Context
His four thought experiments touch on the recent California case, but without the extra context. What context is that?
2006 -- http://www.highbeam....P1-123100628.html
SANTA CLARA, CA - MAY 05: Anti-immigration demonstrators hold signs and American flags during an anti-immigration rally May 5, 2006 in Santa Clara, California. Dozens of anti-immigration demonstrators held a rally as similar rallies ...
2007 -- http://www.seacoasto...505/NEWS/70505029
Minutemen rally in Concord a response to Cinco de Mayo
CONCORD, N.H. -- Local members of an illegal immigration watchdog group picketed the Statehouse Friday, calling their display of flag-waving, sign-holding and in some instances, costume-wearing, a response to the Mexican national holiday of Cinco de Mayo.
2010 -- http://imagine2050.n...on-cinco-de-mayo/
A posting on the website ArizonaMilitia.com this week stated:
Arizona Citizens Militia calls on Arizonans to celebrate ÂCinco de Ammo by asking everyone to purchase five boxes of ammunition on 5 May 2010
2010 -- http://chattahbox.co...gal-day%E2%80%99/
And right on cue, the Phoenix-based National Socialist Movement, a neo-nazi white supremacist group is sponsoring ÂReport An Illegal Day on the same day Cinco de Mayo is celebrated.
Those kids were being intentionally provocative, in a context where people are getting national press coverage suggesting buying ammo and reporting on suspected illegals. Where people calling themselves militias are openly calling for armed response to illegal immigration. Where a state legislature has just required that its police engage in racial profiling.
I'm not saying everyone protesting immigration is racist. I'm not saying everyone protesting Cinco de Mayo is racist. I'm not saying everyone supporting the kids who were told to remove the flag clothes is racist.
What I am saying is that there are a whole lot of people doing those things who are proudly racist. And the fact that none of the other heritage days Ebert mentioned gets protested strongly suggests that there's more racist sentiment in the opposition to Cinco de Mayo than most people would care to admit to themselves.
And on a lighter note -- http://www.mynorthwe...sid=318591&page=0
But the US also figured in this battle BECAUSE... we were fighting the Civil War at the time, and the South desperately wanted help from the French.
Which is why Abraham Lincoln in fact encouraged the Mexican army to confront the French on Cinco de Mayo and tie them down.
In other words, Cinco de Mayo commemorates a battle where Mexico AND the United States were ON THE SAME SIDE. Against the FRENCH.