2 Students Sue High School Over Confederate Flag Ban

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White Rain

White Rain

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When I was in high school if anyone wore a rebel flag t-shirt they would have to turn them inside out and wear them like that. Same with the Big Johnson T-shirts. Eventually so many kids were doing it anyway they started threatening suspension.
My school would go even further than that though. During black history month for one whole day we would have black guest speakers come to the school and speak about black leaders and their achievements, how hard it was for them to get where they are today, etc. Well anyway, we were told that any white student that did not come to school that day MUST have a doctors note when they came back or we would be suspended.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,251303,00.html

DALLAS — Two high school students sent home for carrying purses depicting the Confederate flag filed a lawsuit against their suburban Fort Worth school district Friday, claiming their free speech rights were violated.

Aubrie Michelle McAllum and Ashley Paige Thomas, both 17, say they were singled out for punishment in a lawsuit prepared by the Southern Legal Resource Center, a North Carolina-based group whose motto is "Justice For Dixie."

The girls were punished at Burleson High School for expressing "pride in their Southern ancestry, culture and heritage," according to the suit.

The suit asks that Burleson ISD clear the girls' student record, acknowledge that that their Constitutional rights were violated and pay unspecified damages. (more at link)
 
White Rain said:
When I was in high school if anyone wore a rebel flag t-shirt they would have to turn them inside out and wear them like that. Same with the Big Johnson T-shirts. Eventually so many kids were doing it anyway they started threatening suspension.
My school would go even further than that though. During black history month for one whole day we would have black guest speakers come to the school and speak about black leaders and their achievements, how hard it was for them to get where they are today, etc. Well anyway, we were told that any white student that did not come to school that day MUST have a doctors note when they came back or we would be suspended.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,251303,00.html

DALLAS — Two high school students sent home for carrying purses depicting the Confederate flag filed a lawsuit against their suburban Fort Worth school district Friday, claiming their free speech rights were violated.

Aubrie Michelle McAllum and Ashley Paige Thomas, both 17, say they were singled out for punishment in a lawsuit prepared by the Southern Legal Resource Center, a North Carolina-based group whose motto is "Justice For Dixie."

The girls were punished at Burleson High School for expressing "pride in their Southern ancestry, culture and heritage," according to the suit.

The suit asks that Burleson ISD clear the girls' student record, acknowledge that that their Constitutional rights were violated and pay unspecified damages. (more at link)
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If the school has a code of conduct which includes a dress code then these students had no right to violate it.
 
I believe that the confederate flag being a symbol of the KU KLUX KLAN, and other racist hate groups should not be allowed at a public school. I equate this to someone coming to school wearing a swastika.
 
I thought the Confederate flag was something they put on an orange Dodge Charger.
 
funny how the confederate flag was no big deal for many generations... it was kind of seen as a harmless archaic symbol of a part of the nation whose 'glory years' (self-percieved or not) had passed. now all of a sudden, everyone's all offended by it-- go figure! this is the truly the era of being offended by everything.. while european-americans are supposed to just sit back and let everyone hate and offend us and we're not allowed to fight back or stand up for ourselves, or..... be offended!

strange times we live in.
 
I don't know...I mean weren't there black confederates as well, who wanted to fight as confederates? Wouldn't this be honoring them as well? And I have to agree with Reb..why is this all of a sudden such a big issue? And do we have to spend the rest of our lives paying for what happened back then? I mean this as no disrespect, if anyone is offended by it please feel free to delete my post.
 
White Rain said:
I don't know...I mean weren't there black confederates as well, who wanted to fight as confederates? Wouldn't this be honoring them as well? And I have to agree with Reb..why is this all of a sudden such a big issue? And do we have to spend the rest of our lives paying for what happened back then? I mean this as no disrespect, if anyone is offended by it please feel free to delete my post.
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The reason is because hate groups have decided to adopt the confederate flag as a symbol. It is a reminder of slavery and segregation and is displayed at Klan meetings and other extremist hate group meetings. I wouldn't want to associate myself with those groups.
 
I have three rebel flag shirts, and when I put them on it's not with hate in mind or an attempt to offend anyone. I just happen to like them and their cute little saying about GRITS meaning "girls raised in the south."
 
White Rain said:
I have three rebel flag shirts, and when I put them on it's not with hate in mind or an attempt to offend anyone. I just happen to like them and their cute little saying about GRITS meaning "girls raised in the south."
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I don't think that everyone who displays a confederate flag is a racist. I am just explaining why some people get offended.
 
