. We also don't approve of a student disrupting the classroom." About a third of the student body is Hispanic.
Was the teacher right? Is it easy to judge decisions well after the fact? Should the ACLU get involved, or could this be a case of being too sue happy?
Rocket Dog
Sessun
DC
The teacher isn't making a very strong case for himself - first allegedly saying that he was confiscating the flag because "We are in the U.S. not in Mexico" and then saying that the problem was fighting. And a trashcan as the only storage place? That's really unbelievable.
1I wonder if the ACLU would get involved if it was the American flag
Somehow, I think not.
2This is what I think of the ACLU
I just love when they try to stop me on the street. Boy
do they get an earful from me.
The truth probably lies somewhere in the middle between the two stories, but a lawsuit is a bit far fetched. Sometimes in life people do things you don't like. Get over it. You can't sue everyone.
3
the ACLU defend America!
4Morning ladies
5Go team red
6ditto to what Cine said! the truth is probably somewhere in the middle.
and if i tried to sue anyone who ever really deserved it, I'd be a miserable human being. I doubt I'd be rich, either!
7"wouldn't it be great if we had someone who was sworn to protect free speech??"
8morning Cine!
9I agree w/ Cine. The ACLU makes me wanna
It's really a case of he said/she said. I would be upset if my teacher threw away my Philippines
flag but I wouldn't sue him. But, know my mom she would probably give him hell though! 
10My mother would ask what I did to deserve getting the flag thrown out. Then tell me, "sometimes life is not fair" and that would be the end of it.
11"wouldn't it be great if we had someone who was sworn to protect free speech??"
Makes me smile!
12I think the ACLU is out there sometimes, but I think we have extremes on the other side as well, so organizations like the ACLU can be a little ridiculous sometimes but they are necessary to balance out the total ridiculousness of the world.
On this matter - the teacher is BS, this has more to do with distain for Mexico and the immigrant situation than anything else, if it were a Swedish flag I don't think he would have thrown it out, he probably would have asked the kid about meatballs.
And I hate the "we are in America" line people like to put their own strict category on being American when American qualities are not that limited.
Like it or not we are a country of immigrants, everyone has a cultural past, the only true natives to America are the Native Americans and even they have their unique cultural background. So everyone should be able to celebrate their cultural roots, especially on holidays like Cinco De Mayo and St. Patrick's Day, just like we celebrate our American culture with 4th of July and Memorial Day.
13citizen sugar is starting to feel like the island on Lost... are the "others" here?? should we watch what we say?
14hahaaha, i know you have to watch it, an article could get linked at anytime and then we'll have influx of people!
15yesteryear, i'm pretty sure nothing is going to stop you from saying what you want to say.
16freedom of speech baby!
17I agree with cine as well. this is another he said/she said situations. I don't agree with the teacher "storing" the flag in the trashcan, but I don't think this is a case that needs to have money spent to have the teacher sued either.
18i said that with a smile on my face, but I'm sure that's not how it reads. I was trying to be funny.
19The ones that get linked the most are Environmental threads. We are safe in this one.
20i wonder how many newbies we're going to have from that thread yesterday.... hmmm...
21kris, you are right. i am my own woman. my thoughts on this topic: i think there is more to the story that we aren't hearing. if the US wants to make money on tortilla chip and beer sales connected to Cinco de Mayo then we need to also be prepared to honor the history of our southern neighbors in Mexico. if the kid was disrupting class he the teacher was right to stop him (i've been a teacher, i know how annoying this kind of behavior can be), but throwing the flag in the trash/making comments about this being the USA, not mexico... that's just stupid.
i think the ACLU picks some weird cases to get behind at times, but if you look back at their history they've done a lot of good. they actually stick up for our constitutional right to free speech and preventing the government from telling us what we can and can't say. kind of like the NRA, but for speech instead of guns. seems like something libertarians and republicans could get behind. but cases like this show that there are some people who only want the constitution to be upheld when they agree with the outcome.
22the ACLU is like labor unions - a good idea gone horribly wrong
I can't remember the last time they took a legitimate case.
And any organization that defends NAMBLA is not an organization I want on US soil ever. No matter what else they do.
23also, on the topic of the "others"... i am now afraid to "buzz up" stories. that was horrific.
24YY you are right, there might be more to this story. It reminds me of the story about the girl in TX who made the Illegal Immigration Protest sign, was attacked by some Hispanic kids, and everyone was behind her that she was unfairly attacked. Then it came out in the news a day later that she was egging the other students on, and made scratches on her own body. she had to apologize and I think she was charged with filing a false report!
