The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum removes the Mexican flag
10/09/2007 05:39 PM Ernesto Portillo Jr.
Here in the Old Pueblo, Mexican flags are ubiquitous. As they should be. Mexico’s our neighbor and the flag once flew over Tucson. To most people, el tri color, as Mexicans refer to the red, green and white flag, blends into the landscape like the saguaros and mesquite trees.
But apparently the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum does not like the look of the red, green and white flag with the serpent and eagle fluttering alongside the red, white and blue stars and stripes. After more than 50 years, the Mexican flag was lowered and removed today. The museum’s board of directors voted last month to remove the flag because “the museum received complaints about the flag as many as two or three times a week,” museum spokesman Tim Vimmerstedt told my colleague Dale Quinn.
Vimmerstedt said the callers questioned why the Mexican flag was being flown at the museum. He didn’t connect the complaints to the escalating anti-Mexican and immigrant sentiment in Tucson and the rest of the country. Apparently the museum staff and board would fail a current events quiz.
How could the museum not make the connection? The museum is being disingenuous.
Too bad the museum didn’t see it fit and proper to explain to the xenophobes and anti-Mexican rabble the museum’s mission is to reflect the unique and beautiful eco-system of both states. Hint to the museum’s critics and board of directors: Sonora is part of the museum’s name.
Since the museum has obviously caved in to the current Know Nothing portion of our community and considers it wholly proper to insult our Mexican neighbors who by the way spend millions in our economy, then the museum should continue what it started.
It should drop all references to Sonora and the Sea of Cortez, and remove all words in Spanish. It should place a big sign at the entrance saying Spanish is not allowed to be spoken on the museum grounds and Mexicans are not welcomed.
And to complete the museum’s new enlightened image and mission, I suggest the board of directors invite Roy Warden, Tucson’s self-proclaimed Mexican flag burner. Hopefully for the museum and its future, Warden can become board president and show the museum how it’s really done.
Ethnic cleansing—- how long before all brown faces will be hidden from sight? I suggest a boycott of the Museum.
— Cathy Howard 10/09/2007 05:56 PM #
This is so bloody stupid, I can hardly stand it. Why don’t they poll their membership before they go off half-cocked? As long as that museum’s mission is the Sonoran Desert, the flag should stay. What a bunch of cowards.
— Sandi Utech 10/09/2007 06:44 PM #
Good riddance and good for the museum for listening to ordinary Americans. The bleeding hearts, anti-Americans, and La Raza, Hispanic supremacist etc. types must be sad today, as evidenced by Portillo’s race-baiting and name-calling.
— Lena Barston 10/09/2007 06:52 PM #
I think we should also close all Mexican food restaurants in Tucson. How they dare to serve food from another country in U.S. soil.
We should remember that aside from our Native American, we all come from another country!
I don’t think I am renewing my annual membership to the museum.
— Lori 10/09/2007 08:02 PM #
I can agree with the removal of the Mexican flag if it is a source of contention. The museum has to be able to market itself to the community. With the current situation regarding illegal immigrants, I can see how it could have a negative effect. Possibly after visiting the museum and learning more about the Sonoran desert which spans this part of Arizona and into Mexico others might become a little more tolerant. Education is the key to bringing us all together, not name calling.
— Ricardo 10/09/2007 09:23 PM #
From’The Desert Speaks’,
a Desert Museum newsletter,
p.19, 1975
Two Flags
The international status of the
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum was
officially recognized on Memorial
Day, 1954, when the Honorable
Ignacio Soto, then Governor of the
State of Sonora, presented us with a
flag of the Republic of Mexico.
“At the entrance to the Museum
were two flagstaffs. We ran up the
flag of the Republic of Mexico and,
together with the flag of the United
States of America, it has been raised
every day since… We believe we
have the only truly recognized
international outdoor museum of its
type in America, established as it is
practically upon the international
boundary line.”
(The Desert Speaks, a Desert
Museum newsletter, p.19, 1975)
— jody 10/09/2007 09:52 PM #
RE: #3 lena-
“Hispanic supremacist etc. types”
Aztlan is a long-held notion among Mexico’s ‘intellectual elite and political class’ [my quotes’ which asserts that the American southwest rightly belongs to Mexico.
