Mexican flag burned at Apache Junction HS
Pictures of the Mexican Flag Raised over the American flag in distress at
http://www.alipac.us/ftopicp-99569.html#99569
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/122555
Tucson Region
Mexican flag burned at Apache Junction HS
By Blake Herzog
East Valley Tribune
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.31.2006
Tensions over immigration reform heightened in the Phoenix area's East Valley Thursday when students raised a Mexican flag over Apache Junction High School — and then other students yanked it down and burned it.
"I know (they) shouldn't have burned the Mexican flag," said Jacob Stewart, a 16-year-old sophomore. "I heard it was raised above the American flag and that just irked me."
He said the turbulence was tied to debates going on in the state Legislature and Congress, where ideas ranging from offering illegal immigrants a chance at citizenship to making them felons are being floated.
Freshman Chelsea Garcia, 15, and junior Brittany Ramage, 16, said the unrest had more to do with long-running racial tensions at the school.
The week's events might have sparked some anger, Ramage said, "but kids aren't too deep about that stuff."
The Hispanic student who brought the Mexican flag said he was responding to a remark directed at him Wednesday. The flag-raising, flag-burning, and shoving match that followed happened before most students arrived at school.
Six students — three Hispanic and three white — will be disciplined, Principal Chad Wilson said.
Officials with the Apache Junction Unified School District would not specify what punishment the six face.
Wilson did say in a letter sent home to parents that there would be "increased supervision, including additional police officers, on the campus over the next couple of days."
School flagpoles have been lightning rods across the country this week, including an incident in which a Houston high-school principal was disciplined after he flew a Mexican flag underneath his campus' U.S. and state flags.
A new political awareness among students has also been grabbing attention, as thousands have walked out on classes to join rallies in Phoenix and elsewhere. More than 100 students from Mesa's Carson Junior High and Westwood High schools marched in protest on Mesa streets Tuesday.
Remember ... and be Prepared
It is great to see our students have a backbone and stand up to this I just wish we had politicians that also did. I fear though that we face another war with Mexico and am prepared for it, I pray that everyone else is also. For those from Mexico that might be reading this, WE WILL WIN AGAIN!
March 1836
From a letter written by Sam Houston:
Sir:
On my arrival here [Gonzales] this afternoon [March 11, 1836], the following intelligence was received through a Mexican, supposed to be friendly, though his account has been contradicted in some parts by another, who arrived with him. It is therefore only given to you a rumor, though I fear a melancholy portion of it will be found true.
Anselmo Borgara states that he left the Alamo on Sunday, the 6th inst.;…that the Alamo was attacked on Sunday morning at the dawn of day, by about two thousand three hundred men, and carried a short time before sunrise, with a loss of five hundred and twenty-one Mexicans killed, and as many wounded. Colonel Travis had only one hundred and fifty effective men out of his entire force of one hundred and eighty-seven. After the fort was carried, seven men surrendered, and called for Santa Anna and quarter. They were murdered by his order…
The bodies of the Americans were laid together and set on fire… I have little doubt but the Alamo has fallen…
I am sir, &c., SAM HOUSTON
April 21, 1836: With shouts of "Remember the Alamo!," Sam Houston led his army into the Battle of San Jacinto, defeating Santa Anna and avenging the dead of the Alamo in less than 30 minutes.
We did it once. We can do it again