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Illegal Flag Vs. Destruction of Private Property
Veteran Removes Illegal Mexican Flag, May Be Charged
Quote:
A Veteran from Reno, Nev. has hit headlines after he took matters into his own hands yesterday and tore down a Mexican flag that was being illegally flown above a U.S. flag at a local business.
Local news station krnv News 4 had received calls yesterday afternoon from angry residents complaining about the Mexican flag. When the station sent a reporter to investigate the Veteran took the opportunity to make a statement in front of the cameras.
The man commented "I'm Jim Brossert and I took this flag down in honor of my country with a knife from the United States army. I'm a veteran, I am not going to see this done to my country. if they want to fight us, then they need to be men, and they need to come and fight us, but I want somebody to fight me for this flag. They're not going to get it back."
The hispanic store owner who witnessed the incident would not make comment on camera but told krnv over the phone that he was flying the flag as a mark of solidarity to the hispanic community. Pro-immigration protests have been ongoing in the area all weekend after raids were conducted by authorities in the area last week.
The store owner said he is an American citizen and did not know what he was doing was against the law. However, according to federal law it is illegal to fly any flag above the U.S. flag, and if flying more than one they must be on separate poles and be of an equal size.
The Reno police department has told krnv that Brossert will faces charges for theft if the store owner files a police report of what happened.
Similar incidents have previously been reported in Maywood, CA., Tucson, Arizona, and Jupiter, Florida.
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I don't like this in any way - but from what I hear (err...read from comments on Digg.com) this man has support - a lot of support from people who not only agree with what he did, but demand that more such actions be taken by force, without regard for private property. I can appreciate nationalism and patriotism, but I don't think what the veteran did was called for. Furthermore, I'm more than a little disappointed that so many people have been energized by his actions. For starters, the business owner is a citizen, but people still used this case as a means to further their own prejudice against immigrants (or so I assume from the Digg comments). He was ignorant of a law which has never been enforced and forwhich you can't be prosecuted for disobeying (and to be honest, I had no idea such a law existed either - I've never heard it mentioned and I've never felt the urge to dive into Title 4 of the United States Code). The only reason the owner did what he did was to show solidarity to his Latin American community and be proud of his heritage. The veteran not only damaged private property, but has refused to return it. He did what he did in full spectacle of the public, so as to ensue outrage for the perceived act of disrespect for the American flag.
So, then, the question: How does the TFP community feel about this? Was the veteran correct in what he did? Was the store owner disrespectful of the nation which he is a citizen of?
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I have my own particular sorrows, loves, delights; and you have yours. But sorrow, gladness, yearning, hope, love, belong to all of us, in all times and in all places. Music is the only means whereby we feel these emotions in their universality. ~H.A. Overstreet
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