These advocates believe the reclamation or “reconquista” of Aztlan will occur through sheer demographic force.
Walk the streets of Tucson,lena. If the many faces of these beautiful people are any indication, reconquista is already complete.
Aye ya yay, this is not about the flag. It is about closeted and not so closeted supremacists ignoring reality, history and fomenting hatred. They see threats to their imaginary world in the brown faces that soon will become the majority in the Southwest and eventually in the mix of people of color that will become the good ole US of A.
Removing/burning flags and building walls and denying Constitutional rights will not save them from this certain fate – becoming the minority. Their worst fear is seeing all the cops and politicians and government employees will be those same people that they have tried so hard to keep from acheiving the American dream. Will it be payback time? I don’t think so, we are better than that.
— Sonny Aros 10/09/2007 11:25 PM #
I find this sad, as the desert museum has always done an excellent job showcasing the natural beauty of the region.
That it takes something as silly as a flag on a pole to expose such a petty ugliness … well, I certainly won’t be returning.
— bhance 10/10/2007 06:35 AM #
Next, deport all the illegal criminals who have invaded this country and send them back to Mexico with their ugly flag.
— Ronnie 10/10/2007 06:36 AM #
Thank you Mr. Portillo, but I respectfully decline your invitation to nominate me to the Board of Directors of the Desert Museum.
Whenever I have family or friends vistiting Tucson, I am a occassional visitor to the Desert Museum.
While visiting the splendid facilities of the Museum, I have never objected to the Mexican Flag flying along side the American Flag because of the implied statement of cultural and national cooperation on an issue of mutual interest: the preservation of the Sonora Desert. By flying the Mexican Flag, the Desert Museum is not making a political statement that Arizona is currently a part of, or should be returned, to Mexico.
This is altogether different than the Mexican Flag being waved in the streets of America as a symbol of political and social domination.
Whenever Mexican Nationals march in the streets of Tucson, wave the Mexican Flag, and “demand” their “rights” as American citizens, or whenever they proclaim “We must kill the Gringo and send him back to Plymouth Rock”, I will be in their face and burn their flag. Whenever Mexican Nationals, or those proclaiming to speak for them state, “Hoy Marchamos, Manana Votamos”, I will, justifiably, call them “Pendejos” and tell them to go home.
Got it, or am I being obtuse? Even a pendejo journalist like you should appreciate the distinction.
RW
http://www.wardenburnsmexicanflags.com
— roy warden 10/10/2007 07:08 AM #
Roy-
So how long have you been waiting to write something in which you could squeeze the words Mr. Portillo and pendejo into the same writing?
Surely you know the recruit was rhetorical.
That said, I value your
constitutional right to use the Mexican flag to communicate your intended message, even if the locals and the government disagreed with you.
I abhor acquiescence.
I value the right to engage in acts of suitably constrained civil disobedience.
Name calling is beneath you in the event you really want to make a point.
You appear to be a propagandist using this technique in hopes that the blog readers here will reject Portillo on the basis of the negative symbol, instead of looking at the available evidence.
— jody 10/10/2007 08:17 AM #
I never thought Americans would scare so easily. Is xenophobia cantagious?
— Armando Bernal 10/10/2007 08:24 AM #
I am a proud member of the xenophobes and anti-Mexican rabble! It is refreshing to see how you view Americans wanting to defend their home against a invasion of 30% of the population of mexico.It is my opinion that the mexican flag, having been flown by illegal mexicans demanding rights and threatening US sovereignty has no place being flown in the US! Show your pride in mexico by returning there and fixing your country and leave ours alone! Via co dios….Adios!
— pete 10/10/2007 08:39 AM #
they won,t try to fix thier country there coward,s
— tim evrett 10/10/2007 09:48 AM #
Neto,
Thanks for commenting.
The Sonoran Desert is a beautiful and unique place, spanning both countries, providing a wonderful place to live for people – ignoring their petty differences, providing a living for all, treating all alike.
