Idaho student says teacher tossed his Mexican flag in trash

[KamaAina]

Eurghh.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080507/ap_on_re_us/flag_incident

TWIN FALLS, Idaho - A high school student says he may file a lawsuit against a physical education teacher who took a Mexican flag he had brought for Cinco de Mayo and put it in the garbage.

Clint Straatman denies Froylan Camelo's version of events but said he took the flag Monday because "white kids" might have hurt the 16-year-old. He said he put it in a garbage can because he had no place else to keep it....

"I said, 'What's the problem?'" Camelo, speaking in Spanish, told The Times-News of Twin Falls. "He said, 'The problem is that we are in the United States and not in Mexico.' He grabbed it from me. He threw the flag in the garbage can."

Camelo said that Straatman told him the flag would be returned at the end of the school day, but that Straatman taunted him instead.

You know what? I'll bet the sick fuckmook went home to his lily-white neighborhood and tossed back a few Coronas while he was watching the special Cinco de Mayo George Lopez marathon on Nick at Nite. :eyes:

edit: caps

[lonestarnot]

1. It's not on Nick, Comedy Central would like for you to edit.

What a fucked up phys. ed. lump.

[KamaAina]

3. It was so on Nick at Nite!

http://showhype.com/story/nick_at_nite_may_2008_highlights_classic_cannell

Nick at Nite is celebrating Cinco De Mayo with a 7 hour George Lopez marathon from 9pm-4am on Monday, May 5, 2008. They are calling it Cinco De Lopez!

:P

oh yes, the guy is still a fucked up phys. ed. lump, as well as a racist asshat. :grr:

[lonestarnot]

4. Lo siento.

I watched him on C.C. last night between pukes after the announcement. Too bad I missed him on Nick. Although someone made me wonder about him with the siesta lawn ornaments here. I digress. The racist phys ed lump should wear that flag up his ass.

[KamaAina]

6. Oh! They did have a George Lopez special.

"America's Mexican". :eyes:

Come to think of it, that may very well have been what the douchebag was watching while munching his Taco Bell chalupa. "America's Mexican", indeed. :eyes:

edit: spelling

[lonestarnot]

12. I take it you didn't care for it?

[KamaAina]

14. I thought the title was a bit off

and no, I don't find him funny.

Oh crap, that makes me a big, honkin', Mexican-hating racist, doesn't it? :sarcasm:

[lonestarnot]

16. His gig is about him and the way he grew up from what I watched, and

I didn't the racism. I think he is hysterical.

[truebrit71]

2. ..and the knee-jerk defense for this racist asshat was "I was tyring to protect him from OTHER...

....racist asshats"...

Yeah right buddy...:eyes:

[zorahopkins]

5. It's Just A Piece of Fabric!

For goodness sake, it is just a piece of brightly-colored fabric!

A piece of cloth!

What's the big deal?

[KamaAina]

7. It's got green on it, fer gossakes!

Not blue, green!!! And not a star to be found anywhere!

:sarcasm:

[Dr Fate]

8. Dont confuse freedom of viewpoint with someone supressing your views.

Nice try- but someone burning a symbolic piece of cloth that they bought vs someone unjustly taking & destroying a symbolic piece of cloth belonging to another are 2 different things. Surely you see the difference.

Next?

[zorahopkins]

10. Only DIfference

The only difference I see between burning a symbolic piece of cloth and what happened here is that one person took a piece of cloth that belonged to another person.

I would get no more worked up over this than I would if the teacher had taken the kid's handkerchief away.

They are both mere pieces of cloth.

[Dr Fate]

17. Sure- and a cross is just a piece of wood- so why not burn one?

You seem to have no concept of symbolic speech.

The coach didnt take the flag because of what it was made of- he took it based on the ideas it might represent to the owner, himself or others.

LOL- this isnt about choice of material -it's about choice of expressing thought...

[zorahopkins]

18. Why Burn It?

A cross in flames?

I'd prefer just to chop it up.

[Dr Fate]

31. Yep- just like Abe Lincoln.

n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. Ok let me get that nice flag that symbolizes the US and throw it i the trash

and lets see what the reaction is.

You don't do this... and it is racist

[zorahopkins]

11. You'd Be Surprized At The Creative Ways The US Flag Can Be Used

Oh come on.

You just want to throw that piece of cloth that has red and white stripes on it into the trash?

Do you think that upsets me?

I doesn't.

Not at all.

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. Good to know that it does not upset you

truth be told I don't care either... BUT

Yes that was coming... I know WHY you do not do this with NATIONAL SYMBOLS

It is called gas... and fire

Got it now?

