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Much hub-bub has been made about the students that were sent home from school for wearing American flag clothing on Cinco De Mayo.  I\’m just as disgusted as everyone else, that this clear violation of their rights happened.

HOWEVER, my disgust is also tempered by the fact that the students themselves also did wrong.  The American flag deserves the utmost respect and dignity.  As such there are a variety of rules on it\’s display and care.  Everything from which side of a podium it should be displayed on, to how it hangs from a variety of different types of flag poles and in various settings to how it should be destroyed once it is no longer suitable for display.

But one of the most frequently violated tenets of flag protocol, is that the flag should never be WORN.  Please reference the Flag Code, Section 8d:

The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free. Bunting of blue, white, and red, always arranged with the blue above, the white in the middle, and the red below, should be used for covering a speaker\’s desk, draping the front of the platform, and for decoration in general.

The idea being that the flag deserves the ultimate respect and should never be printed upon something designed to eventually be discarded.  It\’s is to be displayed in a place of honor, not worn as common cloth.