Thread: Waving this flag is like flapping a cape in front of a bull

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COMMENTARY

Navarrette: Waving this flag is like flapping a cape in front of a bull
Ruben Navarrette, THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE
Sunday, August 06, 2006



My fellow Americans, we might as well face it: We are all flag-wavers now. And yet, in our singular purpose, there is the hint of a double standard.

The news last week that Cuban President Fidel Castro had, at least temporarily, transferred power to his brother, Raul, sent Cuban exiles into the streets of Miami where they danced, banged on pots and pans — and, oh yes, waved the Cuban flag.

The week before, Jewish-Americans gathered in several U.S. cities, including Los Angeles and New York, to show support for Israel in its battle against Hezbollah. Many of them waved the Israeli flag.

In other cities, including Boston and Dearborn, Mich., (home to a significant number of Arab Americans), Lebanese Americans and their supporters took to the streets to protest Israel's bombing of Lebanon. Many waved the Lebanese flag.

And it goes beyond politics.

During the World Cup, soccer fans in cities across the United States gathered in restaurants and sports bars to cheer on their teams. And what better way to do that than to wave the flag of the country that the team represented — from Italy to Iran to France to Germany? And, as I recall, no one raised a fuss, or accused Italian Americans of being more loyal to Italy than to the United States.

Of course, you can always find flags at ethnic holidays and cultural celebrations in communities named Germantown, South Boston or Little Italy. Walk into a Mexican restaurant on Cinco de Mayo, and you're likely to catch a glimpse of a Mexican flag.

You remember the Mexican flag? It's that piece of red-white-and-green fabric that is the exception to the rule. Whereas other flags are seen as adding to one's nationality — as in protesters who are Jewish and American — this one supposedly subtracts, as in Mexican Americans who are Mexican instead of American.

Whereas other flags inspire pride and nationalism, the Mexican flag seems to threaten, frighten and inflame. It enrages Americans, generates backlash, and leads to the careless use of words such as "traitors" and "separatists."

That's what happened a few months ago when immigrant rights protests erupted in cities across the United States and many protesters waved Mexican flags. At the time, I myself criticized the crowds for what seemed to be the illogical act of waving the flag of one country while demanding rights from another. It was morally inconsistent, not to mention foolish politics.

But now, in light of recent events, it also seems like the quintessentially American thing to do. Of course, those pro-immigrant demonstrators waved a foreign flag. That's what we do in this country. For all the romantic yarn-spinning about a melting pot, many Americans can't wait to wrap themselves in a piece of cloth that harkens back to the motherland.

That's not my thing. The Mexican flag may have meant something to my immigrant grandfather, but it does nothing for me. And I would never go around waving it. The American flag does mean something to me, but I don't make a habit of waving it either. For me, patriotism, like religion, is a private matter and something that you shouldn't have to put on display. Besides, actions speak louder than flags, and what makes you a good citizen isn't what you wave, but how you behave.

Apparently none of this was on the minds of those who criticized the immigrant protests. Americans who saw the demonstrations on television insisted that the protesters — in whose ranks you found both Mexican immigrants and Mexican Americans — were defiantly refusing to assimilate, thumbing their nose at the United States and asserting allegiance to a foreign country. Interestingly enough, and here's the double standard, I haven't heard any similar complaints in recent days about Jewish-Americans who waved the Israeli flag, or Cuban-Americans who waved the Cuban flag.

In fact, a few weeks ago, after The San Diego Union-Tribune ran a photo of pro-Israel demonstrators awash in Israeli flags, I asked the letters editor how many angry letters he had received. He got exactly one letter of complaint, he said, compared with the hundreds that flowed in around the time of the immigrant marches.

That's odd. There must be something wrong with the mail — or, heaven forbid, with us.

Yesterday, I was in Wal-Mart and they have a display with Mexican Flags next to American Flags.

Ooops, I dropped a Mexican Flag on the floor and forgot to pick it up. The Mexican Hat Dance came to mind but I didn't do it. I didn't have time or else I would have taken it to plumbing.

I know I'm so American, I'm not sure which White European flag to wave. Maybe I should settle for the Choctaw nation banner. It would be ridiculous of me to take a piece of each flag and make my own. Almost as bad as waving them all. That being said, the American Flag is the only flag for me because I prefer to be American above all else and I don't pretend to be anything less. I'm loyal to Old Glory and I'm proud to be an American.

Dixie

Waving this flag is like flapping a cape in front of a bull

Anybody remember the old Bugs Bunny cartoon where he is the matador? My favorite part is when he has the anvil hidden behind the cape. I sure hope our anvil is hidden behind the cape this time!

I haven't heard any similar complaints in recent days about Jewish-Americans who waved the Israeli flag, or Cuban-Americans who waved the Cuban flag.

The difference is this, the above exhibitions, were NOT DEMANDING rights in THIS country that criminal illegal aliens are NOT entitled to.

Interestingly enough, and here's the double standard, I haven't heard any similar complaints in recent days about Jewish-Americans who waved the Israeli flag, or Cuban-Americans who waved the Cuban flag.

In fact, a few weeks ago, after The San Diego Union-Tribune ran a photo of pro-Israel demonstrators awash in Israeli flags, I asked the letters editor how many angry letters he had received. He got exactly one letter of complaint, he said, compared with the hundreds that flowed in around the time of the immigrant marches.

Illogical and irrelevant statement. As Pat said, there were not thousands, upon thousands of illegals marching in our street DEMANDING the rights of citizens of this country.

This poor man is mixing apples and oranges!!!! Or maybe it's apple pie and tortillas???

Well, he is wrong. Waving a foreign flag shows allegiance to another countryand if they are so proud of their country they need to go back to it. The double standard lies with living in this country and having allegiance to another country. None of them, regardless, of what country they are from would like it if we were in their country flying an American flag, why would we be any different.

Well put Sawdust. There should only be one allegiance, and that is to America. If they love their home country so much, how about just going back to live there then?

Thomas Jefferson said it best.

In the first place we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag, which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any foreign flag of a nation to which we are hostile...We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt 1907

Sippy,

That's one of my favorite quotes!!!

Yes, thank you sippy.

It's an excellent reminder.

I agree too sippy!

Navarrette has a small point except I've never seen any other flags flown like this in America . Nor hundreds of thousands of marchers demanding things while under a foreign flag in America. You can bet your bippy if the Cuban flag had been displayed like this Mexican flag there would have been a huge outrage. However I do conceded his point to a degree and definitely what sippy said.