As to throwing ANY national flag to the trash by a member of a dominant group when one from a non dominant group is involved, this is racist

[lonestarnot]

13. I did and there was very little reaction as it was right after the attack was launched on lies in

Iraq.

[Igel]

32. I've seen the US flag in the trash.

In Poland, in the Czech Republic, in other places.

By and large, Poles and Czechs didn't seem to think it was a problem; neither did I, because for the most part it wasn't. Had it been their own flag, perhaps they'd have thought differently. By the same token, I doubt that most Mexicans would be upset if somebody in Oaxaca took a US flag from an American-Mexican and dumped it in the trash.

I have to wonder, when I see an pro-(illegal-)immigration rally with hundreds or thousands of little paper American flags on popsicle sticks being waved, what happens to them afterwards. Are they collected to be properly disposed? Do people take great care to see that they do not touch the ground? Nah, they're mostly dumped in the trash cans as people exit the rally, and somebody comes along afterwards to sweep up the ones just dropped on the ground. And I doubt that DUers present there can't muster half the indignation they muster for this case.

Now, in this case the teacher was a jerk. Being anti-Mexican is his problem, not chucking the piece of cloth or paper into the trash. I usually have to wonder what the kid was doing with the flag, however; I've known teachers that were simply jerks, doing jerkish things for the hell of it, but those have been very few and far between. Most of the jerkish teachers I've known usually responded poorly to jerkish behavior--they're to be the grown ups, and failed at it.

[lonestarnot]

15. It used to stand for freedom, but then someone convinced a bunch of fuckwads using nutfuckery that

the Constitution was just a g.d. piece of paper and "freedom wasn't free," so I threw mine in the trash. :patriot:

[RedCappedBandit]

20. The big deal is the teacher is a racist scumbag

who obviously does not respect the well being of his students and is therefore unfit to teach.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

22. Which did NOT belong to him. -nt

[Richard Steele]

26. No, it's theft, destruction of property, and civil rights violations. As you well know.

[minico_spartan]

21. my view

yea im a student at minico high school. ive had strapon for 2 trimesters and i know for a fact that he just doesnt aim for the mexicans. im a brown kid who hangs out with my friends who are mostly white but i was born and raised in america just like my parents who were born in texas so i pretty much consider america the greatest country on earth and home, so i basically ignore mexican holidays. ive been on probation for 4 months because this kid who wanted to fight me for the stupidest reason and strapon turns us into the office after we fight and not when we were in each others face yelling at each other 3 different times before the fight happend. 2 weeks later another kid who was a "white super jr."got in a fight with a freshman and strapon from what i understand watched the fight for several minutes then stopped the fight and told the principle that the students just had a verbal fight. then just a while back he had caught a co-student with a can of chew and just told him to put it up. a week later all the p.e. teachers went fishing with the sr. class and had left their classes with out substitutes. so my friend had went to his class drunk which is in multipurpose building which two classes are held(advance weights and intro.) everybody was wondering if my friend was drunk and was testing him not knowing that strap was watching them, my friend had done all the police tests but saying his abc's back wards. my friend didnt even seemed buzzed from what you could tell and strap takes him to the office on a wild guess just because my friend gives him crap. All though strapon was thought to be fishing having a good ol time with the other teachers, he had came back to minico because all the other teachers were making fun of how bad of a teacher he was and how all the students didnt like him. once it started getting warmer outside we went outside to time our mile. their were some what you say "fat slow mexican students." and now i do remember and i know for a fact that he DID say "you gotta run faster to beat 10min. so run like la migra is after you." and he did say that. the first day of class those same students were speaking in spanish and for another fact he said "no spanish. we are in america now, not mexico." our first day in the actual weight room he was showing most of the freshman what is what, what goes where and that we listen to music while we lift, those slow fat mexicans asked if they could bring their own and his first response was "as long as its not mexican music and no curse words." even others i had asked today said that they have heard him say similar stuff like that. midway through girls basketball season he was fired from being the coach for what i have been told making fun of the girls like he had said stuff calling the other team fat cows or something like that but im not 100% sure thats why but ive heard he also gave the refs and the crowd the finger. strapon is a bad teacher, ive been in his intro to weights class twice. ive taken the advance weights with a better teacher and learned stuff i was supposed to learn in his class. right now im in his class because my counsler put me in their cause every other class was full. i could take over straps job. I'm teaching the class more than he is. all strap does is sit in his office and talk to his teachers aids and leaves his class to do its own thing. hopefully he will be fired as a teacher before the school years up.... and the thing that takes the cake is that he makes the worst calls as a ref in a game of kickball!!!!!!! and while i was reading some of the other posts somebody said he had went to his white neighbor hood and popped open a corona id like you to know stap doesnt even own a house. 2nd trimester everybody found out he lived in the pink flamingo... guess what that is A FUCKIN MOTEL!!! haha hes nothing but white trash. i mean that school has a lot of raceist people but you gotta learn to get over the stupid stuff and blaim the jews for everything.


