Editor,
In response to the article in Wednesday's Daily Lobo about a Mexican flag being taken down and damaged by an individual, I would like to say that while the willful damaging of a flag is considered disrespectful, why all the talk about hate crimes?
Last time I checked, it was illegal to fly a foreign flag unless there is an American flag displayed one flag-length above it.
What Peter Lynch did was wrong, but is it really a hate crime? As an American of Scottish-Irish descent, I have noticed a running trend of racism through the core of UNM. White students would never be allowed to form a club only for whites or be allowed to have a white history month. There is certainly no organization devoted to helping white students with tuition. For better or worse, the U.S. beat Mexico and drafted the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848, making New Mexico part of American territory.
That means we get to fly the American flag here.
Hate crime? No. It's just another random, irresponsible act of blind patriotism.
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Alex Fields
UNM student