25cabaker: you know what, i actually agree with you on the NAMBLA thing... but that's why i'm not a lawyer. the law is a weird thing. it is not based on emotion. and the way it is designed in this country, it is supposed to apply to everyone.
26i'm technologically slow- what happens when you "buzz up" a story?
27what is NAMBLA Cab?
28i'm pretty sure the truth lies somewhere in the middle as well.
i doubt the the kid is a perfect angel and he probably said something smart-alecky but that's no reason to "store" his country's flag in the trashcan! doesn't the teacher have a desk where he can store confiscated items??? just give it back at the end of the day and that's that!
And Cine, i used to do canvassing for the Dems on the street back in the '04 elections. Where did they put me to ask for donations to "beat Bush?" In the middle of Republican Lobbyist Central Command (aka K St, DC)!!!! I've never been yelled at so much in my life! I lasted about 2 days before i quit...
29North American Man Boy Love Association
Its an organization for men who want to have sex with male children and the ACLU has defended its "civil rights"
But YY, if the law is supposed to apply to everyone, and the raping of children is illegal, then why do these people deserve to be defended?
30NEVER NEVER buzz up stories!!! Thats how they get on Yahoo!
And I'm bad, if I see them there, I buzz them down... I like my little group of smarties!!
31so Cine, be nice to ACLU folks...they're just college kids trying to make a living...
32YY _ I mean from the ACLU not in a courtroom
33buzzing up gets it on yahoo. i do it all the time. i don't really think its a bad thing in the long run. my theory about that other thread is that there were a couple people who created a bunch of accounts to spout off about hating al gore. if you read the comments in the middle few pages its obvious that it's one insane person who makes the same typos repeatedly... and i thought I was pathetic sitting here all day talking to you guys. at least i only have one account on CS!!!
34NAMBLA- is there REALLY such a thing? are you serious?
35Cab, of course the ACLU can be extreme but Yesteryear is right - they've done a TON of good for this country.
no organization is perfect but you can't deny that they've never done anything worthwhile. Defending NAMBLA is just plain wrong and i don't think you'll find anyone here who will agree with that but if all you do is look at an organization's negatives, then you won't ever see the positives.
36there really is such a thing, look it up!
37Kris, haven't you ever seen the South Park episode where they make fun of NAMBLA? Its an old episode but they showed it the other day.
38Nica I know they've done good things, it just seems that all the GOOD things are over 20 years ago and everything they've done recently is insane! If they are supposed to be for civil liberties that apply to ALL then why don't they ever take the cases where someone who is right wing or pro-American gets poo'd on?
Like I said, I think they were developed with a noble cause, they'd done a lot of good, but now they just seem to cause more harm than good.
39I always store things in the trash can.
40cabaker: hahaha. you can't "buzz down", can you? i think its better to buzz up... one wonky comment thread doesn't mean they are all like that. in the long run it brings more people to the site. most of those people were on your side of the debate anyway - the "global warming isn't our fault" side. unfortunately for them, they weren't as eloquent as you, but they were on your side.
yahoo will probably collapse soon anyway - their stock is plummeting.
41"Its an organization for men who want to have sex with male children and the ACLU has defended its "civil rights""
Are you &*^%$# kidding me!!!!
That goes beyond the extremes necessary for organizations like the ACLU!
Jeez!
42Nica, I haven't seen it. Or if I did, I must have thought they were joking! Yikes!
43That's sickening.
I never knew such a group existed! Thanks for letting me know Cab!
44Good morning all.
45Good morning all.
46cabaker: i don't think they were defending their right to "rape children". they were defending their right to talk/write about "loving" children. trust me, i'm getting nauseous just thinking about NAMBLA... but there are plenty of causes that the ACLU has defended that we are glad to have today. i believe one of their first cases was defending the Jehovah's Witnesses rights to preach their beliefs.
47YY, no way! I'm selfish! I don't want people who are dumb, no matter what side they are on!
Buzzing down is a good thing!! You just go to Yahoo and you click on Buzz and then look at the stories and vote them down!
And its not one wonky thread, this has happened a bunch of times and I get so annoyed... Sometimes we come away with like 4 or 5 good new people though, so I'll take them. I just wish I knew which stories were going to make it so I would stay out!
48nica, the only reason they get an earful from me, is whenever I say I am not interested in donating, they try yelling and taunting me. And if I felt the ACLU was there to protect the Constitution I would be all over them, donating money and time, but I don't feel they are. I feel the make a mockery out of the document, and will not stand behind them.
I am very polite unless provoked. Then I can get feisty.
49We did get Hypno out of the last batch of Yahoos if I remember correctly.
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