Published in the May 14-27 issue of Morgan Hill Life
National news erupted in Morgan Hill May 5, 2010 when five Live Oak High School students choose to wear patriotic-themed clothing to protest the campus’s Cinco de Mayo celebration.
What the students did was a set-up. Live Oak’s principal and assistant principal, legally obliged to keep all students safe, saw potential for the American flag T-shirts to spark violence at a campus known for its racial strife. The administrators gave the boys the option to turn the clothing inside out or go home. The students chose to go home.
A short time later, the mainstream media came into play. A Fox News van set up outside the campus. Soon, people all across America learned what happened in Morgan Hill. Pundits stirred up the cauldron of controversy with acerbic comments, warning the U.S. was on the verge of collapse because five students couldn’t express their patriotism through fashion choice.
People in other states sent angry emails, some life threatening, to school board members and elected officials of the Morgan Hill City Council. Our community turned into a bulls-eye of national outrage. Demonstrators gathered outside Live Oak and downtown waving Old Glory and shouting uncivil remarks at Latino drivers passing by, telling many American-born citizens to “go back to Mexico.”
Parents of four of the students sued the school district for violation of their sons’ civil rights. Federal court judges in two decisions determined school administrators’ primary duty is student safety, and it is legally permissible to restrain students’ constitutional right to free speech if that speech might result in violence.
The fact five high school students wore attire of a patriotic color scheme on Cinco de Mayo might seem trivial and not worthy of any level of media coverage. But the immigration debate and the question about who is and who isn’t an American raged in the news at that time. Certain members of the mainstream media used the Live Oak incident to feed the flames of public anger.
Four years later, the tension continues. Last week on Cinco de Mayo in front of Live Oak, a group of citizens demonstrated in a silent vigil carrying American flags. The TV news vans, radio reporters, and print journalists were back. This time, the emotional outrage across America was minimal.
All members of the media have an obligation to report the news responsibly. In the news business the level of attention given to a story affects the story. Banner headlines on a newspaper’s front page can create a public perception of importance to news stories that might not deserve notice. Good editors understand that quality journalism avoids the pitfall of manufacturing a story to fit an ideological agenda.
