I would like to make a few points here. I'm a 2nd generation American, as my parents came to the United States from a then impoverished country, with almost no money and little more than the clothes on their back. They came here to seek a better life, and worked extremely hard to obtain a college education and provide for their family. I remember being constantly reminded of how blessed I was to live in the United States. The lessons I remember from them were to work hard, follow the rules, and take responsibility for your own actions. There would no handouts or special favors because of our ancestral background. We were in America, so we assimilated, played by the rules, and tried to be good citizens of this great country.
From reading the comments, a commenter who criticized Susan, mentioned that Ever Lopez had the freedom to do what he did, and to hate America as much as he wants. As if Susan's criticism of Ever Lopez somehow takes away the latter's freedom say and do what he wants. It doesn't. Criticizing the words and actions of Ever Lopez doesn't in any way deprive the latter of his legal right to behave in the manner that he did, or even dislike America. Those who criticize what Lopez did, are also exercising their freedoms. The freedom to say and do as one wants, doesn't include immunity from criticism. So this whole idea that criticizing someone is tantamount to taking away their rights, is just flat out wrong.
For all the talk about racial equality and equity among the woke, Ever Lopez was treated just the same as everybody else. There was a dress code at graduation that EVERY student had to follow, no matter who they were. Lopez chose not to follow it by draping the Mexican flag on shoulders. He suffered the consequences of his actions not because of his Mexican heritage, but because he chose not to follow the rules. He may be a child of immigrants, as I am. But that doesn't entitle us to special privileges to behave like that and expect it to go unpunished. And for heaven's sake, he's going to get his diploma, so his rights aren't being taken away. That's why I'm not sympathetic to Ever Lopez playing the race and victim card.
The very first thing I thought when I saw this story was "Dress code violation", not racism. Some schools allow specific deviations from the gown/cap, while others are more strict. The school is now saying they'll reevaluate the allowance for deviations, which I take to mean no deviations will be allowed going forward.
All it takes is one person to mess it up for everyone else.
There is no national unity. And considering the amount of crap the american right has spoken about Mexico and the people from there I don't really blame him for feeling like he belongs there more than here. Also he can hate America as much as he wants. Last I checked that was one of the freedoms we had as Americans. Why does he need to go anywhere for doing nothing but using the freedoms he enjoys?
You want people to be proud of here, try giving him a reason to be proud. But then again its much easier to just say, "if you don't like it, then leave."
I would like to make a few points here. I'm a 2nd generation American, as my parents came to the United States from a then impoverished country, with almost no money and little more than the clothes on their back. They came here to seek a better life, and worked extremely hard to obtain a college education and provide for their family. I remember being constantly reminded of how blessed I was to live in the United States. The lessons I remember from them were to work hard, follow the rules, and take responsibility for your own actions. There would no handouts or special favors because of our ancestral background. We were in America, so we assimilated, played by the rules, and tried to be good citizens of this great country.
From reading the comments, a commenter who criticized Susan, mentioned that Ever Lopez had the freedom to do what he did, and to hate America as much as he wants. As if Susan's criticism of Ever Lopez somehow takes away the latter's freedom say and do what he wants. It doesn't. Criticizing the words and actions of Ever Lopez doesn't in any way deprive the latter of his legal right to behave in the manner that he did, or even dislike America. Those who criticize what Lopez did, are also exercising their freedoms. The freedom to say and do as one wants, doesn't include immunity from criticism. So this whole idea that criticizing someone is tantamount to taking away their rights, is just flat out wrong.
For all the talk about racial equality and equity among the woke, Ever Lopez was treated just the same as everybody else. There was a dress code at graduation that EVERY student had to follow, no matter who they were. Lopez chose not to follow it by draping the Mexican flag on shoulders. He suffered the consequences of his actions not because of his Mexican heritage, but because he chose not to follow the rules. He may be a child of immigrants, as I am. But that doesn't entitle us to special privileges to behave like that and expect it to go unpunished. And for heaven's sake, he's going to get his diploma, so his rights aren't being taken away. That's why I'm not sympathetic to Ever Lopez playing the race and victim card.
The very first thing I thought when I saw this story was "Dress code violation", not racism. Some schools allow specific deviations from the gown/cap, while others are more strict. The school is now saying they'll reevaluate the allowance for deviations, which I take to mean no deviations will be allowed going forward.
All it takes is one person to mess it up for everyone else.
There is no national unity. And considering the amount of crap the american right has spoken about Mexico and the people from there I don't really blame him for feeling like he belongs there more than here. Also he can hate America as much as he wants. Last I checked that was one of the freedoms we had as Americans. Why does he need to go anywhere for doing nothing but using the freedoms he enjoys?
You want people to be proud of here, try giving him a reason to be proud. But then again its much easier to just say, "if you don't like it, then leave."