The Packs, The Woodins, Hal Gras, and so many others worked so hard over the years to recognize the Sonoran Desert as a place which did not stop at any border, and which rightly needed to be studied and enjoyed cooperatively. The efforts of the ARIZONA-SONORA DESERT MUSEUM to understand and share this wonderful place we live in seem in danger of being abandoned – rather than stepping up their efforts to explain the significance, they capitulate. How long before they abandon research occurring outside the US?
What does this signify for our cultural heritage overall? I am a “gringo”, but having grown up in the Southwest, the Mexican part of my heritage is as strong in me as my Scots and Irish descent. I treasure it, enjoy it, and revel in it. Will residence in Tucson come to mean that I cannot enjoy and embrace this part of my heritage? I will not allow that.
There are those who protest, who burn flags, who warp the truth to accomplish those ends, who engage in fiery rhetoric in support of their position. I would remind those who do so – regardless of side – that consequences are always associated with the choices we make. Make sure that the consequences of the choices you make will be ones that you can accept.
By the way – From the ASDM website, on the History of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Musem:
“The Board also remained committed to showing its strong tie to Mexico by including Sonora , the name of the state of Mexico immediately south of Arizona , in its official corporate name. This symbolic act was profoundly important in underscoring and promoting relationships with the country of Mexico throughout the history of the Museum.
These ties continue today in a host of ways: education programs that are conducted throughout the Sonoran Desert , research programs in all parts of the region, and staff exchanges with various Mexican institutions.”
— Mike Bartlett 10/10/2007 10:46 AM #
I’m fed up with this flag and hope never to see it again anywhere. It represents a despicable people who aren’t good enough to build their own nation. As a consequence of their incompetence, they sneak in, sully our nation with their disrespectful behavior and work toward overthrowing it. They should go home and take all but two of their flags with them. We’ll keep the two they used as instruments of surrender, first to Texas, then to the U.S.
— Tom 10/10/2007 04:45 PM #
Most likely, if the horrendous illegal alien problem had not become such a huge issue, complaints would not have been made about this Mexican flag. I am sure the taxpayers of the USA are paying all expenses for this museum. It is a beautiful museum and a beautiful area. However, the Mexican flag doesn’t need to be flown there.
— mbrown 10/10/2007 05:05 PM #
Good at least it is a start. Now we need to secure the border, enforce our laws and remove the invaders.
— Ernest 10/10/2007 05:21 PM #
If flags are so threatening maybe now those racist who say that the confederate stars-and-bars is harmless might get their heads out of their asses. But then again the theme park Six Flags will have to change their name since it celebrates a history that some people are trying to change. But trying to reason with racists is like trying to reason with idiots or drunks. so why try?
— Armando Bernal 10/10/2007 07:14 PM #
Armando, Mexico is not a race.
— Tom 10/10/2007 07:51 PM #
Same difference – time to get the white sheets out. might be a cross-burning and maybe a book or two!
— Armando Bernal 10/11/2007 08:09 AM #
Has anyone else noticed the irony of this issue surfacing the week before Tucson Meet Yourself?
— Mike Bartlett 10/11/2007 08:38 AM #
As George Carlin says, “Flags are symbols and I’ll leave symbols to the symbol-minded”. I’ve long appreciated the flying of both flags as a symbol of the Sonoron Deserts range through two countries. By the by, one of the reason’s that the museum chose to drop the flag is that some of the xenophobe’s employed good old fashioned school yard bully tactics, not only threatening to boycott the museum but also threatening to harm some of the animals in the collection. Golly, these folks are paragons of virtue, ain’t they?
— Jeff 10/11/2007 09:38 AM #
As to the fool who complains that the Mexicans are cowards since they don’t fix their own country – is that like the English, the Poles, the Russians, the on-and-on-and-on, like everyone else that immigrated here (?) that didn’t stay there and fix their particular country. Real Americans, if there is such a term, don’t scare that easily, it seems that a lot of people are scaring very easily these days. Those people are NOT “real Americans.”
