U.S. Olympic athlete, Mexican flag?
updated 7:31 AM EDT, Fri August 10, 2012
Leo Manzano waved the flag of the U.S. and Mexico after winning second place in the 1500-meters final.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Leo Manzano waved both U.S. and Mexico flags after winning in the Olympics
- Ruben Navarrette: It was not a good idea for Manzano to carry two flags
- He says Manzano should have been clear about which country he represented
- Navarrette: By putting on the jersey for Team USA, it's clear what his choice was
Editor's note: Ruben
Navarrette is a CNN contributor and a nationally syndicated columnist
with the Washington Post Writers Group. Follow him on Twitter: @rubennavarrette.
San Diego (CNN) -- Every few years, I reassess how I
feel about Mexican-Americans who wave Mexican flags. Much of it has to
do with who is doing the waving and under what circumstances.
In 2006, I wrote a column
saying it was a bad idea for immigration reform advocates to wave
Mexican flags as they marched through U.S. cities such as Phoenix,
Chicago, Dallas and Los Angeles. It's illogical to show your allegiance
to one country while demanding accommodation from another.
But in 2007, I penned
another column after attending a Luis Miguel concert in Las Vegas where
fans of the Mexican singer unfurled Mexican flags. Nothing wrong with
that, I concluded.
Ruben Navarrette Jr.
It's all about context. There is a big difference between a political protest and a concert.
Now, thanks to U.S.
Olympic medalist Leo Manzano, and what I consider to be the misguided
and ill-mannered way he chose to celebrate his silver medal in the
1500-meters final, I get the chance to think through the subject of
flag-waving once again.
After Manzano finished
his race and secured his medal, he did what athletes typically do at the
Olympics. He held up his country's flag -- the Stars and Stripes.
The 27-year-old was born
in Mexico, but the United States is his country now. His father migrated
here illegally from the city of Dolores Hidalgo. Manzano was brought
here when he was 4. Like most immigrants, they came in search of greater
opportunity. And they found it -- for themselves, and their children.
U.S. distance running back at Games
That little boy
eventually became a U.S. citizen. And then, after a lot of hard work and
thousands of hours of training, he got the chance to represent his
country and compete in the Olympics. And, to put the cherry on the
sundae, he actually wins a silver medal. The last time an American won a
medal of any kind in the 1500 meters was 44 years ago.
You can't help but be proud of Manzano and the country that allowed him the opportunity to fulfill his potential.
So why did Manzano carry
two flags with him on his victory lap? As the world looked on, he held
up both the U.S. flag and the Mexican flag. Not a good look. And not a
good idea.
Manzano posted messages
on Twitter throughout the competition -- in Spanish and English. After
his victory, he tweeted, "Silver medal, still felt like I won!
Representing two countries USA and Mexico!"
That's funny. I only saw one set of letters on his jersey: USA.
Later, he said to the media that he was honored to represent the United States and Mexico.
I realize that, for many
of my fellow Mexican-Americans, the image of Manzano waving two flags
is no big thing. And for many Americans who are Mexican-born, it's
actually a great thing. Both camps might even find the gesture charming
-- albeit, for different reasons.
Most Mexican-Americans I
know would need a whole team of therapists to sort out their views on
culture, national identity, ethnic pride and their relationship with
Mother Mexico. They're the orphans of the Southwest -- too Mexican for
the Americans, too American for the Mexicans. Their positive reaction to
the photo has less to do with Manzano than with their own sense of
displacement.
Many Mexicans who came
to the United States -- particularly those who came as professionals or
became professionals once they got here -- look to Mexico with a mixture
of affection and guilt. They romanticize what they left behind and find
it easier to love the country from hundreds or thousands of miles away.
They may live in the United States, but many of them still consider
themselves children of Mexico -- the kind who run away from home.
For both groups, the
fact that Manzano, who holds dual citizenship, made a decision to show
off the flags of both countries was a kind of signal to the people of
Mexico that this accomplished young man hadn't forgotten where he came
from. For some, that concept warms the heart.
But the image didn't warm my heart. It upset my stomach.
Understand, I've been
called a Mexican separatist, a racist who hates anyone who isn't Mexican
or Mexican-American, someone who is obsessed with his ethnicity. In
fact, I can't remember the last time someone accused me of not being
proud of being Mexican or Mexican-American. And in the past 20 years,
I've written hundreds of thousands of words in defense of Mexicans and
Mexican-Americans.
That said, the photo bothered me.
Some people will insist
that this is Manzano's choice to make, that it was his sweat and
sacrifice that got him to London, and this was his victory to celebrate
however he saw fit. Those people are wrong. They're focused on the
individual. But the last thing the Olympics is about is the individual.
It's about being part of
a team -- the U.S. Olympic team. It's about national pride, not ego.
Manzano wasn't there to compete for himself but to represent his
country. All he had to do was decide which country that was. He chose
not to choose.
What am I missing? Where
were the Italian-American athletes waving the Italian flag, or the
Irish-Americans waving the Irish flag? I didn't see that.
I remember that, in
1992, Mexican-American boxer Oscar De La Hoya held up both the U.S. and
Mexican flags after winning a gold medal in Barcelona. But that was
largely symbolic since De La Hoya was born in the United States. He
wasn't an immigrant caught between two countries.
Leo, con todo respeto
(with all due respect), you should be proud of your accomplishment. You
deserve it. But when you're an Olympic athlete, you don't get to have
your cake and eat it, too. Sooner or later, you have to choose which
country you're going to represent. And you did. You made that choice,
when you put on the jersey for Team USA.
It wasn't unlike the
choice your parents made when they chose the United States over Mexico a
quarter century ago. They voted with their feet. It would be nice if
you haven't left your heart behind.
This country took you in
during your hour of need. Now in your moment of glory, which country
deserves your respect -- the one that offered nothing to your parents
and forced them to leave or the one that took you all in and gave you
the opportunity to live out your dreams?
The answer should be obvious.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/10/opinion/navarrette-olympics-flags/index.html
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