Is every holiday an American holiday?
The man with the American flag hanging out of the truck (suspiciously in what seems to be a latino Socal neighborhood) was doing so during the 5th of May . A date Mexico overcame the forces of Napoleon over 100 years ago.
AZ is a hotbed of volatile racial subjects these days, so I'd rather focus less on the physical confrontation between the people involved and more on the verbal altercation. Particularly the "go back to Mexico" that was repeated over and over while dismissing that the minority is an American citizen. Which first, I deem racist and secondly, passively addresses the huge amount of privilege that the SB 1070 endorses. That because you are not white, you are not a "true" American or at least a suspect American. That illegal immigrants are a monolith. There is only one kind.
To look less racist, conservatives say that they don't mind immigrants being here, they just don't want them to be here illegally. But there are hardly inquiries into the immigration status of these individuals. No. It is "shoot first, ask later". It's because after everything is sugar coated and glossed over, it doesn't really matter. It doesn't matter if you were born here or not, it doesn't matter if they are here illegally or legally, it just matters that they're here and they want them to "go back".
On St. Patty's day, in the midst of the immigration debate, I don't see people parading around with American flags and telling Irish immigrants to go back to Ireland. I guess that's the luck of the Irish...
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The first amendment is great until used as a low blow. This entry reminded me of the Skokie case (1977). The National Socialist Party, a Neo-Nazi group, decided to plan a march in Skokie Illinois. Come on! Skokie Illinois; a village inhabited by a large collection Holocaust survivors. Frank Collin, the socialist leader, originally planned on marching in Marquette Park on the Southside of Chicago. When the park asked for an insurance bond to protect them from any damage caused by riots or violence the group threatened to march in Skokie knowing the demographics. The case made it to the Supreme Court, where it was made clear that the first amendment protects all opinions, not just the popular ones. The freedom of violent, racist Jingoistic speech is embarrassing.
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