Flying the flag

[Pah]

Disclaimer - the name of the city is not related in any way to this original poster nor any part of his anatomy

City of Pahrump Passes Sweeping Anti-Latino Ordinance

http://civilliberty.about.com/b/a/257586.htm?nl=1
Tom Head, About's Guide to Civil Liberties

[COLOR=dark blue"]A group of Mexican university students fly their nation's flag while participating in SunRayce '95, a solar powered vehicle race. Under Pahrump's new city ordinance, this is now classified as a criminal offense. Image courtesy of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
The City Council of Pahrump, Nevada has just passed an ordinance (3-2) that essentially subjects all Latino citizens, including legal residents and U.S. citizens, to job discrimination, police harassment, repression of free speech, and potentially life-threatening delays in emergency medical care.

The Pahrump ordinance combines the recently-struck Hazleton policies with a new statute, referred to ominously as Section 8, which states that anyone who flies the flag of any nation other than that of the United States, without flying the U.S. flag above it, may be prosecuted. The ordinance was written to prevent protests such as those on May 1st, 2006, in which protesters of Latin American lineage proudly flied the flags of their ancestral nations as a gesture of solidarity with undocumented immigrants.[/COLOR]

Will the courts, as the article supposes, strick down the city ordinace?

Will Latino's "get" the message and accept the suppression of free speech? Should they?

 

[Djamila]

Welcome to Murka.

 

[gnomon]

I've always thought that flying the flag of another nation in this country to be distasteful. I find the ordinance beyond distasteful. Offensive even. There is no reason for such a thing. Hopefully the ordinance will be struck down and those who passed it forced to clean public urinals with their head.

For the record, I consider myself a distasteful human being.

 

[silvermoon383]

I find it interesting that they require that the US flag be above the flag of another country when International Law states that national flags must be displayed at the same height.

 

[nutshell]

I learned as a Boy Scout and in elementary school that the U.S. flag flies above all other flags in the U.S. I don't see what the big deal is in doing so.

 

[nutshell]

I find it interesting that they require that the US flag be above the flag of another country when International Law states that national flags must be displayed at the same height.

International Law doesn't apply to the United States. United States Law applies to the United States.

 

[Zephyr]

"Essentially subjects all Latino citizens"? I'm not so sure about that. I don't really like this law, but I don't see it as any big problem with flying the American flag above my Dutch, German, and Vinland flags. After all, I am an American.

Man, I have too many flags...

 

[Tigress]

Stupid, that's what it is. Flying your nations flag in another country doesn't necessarily mean disrespect to that country. Tourists, and even Canadian immigrants do it all the time. The only time you're required to fly the Canadian flag is when you're respresenting a public business, and even then you do not have to fly the flags in any specific order, though flying them at the same height is the general practice.

 

[lunamoth]

What will happen next time the US hosts the Olympics? Will international visitors be allowed to wave their nation's flags at events?

This is a very serious issue and it needs very serious attention in a very serious manner. Seriously.

That's a dumb and discriminatory law.

 

[Zephyr]

Why is this in Religious Debates?

 

[Djamila]

What will happen next time the US hosts the Olympics? Will international visitors be allowed to wave their nation's flags at events?

This is a very serious issue and it needs very serious attention in a very serious manner. Seriously.

That's a dumb and discriminatory law.

It's not as though the type of communities that pass these laws are ever going to host the Olympics.

And I agree with the civil rights article when it says this won't be enforced at Civil War re-enactments, or in reference to the Confederate flag. It's pretty much just for Hispanics.

 

[Fluffy]

I learned as a Boy Scout and in elementary school that the U.S. flag flies above all other flags in the U.S. I don't see what the big deal is in doing so.

You don't see a big deal in fining those who don't conform to that?

 

[nutshell]

You don't see a big deal in fining those who don't conform to that?

I don't know much about this. What is the fine? Is it like a traffic ticket? Why don't you tell me what the big deal is.

 

[Fluffy]

I don't know much about this. What is the fine? Is it like a traffic ticket? Why don't you tell me what the big deal is.

According to the news report, "The Pahrump ordinance combines the recently-struck Hazleton policies with a new statute, referred to ominously as Section 8, which states that anyone who flies the flag of any nation other than that of the United States, without flying the U.S. flag above it, may be prosecuted."

Therefore, if I fly the Union Jack in America (why I would want to do that I don't know but that is beside the point) without the Stars and Stripes above it then I would be prosecuted. Now I am assuming that they would not go so far as to give me a jail sentence so that means a fine of some kind.

Personally I don't care about culture that much and therefore I rarely object to it. But I do care about unnecessary legislation and irrational reasoning both of which appear to be evidenced in this decision.

 

[Pah]

Why is this in Religious Debates?

I made a mistake when I posted it.