— Armando Bernal 10/11/2007 02:09 PM #
Shame on everyone. The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is a “Natural History Museum”. They specialize in educating people of all countries world wide about the sonoran region. From the Baja to the Mountains. Not just the desert. Ernesto is acting like a racist trying to stir peoples minds in the wrong direction. What happened Ernesto? Didn’t you get your senior discount? What did The Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum do to you that made you try so hard to discredit them.
The museum has no color and it’s only bounderies are within and welcome to everyone in the world. It has been generous to all classes of people and given free admission to less fortunate children and other less fortunate groups since the beginning of it’s time.
Yes, I think the board was not using forethought in removing the American flag during times of such deep patriotism, but to discredit such a wonderful place is only hurting the hard work and education of the museum’s mission that is dedicated to more things good than anyone can imagine.
Wait everyone and see that good will come out of this and hopefully this will be a thing of the past and I am certain the caring people of the board are rethinking and trying to figure a way to make all sides content.
To you, Ernesto, stop acting like a racist and start promoting good not bad. What a pessimist you are.
and by the way, flag burning comes from all sides. Seems like you are only one sided.
— Mr Doodle 10/11/2007 06:32 PM #
Armando Bernal thinks and writes like the racist pendejo that he is.
By the way Roy, Gringo means alian if you look in the dictionary. How can an American in America be a Gringo? So when Mexican’s are here in America illegally, the’re Gringo’s.
And Pete, leave the Desert Museum out of your nasty thoughts. They did not remove the flag for the likes of your kind. The flag was removed BECAUSE of the likes of your kind that not only do not care about all the human race but obviously don’t care about animals and the jeopardy of threats againsts them. Does that mean your “kind” don’t like animals either because they aren’t like you?
Stupid people that think the flag was there to represent another country’s politics. It was there to represent the two countries that share a wonderful territory.
Oh, and correction about the Baja to the Mountains, it should have been Sea of Cortez.
Racists, go back to your origionating ancestral countries and leave America to be the land of the beautiful with all it’s different beautiful people.
— Mr Doodle 10/11/2007 08:03 PM #
Thank you, Neto!
As a result of this blog you have shown some to recognize the racist nature of the assault on the United States undocumented immigrant population.
Additionally, to quote Mike Bartlet above, your blog reminded many “to recognize the Sonoran Desert as a place which did not stop at any border, and which rightly needed to be studied and enjoyed cooperatively.”
The international status of the
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum will be recognized.
— jody 10/13/2007 03:12 AM #
The Museum is a public institution, heavily subsidized by American taxpayers. The flag of any other nation is a foreign flag. Why not fly the flag of Canada, Germany, England, whatever. It is tradition since the founding fathers to fly the United States flag, because THIS IS THE UNITED STATES. It is not Mexico. Acts such as flying a foreign flag here, especially the Mex. flag, moves us closer to Civil War II.
— Andrew 10/13/2007 02:33 PM #
Why are flags such a big deal to some people, especially those who are trying to bring attention to their own superiority. How does the flag outweigh the principles behind it? Doesn’t the Pledge of Allegiance end with “…with liberty and justice for all”? Isn’t that supposed to be the premise behind all our actions as a nation? Aren’t we the “liberators” of the Iraqi people, and every other country we have ever invaded?
All of what is now the USA was “liberated” from someone else. The American Southwest was “liberated” from Mexico when the U.S. needed a southern route for its railroads. The states of: Texas, New Mexico (a strange name for an “American” state isn’t it?), California, Colorado, Nevada (names all derived from their Spanish names) and Arizona and Utah (derived from Indian names) now proudly wave the stars and stripes. Their people guaranteed the rights outlined in the Constitution and treaties (oh… wait ignore that). Well at least they have their liberty… unless they happen to have dark skin or look different or have “tainted” ancestry.
Too bad about the: “savages” who lived here before anyone else and had everything stolen from them; “Coolies” imported to build the railroads and then railroaded themselves; Americans of Japanese descent forced into concentration camps and oh, that’s right, all those brown skinned, Mexican looking people whose ancestral homeland was here long before the “settlers” arrived, who were rounded up and deported, regardless of their citizenship, back in the good ole 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s… oh wait, I guess it is still going on.