if you have any questions feel free to reply. ill be checking up every once and a while... if anything special happens ill post a new message.


oh yea i forgot to add that an esl teacher which is white was fired. the teacher "mr. luker" went to the office and was in a meeting with a principle or vice principle with strapon. mr luker got mad or something and grabbed an american flag threw it on the ground and stomped on it then threw it away. he had walked out and was later fired. i do belive he went a little to far on that one. but the next day which is today or 5-7-08 he gave my friends and i to have a little fun and mock the mexican protesters. haha we got a bunch of smaller american flags and acted like we were protesting of what mr luker had done. it was fun and tomorrow we are all going to wear american t-shirts. idk what to choose... an american free style wrestling t-shirt or an all american made bad bow tie tshirt....

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

23. Just looking at that huge unpunctuated smogasbord made me dizzy. -nt

[nadinbrzezinski]

24. I hate to act like your ENGLISH teacher

but first off... huge recommendation, watch the grammar and the spelling... and cut your paragraphs. It makes readying it easier.

Second off... Cinco de Mayo AND St Patrick's Day mean something very different in the US than they do in Mexico or Ireland

In Mexico Cinco de Mayo is a civic holiday, over the victory of the Mexican Army over the French at Puebla... something worthy of celebration. After all the French Army WAS the preeminent force of the time.

In the US (and Mexican border towns) is it an excuse to get drunk

In Ireland St Patrick's day is a religious\ state holiday celebrating events going even further back, when a local hero was torn from to limb by horses... that was St Patrick and I believe it goes back to the seventh century... a smidgen older than Cinco de Mayo that goes back to 1860.

In the US it has become an excuse to get really, really drunk

As to national symbols... feel free to go look for a fight. I guess in HS we all do stupid shit, and I mean that from the bottom of the heart. I'd rather you paid attention in class and didn't fight. That will be more valuable in years to come than the fight.

And the comment about the greatest country in the world... those of us who understand history (Why I guess I know where those two come from) are reminded increasingly of Rome oh about 400 of the common era... and Rome felt within a generation... for very similar reasons that the US is on the precipice...

Did your social studies teacher ever go into the devaluation of roman coins and how that is comparable to the US dollar? And that is but one example of many?

And I will be the first one to apologize to you for the reaming your generation will get from what has happened over the last seven years... it will be your generation that will finally see the collapse of the empire

(And yes, I am assuming you are who you claim, and interesting take on this)

[Kali]

27. strapon - hahahhahah how lucky you are to have dickhead teacher with

such and adaptable name.:rofl:

How'd you find DU?

[Aristus]

25. Well, it IS Idaho, for Pete's sake.

All Idahoans are born pissed off 'cause they were born in a lame-ass state like Idaho, instead of the emerald-green wonder that is Washington State. B-)

If you ever meet brain-dead, dentally challenged trogs in Washington, they probably came here from Idaho...

[Quantess]

37. Idaho is such a scenic, beautiful place.

It's a shame about the residents.

[loser_user]

38. And same to you!!!

[minico_spartan]

28. reply to these two ppl.....

nadinbrzezinski,idontcareifyourgonnalecturemebecauseiamasophmoreinhighschool.plusyoualsosoundedlikeahistoryteachermorethanaenglishteacher.

if you want you can copy and paste in on your version of Microsoft word and fix all the errors yourself. i am not going to waste my time revising everything.


Ps: here in idaho we have a bunch of rednecks, dairy farmers and givin the fact that i hang out with some of them and go to a school in the country their blue collar way grows on you, so having that makes me have no need to care about roman coins or other countrys holidays. i have no care for history or english as long as i pass the class. plus i tried avoiding the fight 3 times by telling the kid he was a stupid waste of time. and look what happened i messed him up pretty bad and he didnt even hit me once.... waiste of time...


Kali- i found DU by google today and thought i needed to spreed a more detailed truth on a national scale because strapon is a piece of shit teacher who needs to be fired. once my friend got busted for being drunk, we both agreed that we felt discriminated against and that it was unfair and we set out to make it our sophomore school year goal to get him fired. once this happened we knew his teaching career was going down the toilet.

