<p>An administrator at Roger Williams Middle School has been placed on paid leave after he reportedly grabbed a Dominican flag from at least one student and stepped on it.</p>
<p>Several students brought flags to school on Friday to celebrate the Caribbean nation’s 165th independence anniversary, school officials said yesterday. During a confrontation with one or more students, the administrator snatched the flag away, threw it to the floor and stepped on it, according to Sen. Juan Pichardo, D-Providence.</p>
<p>Not at all. If you buy your own flag, it is your property and you can exercise your free speech by doing what you will to your own property. If you grab and stomp someone else’s flag, that is not an exercise in anything except boorish, rude behavior or worse.</p>
<p>It’s different, hops scout, because the flag was someone else’s. Good grief. It’s the difference between me (hypothetically) burning my own flag as a protest, and me taking your flag from you and burning it as a protest. Taking other people’s property doesn’t fall under free speech.</p>
<p>So you actually believe that EVERY flag that has ever been burned was the personal property of the one burning it? If so, I got some great ocean-front property to sell you right here in the wonderful state of Missouri.</p>
<p>hops_scout–I hope you’re just arguing for the sake of argument and are not seriously suggesting it was ok for the administrator to take a child’s flag and stomp on it. No matter what country it’s from.</p>
<p>And there’s a difference between adults burning flags in protest (whether or not they belong to someone else) and adults behaving badly towards children. Good grief. That wasn’t a protest, that was bullying.</p>
<p>If you’ll read my first post on this thread (way up at #3) you’ll see I do not agree with what the administrator did. Like I said, if it is the American flag being desecrated ANYWHERE in the world, it would be seen as just fine. But if an American desecrates another country’s flag, you would think it were the end of the world.</p>
<p>Hops, if you believe the uproar wouldn’t have been as loud, had the flag been an American one ( I say, it would have been even louder!), you’re not living in the same universe most of us are. Do you honestly believe people in this country are burning the US flag in protest on a regular basis? Sorry, it’s just not happening. Not even most “flaming liberals” appreciates the idea of our flag being shown such disrespect. The Gingrich propaganda which holds as sacrosanct the idea that “Liberal=Unpatriotic”—that’s a lie, too. Had the Administrator snatched Ole Glory out of the hands of a child and stomped on it, it would be the subject of outraged howls all across America. All the major networks (yes, even the “liberal ones in the hip pocket of the Democrats”) would be covering the story for days, unlike the above story, which you have to come to a specialty website like CC to read about), because most of us would take this man’s aggrieving behavior personally. As shocking as the OP story is, it would be seen as doubly so by most people, had the flag been the stars and strips.</p>
<p>hops - here’s a little experiment for you. On July 4th, or any other day really, when you see someone getting ready to raise their flag in front of their home, go up and grab it from them and stomp on it. Then report back to us to let us know how that worked out for you.</p>
<p>“So you actually believe that EVERY flag that has ever been burned was the personal property of the one burning it? If so, I got some great ocean-front property to sell you right here in the wonderful state of Missouri.”</p>
<p>Hops scout, if someone stole another person’s flag and burned it, then that person is a thief and should be prosecuted / punished accordingly. There’s no difference if I steal your flag and burn it while chanting “Death to America”, or if I steal your flag and frame it above my fireplace. It’s not “free speech,” it’s theft.</p>
<p>Before leaping to judgment, you might want to read a follow up article which explains the curcumstances under which the administrator took the flag from some kids (and some of the comments on it, one of which reveals that the supposedly racist administrator is married to a Latina).</p>
<p>IMHO, the course of events as described in this article sounds a lot more credible than the “I mop the floor with your flag” melodrama.</p>
<p>Maybe people should be more worried about a school where the situation gets so bad tha the police get called in and then students interfere rather than the flag business.</p>
<p>Apparently, this school has big problems that desperately need to be addressed.</p>