Well, no wonder so many people don’t want the Mexican flag waving anywhere on American soil. It must remind them of the injustices done to Mexicans and people of Mexican descent. Combined with those who would like to continue the exploitation and persecution of native Southwestern people and other immigrants and imported laborers, that’s a lot of people.
Me, I think a flag is just a flag. It means whatever you want it to mean. I prefer liberty and justice for all, to oppression and supremacy (reminds me of Nazi fascism). The museum should display any and all flags as they see fit, or none for that matter. What matters is that the Board of Directors should act based upon how they perceive the display of the flag(s) and not act out of fear resulting from threats of an irrational terrorist.
Do the museum directors feel there is something inappropriate in continuing to raise the same flags they have flown for over 50 years, based upon what they believe those flags stand for or not? Would a rational person threaten innocent animals and guests and workers of the museum if they don’t get their way? Should a terrorist threat be the basis for determining museum policy? Isn’t all this vitriol against the Mexican flag and “Mexicans” (code for threatening hordes) in general starting to look and sound like vigilante ranting? – “Liberty and Justice for all” indeed.
— Sonny Aros 10/16/2007 11:57 AM #
Ernesto Portillo, Jr., a.k.a Neto, is a columnist for the Arizona Daily Star. But when he's not stirring the pot on issues such as illegal immigration and Downtown redevelopment, Neto can be found listening to jazz music and enjoying Southern Arizona culture and cuisine. In this blog he shares some of his favorites things about Southern Arizona and Latino culture, and hopes that you'll respond with some of yours.
Every Friday Ernesto Portillo chats with readers about a news event or topic from the past week. You can submit your questions anytime throughout the week (registration required).
Go to chat »»
— Cathy Howard 10/09/2007 05:56 PM #
— Sandi Utech 10/09/2007 06:44 PM #
— Lena Barston 10/09/2007 06:52 PM #
We should remember that aside from our Native American, we all come from another country!
I don’t think I am renewing my annual membership to the museum.
— Lori 10/09/2007 08:02 PM #
— Ricardo 10/09/2007 09:23 PM #
a Desert Museum newsletter,
p.19, 1975
Two Flags
The international status of the
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum was
officially recognized on Memorial
Day, 1954, when the Honorable
Ignacio Soto, then Governor of the
State of Sonora, presented us with a
flag of the Republic of Mexico.
“At the entrance to the Museum
were two flagstaffs. We ran up the
flag of the Republic of Mexico and,
together with the flag of the United
States of America, it has been raised
every day since… We believe we
have the only truly recognized
international outdoor museum of its
type in America, established as it is
practically upon the international
boundary line.”
(The Desert Speaks, a Desert
Museum newsletter, p.19, 1975)
— jody 10/09/2007 09:52 PM #
“Hispanic supremacist etc. types”
Aztlan is a long-held notion among Mexico’s ‘intellectual elite and political class’ [my quotes’ which asserts that the American southwest rightly belongs to Mexico.
These advocates believe the reclamation or “reconquista” of Aztlan will occur through sheer demographic force.
Walk the streets of Tucson,lena. If the many faces of these beautiful people are any indication, reconquista is already complete.
Now, are you “sad”?
— jody 10/09/2007 10:06 PM #
Removing/burning flags and building walls and denying Constitutional rights will not save them from this certain fate – becoming the minority. Their worst fear is seeing all the cops and politicians and government employees will be those same people that they have tried so hard to keep from acheiving the American dream. Will it be payback time? I don’t think so, we are better than that.
— Sonny Aros 10/09/2007 11:25 PM #
That it takes something as silly as a flag on a pole to expose such a petty ugliness … well, I certainly won’t be returning.
— bhance 10/10/2007 06:35 AM #
— Ronnie 10/10/2007 06:36 AM #
Whenever I have family or friends vistiting Tucson, I am a occassional visitor to the Desert Museum.
