If you love Mexico so much, go compete for them.

Leo Manzano ran in the Olympic 1500 meter race for the United States. He won the silver medal. Receiving his award, he held a Mexican flag along with the U.S. flag.

Esther Cepeda says she knew as soon as that happened "the haters" would come out.  She says Manzano's action was just ethnic pride no different than celebrating Oktoberfest or St. Patrick's Day.

I beg to differ. People who celebrate Oktoberfest or St. Patrick's Day aren't representing the U.S. in international competition when they do so. If you represent the U.S., then you should do so whole-heartedly. Manzano needs to decide whether he's a Mexican or an American. If he runs with "U.S.A." on his uniform, then he needs to represent the United States. 

Esther asks if anyone would be freaking out if a naturalized U.S. citizen from Ireland hoisted an Irish flag along with the Stars and Stripes. You bet! It's the same thing. She says that the fact of the matter is that parts of America don't yet see Hispanics as "one of us." It seems to me he's the one who doesn't see himself as "one of us." If he acted like an American, he would most likely be accepted as an American. And therein lies the difference in European immigrants and Mexican immigrants. The vast majority of Irish immigrants assimilate. They truly become Americans. Doesn't seem to be that way with Mexicans. They don't want to learn English, and they hoist that Mexican flag every chance they get. I can't figure out why, if they love Mexico so much, they don't go back there.

"Flags flap much ado about nada." The Dallas Morning News; August 14, 2012; p. 11A.