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. I'll answer you

good, you cut down your paragraphs... that is good... far easier to read. Thank you. And you did clean the grammar... you have MS Word... use the grammar checker... I do...

I sound like a history teacher, PERHAPS because I am a historian by training. though these days I write fiction. So you could say I works with words but can connect facts and shamelessly steal from history for fiction... shhh... don't tell anybody, many writers do..

As to your blue collar ways, this is why you should care about history (not that I expect your social science teacher to give you this reason) When you graduate and go look for a job... you will not find a good union job... and in fact, unless you go to college (and you should if you can), your choices will be service jobs, These are poorly paid... as in minimum wage. I am betting your teachers have not gone through a history of why you have a forty hour week as a worker, or the minimum wage. I'd even recommend a book.


Howard Zinns A Popular History of the United States. Why we are where we are can only be understood by knowing where we've been

And if you were in I don't know New York... St Patricks Day ain't an Irish celebration... and in Texas and California Cinco de Mayo is not a mexican party. As I said... just excuses to get blitzed,,, really, really blitzed.


I guess when the empire falls it might start to matter. Or when you find out that all those good jobs left a while ago...

edited for clarity

[Kali]

30. well good for you in your "activism" - we need the next generations to

feel pissed enough to do something about problems, even if it is just a small town racist gym teacher. You have to start somewhere. Good luck on your project! :thumbsup:

PS try to find another example besides the drunk friend, I may not have read that right but if he WAS really drunk then he was violating rules and there isn't much you can do to defend it.

[Indenturedebtor]

36. I just have one question for your Minico

Please explain more about this quote. I'd really like to know what you mean:

"i mean that school has a lot of raceist people but you gotta learn to get over the stupid stuff and blaim the jews for everything."

[Indenturedebtor]

39. Please do clarify Minico

From your statement it sounds as though you are denouncing racism but saying that Jews are to blame for everything? Grammatical error or assertion?

[minico_spartan]

40. i do what i want.

when i was talking about the jews it was in a manor of sarcasm. everybody makes fun of them so im pretty sure they have gotten use to it by now. and thats what the mexicans at my school should do is ignore it.

today was day of "silent protest" at my school. the mexicans brought their flags and the americans brought theirs. today a group of mexicans said before school started that white people should respect their flag, but this is coming from the same mexicans who never even stand up for the national anthem.

today was a complete race war. everybody had their national flags. i had an american one but some of the ones that i never thought had both. i show much respect for them more than people with just 1.

But today in the local news paper a girl who is a mexican who is pretty raciest herself said minico has not been raciest at all. she had called the newspaper for a interview and told them her self version when yet she has no idea how strapon is. she said minico has not and has never been raciest, she lied on that one. alot of the white people are raciest at that school. everybody says raciest things since carlos mencia made it ok to make fun of other people for fun. she had called the few with american flags "anti-protesters." shes a pretty stupid girl... they were doing to piss the mexicans off as to mock them and their backwards protest.

my point is if they were gonna protest they should have had a white flag saying "FIRE RACIEST TEACHER" and it wouldnt of made them look kinda stupid to bring up whos nation is better. i do think it was stupid to bring flags to protest but its not their fault, local radio stations told them to do it... some say they radio stations did it for politics others say it was the right thing to do.. but you be the judge on that

and ive actually been to napoleons high school a couple times for sports... they suck at all the sports haha!!

[Indenturedebtor]

41. Thanks for sharing the story

I asked because I doubt they have brought this up to you in school, but one of the main ways in which Hitler brought about the facist reign of the Nazis was by blaming all the problems of the country on Jews, Catholics, and Gypsys.

At first it was a joke, then people started to believe it so they could have someone to blame their problems on... and before you knew it they were having baby throwing contests in the streets. Before long over 6 million innocent people were dead.

I am Jewish. My entire life I've had to listen to people say many of the things that the Nazis used to justify killing 2/3's of my family, either in "joking" or in all seriousness (contrary to popular belief you can't identify a jew by the horns). And I have stood up to them. That caused half of the fights that I was in in school.

Now as an adult, I have run into a lot of people who try to blame this country's problems on Jews, Gay People, Mexicans, Black People, Liberals and so on. We have to stand up to people who talk like this. Words matter. Words if left unchallenged actually kill people. Before someone kills another person they think about it first. And it's easier to kill someone when you think of them as being less of a person than you are. Jokes go a long way towards making people believe something.

[bdamomma]

33. people are definitely cracking up aren't they?

they are totally forgetting that we are supposed to be a diversed community, I guess not anymore.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

34. That kid should run for student body president.

[Blue_Tires]

35. beat me to it....