Wednesday, October 3, 2007

American Flag Above Other Flags?

I heard this story on the news, but I can't to find it on-line. But from what I can recall...

An army veteran, using an army knife, cut down a Mexican flag that was flying above an American flag in front of a store. He stormed off with the American flag and left the Mexican flag hanging. He claimed that no other flags shall be placed above the American flag. The store owner stated that he did not know such a rule and said that he was only trying to support his Mexican customers. It is illegal to fly any other flag above the American flag.

A similar incident happened on March 26, 2006 at Montebello High School in California as a protest against immigration reform. A student flew a Mexican flag above an upside down American flag; he was reportedly punished for this act.

[edit]
Clinton posted the link to the story in the comments.

And I found a youtube video.

13 comments:

Allen Kim said...

So.. the army veteran cut down the Mexican flag and ran off with the American flag leaving the Mexican flag hanging? How does that work?

Clinton Look said...

For the full story you can go to this site

http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57960



I didn't know that it was illegal to put up another country's flag over the U.S. flag..

Allen Kim said...

But yes.. going back to the blog post.. I personally don't think what the veteran did was wrong since there is actually a law on on putting up another country's flag over the American flag. I also don't think the store owner put the Mexican flag knowing that he was violating a law. He did state that the Mexican flag was on there to attract/support his Mexican customers. Although this law is quite arcane, a law still is a law which we must all abide by.

Clinton Look said...

I think that the veteran didn't have to cut down the flag, that might have been a little extreme. I'm also pretty sure the veteran didn't cut down the flag because he knew that the store owner was violating a law, I think he did it just because of his pride for his country. I agree with Allen when he says that a rule is a rule, so we must abide by it.

benji said...

I understand that he was upset, but did he really have to cut it down? Couldn't he call the police if he was that angry? Couldn't he ask the bar owner nicely? It looks like the community in Reno is pretty divided though, if the police haven't arrested the guy and it was a caller on the radio who informed everyone about it.

Allen Kim said...

Benji is right.. since the store owner did violate a federal law, the veteran should have just called the police instead of violating a private property. But then.. we don't know if the veteran knew if it was illegal to put up another country's flag over the American flag. We can't really judge him unless we know if he knew about the law.

Clinton Look said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
robbie armstrong said...

The veteran had the right to cut down the mexican flag. We are in AMERICA if the store owner just did it to appeal to his customers who are mexican, what about his customers who arent. Whether or not the veteran knew that it was illegal is by sides the point. The store owner broke the law and mostly likely the police would of made him take it down anyways. It just would of taken a lot longer to happen if the police got involved and would of had to go through the bureaucracy. Either way the veteran was just doing what he felt was the right thing since he faught to help protect the country.

Anonymous said...

How come an army vet cut down the United States flag instead of the Mexican flag? Should't he have cut the Mexican flag off instead of the United States one...?

Anonymous said...

What i meant was why he left the mexican flag hanging instead of the US one

Derek Lee said...

Although it was illegal to hang any other flag above the American flag, it most certainly wasn't necessary to cut the Mexican flag down and leave it on the ground.

"I'm Jim Broussard," he said, "and I took this flag down in honor of my country with … a knife from the United States Army. I'm a veteran, I'm not going to see this done to my country. If they want to fight us, then they need to be men, and they need to come and fight us. But I want somebody to fight me for this flag. They're not going to get it back."

This was the quote that Broussard said to the camera man. I'm not sure where he got the idea that because the bar owner put the Mexican flag above the American one, the bar owner or any other Mexican wanted to fight America. It is ridiculous to even draw that conclusion. He completely overreacted and like said before, if he was upset about it, he should have gone to the authorities.

Brian Duddy said...

Saying that it is "illegal" to hang another flag above the Mexican flag is a little bit off. The Flag Act, which governs this kind of thing, is certainly a public law; however, there is (purposely) no method for enforcement, so the owner could not get thrown in jail or fined, or anything like that, for his actions. (Hence the debate over flag burning, which probably violates some provision of the Act but is not illegal) Whether he agreed with it or not, that man had no right to, at the most basic level, steal the owner's flag. Did he consider just going in and complaining?

Shieva said...

i agree with almost everyone on this one. even though the veteran witnessed an illegal act, he did not have the right to cut the Mexican flag down. He made it a bigger deal than it really was. i agree with Clinton he went a little overboard and extreme. He could have let someone like police know that the flag was there illegally or even told the store owner but he chose to make it a bigger deal. i wonder why?