October 4, 2007

Vet cuts down Mexican flag flying above U.S. banner

Took action after hearing of illegal display by Hispanic bar owner in Reno

After hearing a Reno bar was flying a Mexican flag above a U.S. flag, an angered U.S. Army veteran took matters into his own hands, drove to the site and cut down the banners in front of a stunned group of Hispanic patrons.

Reno television station KRNV, which was there to document Jim Broussard's act of defiance, noted the U.S. code prohibits raising the flag of any other nations above Old Glory.

Broussard pulled up in his truck to the Cantina El Jaripeo near downtown Reno yesterday, cut the rope that anchored the flags and pulled them down from a makeshift flagpole.

He left the Mexican flag on the ground and, with the U.S. flag in hand, turned to the KRNV cameraman:

“I'm Jim Broussard," he said, "and I took this flag down in honor of my country with … a knife from the United States Army. I'm a veteran, I'm not going to see this done to my country. If they want to fight us, then they need to be men, and they need to come and fight us. But I want somebody to fight me for this flag. They're not going to get it back."

The KRNV footage shows a Hispanic man, possibly the bar owner, picking up the Mexican flag after Broussard briskly walks past him down the street to his truck.

Later, Broussard, told nationally syndicated talk-radio host Mike Gallagher he took action after hearing on a local talk station that the flags had been flying all day.

"I was immediately infuriated and felt a duty to do something about it," Broussard said. "I feel there's a lot of this turning-our-heads-on-things in concern with the Hispanic community and the things they do. They seem impervious to our laws in a lot of situations."

Broussard, pointing out the bar was committing a federal offense, said local authorities weren't sure what to do about it.

He affirmed Gallagher's comment that many Americans are afraid to speak out on the problem of illegal immigration and lack of assimilation because they are afraid of being called bigots.

Broussard said he had no idea a TV camera would be there until he arrived on the scene.

About a dozen Hispanic men came pouring out of the building when he showed up, according to Broussard.

The men said, Broussard recounted, "What do you think you're doing?"

"I said, well, watch me."

Broussard said he talked to local police after the incident, and they have not taken any action. But Hispanic leaders, he said, "are trying to coerce the bar owner to file charges against me."

The veteran affirmed to Gallagher there are many Hispanics who are equally upset about illegal immigration and the resistance to assimilation.

"We have many cultures who've come here, and they've learned our language, and they respect our culture, because they know America is a great country, and they simply want to be a part of it," he said.

KRNV said it sent a cameraman to the scene after a viewer called to say "a business near downtown Reno was flying a Mexican flag above an American flag ... which is, in fact, illegal."