forgetting your roots

[vidcc]

MILLERSVILLE, Md. -- A ninth-grader is protesting his school's decision to broadcast the Pledge of Allegiance in foreign languages as part of National Foreign Language Week.

Patrick Linton said he and other students at Old Mill High School sat down rather than stand Wednesday when the Pledge was read over the school's public address system in Russian. Linton's teacher told him if he had a problem he should leave the room.

He did, and did not plan to return this week.

"This is America, and we got soldiers at war," the 15-year-old said. "When you're saying the Pledge in a different language which nobody understands, that's not OK."

Charles Linton, Patrick's father, said the use of other languages is disrespectful to the country. "It's like wearing a cross upside down in a church," he said.

The pledge was to be read in Spanish, French, Latin, Russian and German. School officials said the activity will continue, with the English version of the Pledge being read first for the rest of the week.

"This is just a way to connect what's going on in the classroom and this daily activity where we say the Pledge of Allegiance," said Jonathan Brice, a spokesman for Anne Arundel County Public Schools.

This story caught my eye for a couple of reasons. I think this boy and his father are being foolish in the reasons they gave.

The USA was founded on immigration, people came from all parts of the world, voluntarily or by force. Our army comprises of soldiers of many races including many that speak the languages listed.
This boy and his father are being disrespectful to the origins of their countries forefathers.

source

[uNz[i]]

Hmmm... that Patrick's a real chip off the old block(head).

[sArA]

What a nob.....

He forgets his own country's history in favour of knee jerk bigotry......

[Biggles]

There are those who gain some form of identity through outrage. They need this sense of outrage to define their own beliefs and views.

The idea that a pledge of allegiance becomes Satanic if spoken in Spanish must go down a bundle in the Hispanic neigbourhood.

I thought the Aryan Brotherhood had set up their own schools in some bunker in Montana anyhoo.

[bigboab]

They got the publicity they wanted. Dont publicize it and it will disappear.



@Biggles. See me before tomorrow nights meeting.

[3RA1N1AC]

There are those who gain some form of identity through outrage. They need this sense of outrage to define their own beliefs and views.

i wonder how these fellas react when a colored uses their drinking fountain.

okay. that was cheap. just because the kid announces his disdain for foreign languages to his teacher and classmates, skips school for an entire week in protest, and has his dad blab to the newspapers with an equation of foreign languages to satan... that doesn't necessarily mean it's racism. perhaps their love of sacred cows just gives them an unintentionally foul case of xenophobia-flavored tourette's syndrome.

[vidcc]

repost...sort of.

Today is Saint Patrick's day...a day when we see so many Americans calling themselves "Irish".... this happens all the time. Go to New York and people will say "I'm Italian", even though the last member of their family to set foot in these lands was probably their great great grandfather.

These people are showing pride in their roots...and that is not un-American

[bigboab]

repost...sort of.

Today is Saint Patrick's day...a day when we see so many Americans calling themselves "Irish".... this happens all the time. Go to New York and people will say "I'm Italian", even though the last member of their family to set foot in these lands was probably their great great grandfather.

These people are showing pride in their roots...and that is not un-American

If it is not un-American, British etc why were these people interred during the second world war?

[vidcc]

If it is not un-American, British etc why were these people interred during the second world war?

I guess they had to be dead first


However i know what you are asking.

The best i can come up with is that this boys grandfather worked in government at the time
I can't give any kind of justification for them being interned. If an idividual is an immigrant, especially non citizen or immediate offspring then there may be a case to justify "investigations or observations" however the wholescale actions that took place certainly in hindsight were wrong. I have never excused the actions of any nation.

It is not un-American to show pride in your roots but it is un-American and indeed un-any nation to fight for the other side if you have chosen to become a citizen...... that would be treason surely.

There is a distance still to travel but hopefully one day we will see the light.

[bigboab]

Sorry Vid Late night spelling mistake.

Same thing happened here during the war. Respected citizens locked up because of their or their Fathers/Mothers nationality. I was put behind bars too at that time. Cot bars. Only for the first year of the war I may add.