<The reason is because hate groups have decided to adopt the confederate flag as a symbol. It is a reminder of slavery and segregation and is displayed at Klan meetings and other extremist hate group meetings. I wouldn't want to associate myself with those groups.>

OK....... isn't this the same as saying you don't want to associate yourself with any muslims, because the muslims hate groups are also muslims, and have the same religious beliefs, and use the same rligious symbols? i mean, if you're a so-called 'good' muslim (or even a non-muslim), then why would you want to have anything to do with islam since it has become the sybol for so much hate, repression, and violence......??
wow, so much hypocrisy we have in our world today.. it's unreal.

i think i got you good there, if i do say so myself.
 
csds703 said:
If the school has a code of conduct which includes a dress code then these students had no right to violate it.
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I agree with you csds. I think some people don't realize that seemingly innocent things have other not so innocent meanings. At our HS one cannot wear pendleton flannel shirts and jeans. These were the clothes of choice when i was young! Now they have gang affiliations and so are not allowed. I understand that. Even if I don't like it, I get it. These girls really blew it IMO. they had the option of not bringing the purses to school and avoiding disiplinary actions. I think their parents are doing them a huge disservice by getting this in the media. Colleges and jobs are very competitive these days. A simple google search may bring up this article up in the future and i do not think it will bode well for them. I was talking to an education atty once and she said to keep your childs name out of the media at all costs if it is controversial topic. She has seen many kids lose scholarships, jobs and college admittance once their media issues were revealed.
This is not the hill to die on IMO.
 
i have an idea!! why don't we all turn ourselves into cloned robots, shave our heads, have computer chips installed into our heads that do all our thinking for us (censored, of course).. and the computer chip will be pre-screened by the united states politically correct censorship police, and we, the cloned robots, can only wear a white bodysuit for clothing(all the same of course), and we can only speak through pre-recorded conversations that are programmed into our computer chip (also screened by the PC police). that way, we won't offend anybody.. because we won't have any of our own brains left. good solution, huh?
 
how about no clothes at all? just turn the schools into nudist camps. everything's going to mean something offensive to someone, heck i was morally offended by 95% of the clothing worn during the 80's. i should have sued!!!
 
csds703 said:
I believe that the confederate flag being a symbol of the KU KLUX KLAN, and other racist hate groups should not be allowed at a public school. I equate this to someone coming to school wearing a swastika.
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This is definitely a hot topic issue here in the south.

My great great great grandfather was Secretary of the Confederacy during the War between the States, so the Confederate flag has special meaning to me. That said, I realize it has been adopted by hate groups - a true shame.

In any event, students need to respect the school's policy regarding what they can or cannot wear.
 
southcitymom said:
This is definitely a hot topic issue here in the south.

My great great great grandfather was Secretary of the Confederacy during the War between the States, so the Confederate flag has special meaning to me. That said, I realize it has been adopted by hate groups - a true shame.

In any event, students need to respect the school's policy regarding what they can or cannot wear.
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--He was Secretary of the Confederacy? Very Impressive--sounds like you have an interesting genalogy history
 
Peter Hamilton said:
--He was Secretary of the Confederacy? Very Impressive--sounds like you have an interesting genalogy history
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Yep - George Alfred Trenholm. It's my only claim to fame - ha!ha! A good cocktail party icebreaker. He was a big shipping merchant and had gobs of money....none of which made it to my generation, though I do have some cool silver from one of his ships!
 
White Rain said:
I don't know...I mean weren't there black confederates as well, who wanted to fight as confederates? Wouldn't this be honoring them as well? And I have to agree with Reb..why is this all of a sudden such a big issue? And do we have to spend the rest of our lives paying for what happened back then? I mean this as no disrespect, if anyone is offended by it please feel free to delete my post.
Click to expand...
--White Rain--This is not "all of a sudden a big issue"--This controversy has been going on for decades--remember when Georgia wasn't even allowed to fly the flag on the State Capital building? The flag is seen as symbol of slavery, right or wrong--It is true that hundreds of thousands died valiantly on both sides of the war, but the Klan has always used the flag as a symbol of white power, covering themselves in the flag as a pretext for spreading their hate doctrine against blacks and Jews--The schoolgirls were of course wrong and the suit will go nowhere
 
I think the confederate flag is not only a symbol of the "old" south, but also a symbol of our country's division, not just on the slavery issue. The recent adoption by white racist extremist has added the most shame to that flag. Prior to that adoption, the flag really had no impact on me other than being a historical flag. I'm not jewish but still cringe at what the swatiska represents. Hitler lost and you don't see his flag flying over govt buildings in Germany for old times sake. If the confederate flag is allowed, who will then say the swatiska should be allowed on clothing and accessories?
 
When I was in high school, this was in 2000, a bunch of rednecks got together on Flag day and flew their rebel flags from the back of their big trucks. It was very embarrassing for those of us who weren't racist, because we knew the reason behind it...they tried to say it was for Flag day, but the students knew otherwise. They were suspended for 3 days for "inciting a riot". This was kinda in the south, Chesapeake, VA. Hickory High School. After school that day a lot of good 'ol white boys got their asses kicked.
 
Oh, God; I remember moving from someplace normal to the h.s. Natalee Holloway went to, many years ago. I was so shocked to see a guy dressed in a Klan costume (hil-arious!) make the yearbook, and for someone to paint a swastika in the driveway to the high school.
 
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