Last Wednesday was Cinco de Mayo, a holiday celebrated in remembrance of the Mexican Militia’s victory over the French army at the city of Puebla, back in 1862. The day is also celebrated in the United States by white Americans, as another excuse to down pitchers of beer and tequila shots, all the while thinking it’s Mexico’s Independence Day.

If you are a student at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill, and wore a shirt displaying the American flag last Wednesday, you were asked by the assistant principal to either remove your shirt and return to class, or to leave the campus.

Believe it or not, ABC30 ran a story last Thursday about five students who chose to leave the campus, instead of changing their shirts and returning to class, as they felt it was a violation of their First Amendment rights.

According to the story, the assistant principal thought that wearing the shirts on Cinco de Mayo posed a safety threat to the students who wore them.

In the story, one of the students, Austin Carvalho, said of the principal, “He said we could do it (wear the shirts) any other day but yesterday because we were supposed to respect their Mexican culture.”

The story went on to say that dozens of other students were wearing green, red and white clothes, resembling the colors of the Mexican flag. Some students painted the Mexican flag on their faces and arms. These students were not sent home.

Carvahlo later said, “If they made them, like, all the Hispanic-Americans take off their red, white and green also, then maybe I wouldn’t have had a problem with it.”

Though the students were angered by the assistant principal’s action, some parents were equally disturbed.

In the story, one parent said, “If they can wear a Mexican flag in America, we should be able to wear an American flag wherever we want to go, right?”

According to mexonline.com, Cinco de Mayo is only celebrated in the capitol city and throughout the state of Puebla in Mexico. Few celebrations take place in other parts of that country, but the site did say that the holiday is celebrated in U.S. cities with high Mexican populations. Even though it’s a popular day for good times in the U.S., it’s not an official holiday.

American citizens, of all ages and backgrounds should be able to wear clothing depicting the American flag wherever and whenever they want, even on Cinco de Mayo. It’s called patriotism. Anyone in this country should also be able to wear clothing displaying flags of other nations. That’s called American. Without the blend of people from different nations, there wouldn’t be a United States of America. That’s what makes this country special.

Interestingly enough, the school district is backing the views of the angered parents and students, and rightfully so. America’s young people should be praised for wearing patriotic American clothing, not shunned or punished for it. After all, this is America.