Letter to the editor

Cartoon ignores peaceful protest

Alex Hoffman’s April 3 cartoon implies that the
demonstrations against proposed bill HR4437 that occurred during
the past week have been unpatriotic and violent.

But Hoffman chose to focus on certain aspects of the student
walkouts, not on the much larger demonstration on March 25 that
drew more than 500,000 people.

I was at that demonstration and can attest that many of the
flags were American. When the Mexican flag did appear,
demonstrators often carried it alongside the American flag, as I
did.

Despite the fact that the March 25 demonstration drew an
enormous crowd, there were no violent altercations. That protest
was highly patriotic and was respectful of law and order.

There were several altercations during the student protests of
the following week, but the majority of student protesters were
nevertheless peaceful. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported that
the March 31 walkout in San Diego was conducted very civilly.

I would have liked to see students carry more American flags,
but I believe they carried the Mexican flag as a symbol of cultural
pride and not political allegiance to a foreign country. It
wasn’t necessarily unpatriotic.

Emmanuel Parello Fifth-year, history