While visiting the splendid facilities of the Museum, I have never objected to the Mexican Flag flying along side the American Flag because of the implied statement of cultural and national cooperation on an issue of mutual interest: the preservation of the Sonora Desert. By flying the Mexican Flag, the Desert Museum is not making a political statement that Arizona is currently a part of, or should be returned, to Mexico.
This is altogether different than the Mexican Flag being waved in the streets of America as a symbol of political and social domination.
Whenever Mexican Nationals march in the streets of Tucson, wave the Mexican Flag, and “demand” their “rights” as American citizens, or whenever they proclaim “We must kill the Gringo and send him back to Plymouth Rock”, I will be in their face and burn their flag. Whenever Mexican Nationals, or those proclaiming to speak for them state, “Hoy Marchamos, Manana Votamos”, I will, justifiably, call them “Pendejos” and tell them to go home.
Got it, or am I being obtuse? Even a pendejo journalist like you should appreciate the distinction.
RW
http://www.wardenburnsmexicanflags.com
— roy warden 10/10/2007 07:08 AM #
So how long have you been waiting to write something in which you could squeeze the words Mr. Portillo and pendejo into the same writing?
Surely you know the recruit was rhetorical.
That said, I value your
constitutional right to use the Mexican flag to communicate your intended message, even if the locals and the government disagreed with you.
I abhor acquiescence.
I value the right to engage in acts of suitably constrained civil disobedience.
Name calling is beneath you in the event you really want to make a point.
You appear to be a propagandist using this technique in hopes that the blog readers here will reject Portillo on the basis of the negative symbol, instead of looking at the available evidence.
— jody 10/10/2007 08:17 AM #
— Armando Bernal 10/10/2007 08:24 AM #
— pete 10/10/2007 08:39 AM #
— tim evrett 10/10/2007 09:48 AM #
Thanks for commenting.
The Sonoran Desert is a beautiful and unique place, spanning both countries, providing a wonderful place to live for people – ignoring their petty differences, providing a living for all, treating all alike.
The Packs, The Woodins, Hal Gras, and so many others worked so hard over the years to recognize the Sonoran Desert as a place which did not stop at any border, and which rightly needed to be studied and enjoyed cooperatively. The efforts of the ARIZONA-SONORA DESERT MUSEUM to understand and share this wonderful place we live in seem in danger of being abandoned – rather than stepping up their efforts to explain the significance, they capitulate. How long before they abandon research occurring outside the US?
What does this signify for our cultural heritage overall? I am a “gringo”, but having grown up in the Southwest, the Mexican part of my heritage is as strong in me as my Scots and Irish descent. I treasure it, enjoy it, and revel in it. Will residence in Tucson come to mean that I cannot enjoy and embrace this part of my heritage? I will not allow that.
There are those who protest, who burn flags, who warp the truth to accomplish those ends, who engage in fiery rhetoric in support of their position. I would remind those who do so – regardless of side – that consequences are always associated with the choices we make. Make sure that the consequences of the choices you make will be ones that you can accept.
Thanks again Neto.
Mike
— Mike Bartlett 10/10/2007 10:28 AM #
“The Board also remained committed to showing its strong tie to Mexico by including Sonora , the name of the state of Mexico immediately south of Arizona , in its official corporate name. This symbolic act was profoundly important in underscoring and promoting relationships with the country of Mexico throughout the history of the Museum.
These ties continue today in a host of ways: education programs that are conducted throughout the Sonoran Desert , research programs in all parts of the region, and staff exchanges with various Mexican institutions.”
— Mike Bartlett 10/10/2007 10:46 AM #
— Tom 10/10/2007 04:45 PM #
— mbrown 10/10/2007 05:05 PM #
— Ernest 10/10/2007 05:21 PM #
— Armando Bernal 10/10/2007 07:14 PM #
— Tom 10/10/2007 07:51 PM #
— Armando Bernal 10/11/2007 08:09 AM #
— Mike Bartlett 10/11/2007 08:38 AM #
— Jeff 10/11/2007 09:38 AM #
— Armando Bernal 10/11/2007 02:09 PM #
The museum has no color and it’s only bounderies are within and welcome to everyone in the world. It has been generous to all classes of people and given free admission to less fortunate children and other less fortunate groups since the beginning of it’s time.
