Thread: Bravo Omaha Students

http://www.journalstar.com/articles/200 ... 699852.txt

Cinco de Mayo event bruises feelings


OMAHA — The debates over illegal immigration and about dividing the Omaha school district largely along racial lines may have raised racial and ethnic tensions at an Omaha high school.

A school assembly sought by some Hispanic students at Omaha Bryan High to mark the Mexican holiday of Cinco de Mayo became an optional event after other students complained that it was not their holiday for their country.

Maria Torres and some other Hispanic students had wanted to share their heritage. The holiday marks the victory of Mexican forces over French forces in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.

Administrators were receptive to the students’ idea of an assembly and set aside time for the whole student body to attend. But it became an optional event after the other students objected.

Said Bryan Principal Dave Collins: “They felt that because it wasn’t part of their culture, they didn’t want to go.”

Tensions already were up, some students said, in part because of the new state law divides Omaha Public Schools into three districts. Bryan will be in the southeast Omaha district, characterized as largely Hispanic.

The school population of 1,700 is 52 percent white, 32 percent Hispanic and 13 percent black, officials say.

In addition, many Hispanics in Omaha, elsewhere in Nebraska and across the nation have been on the march in support of changing U.S. immigration laws.

Had the Cinco de Mayo event come at another time, without the local and national tensions on the other issues, there would have been no objections, said some of the students.

“It was a time when kids tried to step up and say, ’Enough is enough,“’ said Paul Cordes, editor of the school newspaper, the Orator.

Tensions may be higher at Bryan, where Hispanic numbers are rising toward the white majority, said Gary Kastrick, an Omaha South High teacher.

South High — 45 percent Hispanic, 34 percent white and about 20 percent black — might be less tense about the immigration issue, he said, because South High has more foreign-born students.

Collins said about 500 students — nearly 30 percent of the student body— attended the 40-minute program of mariachi singers, dancers and student speakers. He said students of all backgrounds attended.

Students who didn’t attend went to a study hall.

Torres, who was born in Mexico, said members of Bryan’s Latino club felt slighted when the event became optional. After all, she said, students have to attend pep rallies and other school-time functions that don’t directly affect them.

Like other public schools, Bryan has a yearly assembly to honor the slain black civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. Collins said King’s birthday is a recognized U.S. holiday, but Cinco de Mayo is not.

Torres said school tensions were still palpable.

“Sometimes I hear ignorant comments,” she said. “But I’m not going to lower myself to their level.”

Information from: Omaha World-Herald, http://www.omaha.com

"Torres, who was born in Mexico, said members of Bryan’s Latino club felt slighted when the event became optional. After all, she said, students have to attend pep rallies and other school-time functions that don’t directly affect them. "

A pep rally isn't a national holiday dipshit, its to show support for the school not the nation. if your not mexican you shouldn't have to attend. So if someone doesn't want to come to your party you get all pissy? And if your made to go to the 4th of July celebration, remember Torres, you live in AMERICA. If you can't understand that, you might want to move south of the border. That , would have been my answer to what he said. But i'm sure some teacher or facilty member flooded Torres with sympathy and maybe teared up a bit.

Like I said in the article “Sometimes I hear ignorant comments,But I’m not going to lower myself to their level.”
It's a disgrace that your school valedictorian and the person with the highest grade in your class starts stupid and dumb comments. So if we dont want to attend the assembly for Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday if we are not Black. And by the way MEXICO is in AMERICA!!! may be someone needs to change the name of the website because AMERICA includes:
Antigua
and Barbuda
Bahamas
Barbados
Belize
Canada
Costa Rica
Cuba
Dominica
Dominican Rep.
El Salvador
Grenada
Guatemala
Haiti
Honduras
Jamaica
Mexico
Nicaragua
Panama
St. Kitts & Nevis
St. Lucia
St. Vincent and
the Grenadines
Trindad
and Tobago
United States
no offence to anyone!! and maybe instead of "americans" being called "americans" we should call you like we call you in Mexico {MOD EDIT}WE DON'T ALLOW ANYONE THIS OPTION. NO exceptions

Originally Posted by Xianleather

"Torres, who was born in Mexico, said members of Bryan’s Latino club felt slighted when the event became optional. After all, she said, students have to attend pep rallies and other school-time functions that don’t directly affect them. "

A pep rally isn't a national holiday dipshit, its to show support for the school not the nation. if your not mexican you shouldn't have to attend. So if someone doesn't want to come to your party you get all pissy? And if your made to go to the 4th of July celebration, remember Torres, you live in AMERICA. If you can't understand that, you might want to move south of the border. That , would have been my answer to what he said. But i'm sure some teacher or facilty member flooded Torres with sympathy and maybe teared up a bit.

:P

Poor pitiful Torres. Got his feelings hurt. Proves the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. The adult illegals whine, Foxie whines, the meddling Mexican government whines and even the young illegals WHINE!

Heaven help us with all this whining. It's very annoying.

. And by the way MEXICO is in AMERICA!!!

It is? That's a new one on me. A country cannot be within a country.

Take a look at a map of the world. Mexico is down south - across the border - probably where you belong. That would be on the other side of the Rio Grande.

Comprende?

Now TORRES,

If it's your choice to remain uncouth as you are "down mexico way"....then that's where you belong. Mexico needs you to straighten out there mess. After all, isn't that why your family ran away?
Is it your desire to bring your failed Mexican culture to American? Then what will you have when you create that which you ran from? Where will you run to next?


Fact: Cinco de Mayo is NOT an American holiday.

Fact: Martin Luther King was and AMERICAN.

Fact: If you're ILLEGAL you've broken the law. If your parents are ILLEGAL, they've broken the law.

Fact: No American needs to be celebrating another nation's holiday. Do it in your own home.

It appears that, once again, we're subsidizing education for people who are unteachable.

How sad.

And by the way MEXICO is in AMERICA!!!

Sweetie, did you forget that your mexico SOLD the land to pay off their DEBT?

America didn't have to pay for it. Did you hear? WE WON THE WAR.
We paid for the land out of compassion. Silly us, lol. Mexico was corrupt then and it hasn't changed in all these years except for the worse.

Have you learned AMERICAN history? It's obvious that your Mexican education is quite lacking as well.

What confuses me is that Mestisos are willing to allow themselves to be manipulated by the corrupt mexican government without an understanding of the consequences.

Besides, May 5th is a very minor holiday in Mexico with many Mexican citizens not recognizing the affair.

It's mainly an affair within the USA promulgated a few years back by the beer brewing industry to increase their sales.

An in-depth article a few years back by a San Jose California newspaper, I believe, told the woeful tale. It was one of those multi-Web page news stories that told of the large number of Hispanics, legal and illegal, inhabiting skid row. The story was also about the large number of liquor stores catering to the alcohol addicted in general.

I forget which brewing firms were specifically mentioned but the article included pics of advertising: billboards, print, etc. and broadcast advertising.

Follow the money!!!!!

Mr Torres,
We are a sovereign Nation, not a sovereign Continent. Please do not try to claim what is not yours to take.

Webster's
Main Entry: sov·er·eign·ty
Variant(s): also sov·ran·ty /-tE/
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ties
Etymology: Middle English soverainte, from Middle French soveraineté, from Old French, from soverain
1 obsolete : supreme excellence or an example of it
2 a : supreme power especially over a body politic b : freedom from external control : AUTONOMY c : controlling influence
3 : one that is sovereign; especially : an autonomous state

Hey Torres,

Can we go to Mexico and make all the Mexican children celebrate and appreciate July 4th?

W