Yes, I think the board was not using forethought in removing the American flag during times of such deep patriotism, but to discredit such a wonderful place is only hurting the hard work and education of the museum’s mission that is dedicated to more things good than anyone can imagine.
Wait everyone and see that good will come out of this and hopefully this will be a thing of the past and I am certain the caring people of the board are rethinking and trying to figure a way to make all sides content.
To you, Ernesto, stop acting like a racist and start promoting good not bad. What a pessimist you are.
and by the way, flag burning comes from all sides. Seems like you are only one sided.
— Mr Doodle 10/11/2007 06:32 PM #
RW
— roy warden 10/11/2007 06:34 PM #
— Woody 10/11/2007 07:41 PM #
And Pete, leave the Desert Museum out of your nasty thoughts. They did not remove the flag for the likes of your kind. The flag was removed BECAUSE of the likes of your kind that not only do not care about all the human race but obviously don’t care about animals and the jeopardy of threats againsts them. Does that mean your “kind” don’t like animals either because they aren’t like you?
Stupid people that think the flag was there to represent another country’s politics. It was there to represent the two countries that share a wonderful territory.
Oh, and correction about the Baja to the Mountains, it should have been Sea of Cortez.
Racists, go back to your origionating ancestral countries and leave America to be the land of the beautiful with all it’s different beautiful people.
— Mr Doodle 10/11/2007 08:03 PM #
As a result of this blog you have shown some to recognize the racist nature of the assault on the United States undocumented immigrant population.
Additionally, to quote Mike Bartlet above, your blog reminded many “to recognize the Sonoran Desert as a place which did not stop at any border, and which rightly needed to be studied and enjoyed cooperatively.”
The international status of the
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum will be recognized.
— jody 10/13/2007 03:12 AM #
— Andrew 10/13/2007 02:33 PM #
All of what is now the USA was “liberated” from someone else. The American Southwest was “liberated” from Mexico when the U.S. needed a southern route for its railroads. The states of: Texas, New Mexico (a strange name for an “American” state isn’t it?), California, Colorado, Nevada (names all derived from their Spanish names) and Arizona and Utah (derived from Indian names) now proudly wave the stars and stripes. Their people guaranteed the rights outlined in the Constitution and treaties (oh… wait ignore that). Well at least they have their liberty… unless they happen to have dark skin or look different or have “tainted” ancestry.
Too bad about the: “savages” who lived here before anyone else and had everything stolen from them; “Coolies” imported to build the railroads and then railroaded themselves; Americans of Japanese descent forced into concentration camps and oh, that’s right, all those brown skinned, Mexican looking people whose ancestral homeland was here long before the “settlers” arrived, who were rounded up and deported, regardless of their citizenship, back in the good ole 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, 90’s… oh wait, I guess it is still going on.
Well, no wonder so many people don’t want the Mexican flag waving anywhere on American soil. It must remind them of the injustices done to Mexicans and people of Mexican descent. Combined with those who would like to continue the exploitation and persecution of native Southwestern people and other immigrants and imported laborers, that’s a lot of people.
Me, I think a flag is just a flag. It means whatever you want it to mean. I prefer liberty and justice for all, to oppression and supremacy (reminds me of Nazi fascism). The museum should display any and all flags as they see fit, or none for that matter. What matters is that the Board of Directors should act based upon how they perceive the display of the flag(s) and not act out of fear resulting from threats of an irrational terrorist.
Do the museum directors feel there is something inappropriate in continuing to raise the same flags they have flown for over 50 years, based upon what they believe those flags stand for or not? Would a rational person threaten innocent animals and guests and workers of the museum if they don’t get their way? Should a terrorist threat be the basis for determining museum policy? Isn’t all this vitriol against the Mexican flag and “Mexicans” (code for threatening hordes) in general starting to look and sound like vigilante ranting? – “Liberty and Justice for all” indeed.
— Sonny Aros 10/16/2007 11:57 AM #