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School Superintendent: 13-Star 'Betsy Ross' Flag Injects 'Hostility' and 'Hate'
Michigan Capitol Confidential ^ | 9/19/2016 | Tom Gantert

Posted on 09/21/2016 7:05:32 AM PDT by MichCapCon

A Michigan public school superintendent wrote in a published “letter to the community” that students at a high school football game injected “hate” and “hostility” because they waved a historical Betsy Ross flag that has 13 stars to represent the original 13 colonies.

The students waved the flag at a Sept. 9 football game at Houseman Field between Forest Hills Central and Ottawa Hills. The students also brought a Donald Trump for President banner to the event.

The superintendent received a complaint from a parent and then published the letter which is dated Sept. 12.

“And to wave a historical version of our flag, that to some symbolizes exclusion and hate, injects hostility and confusion to an event where no one intended to do so,” Forest Hills Public Schools Superintendent Daniel Behm wrote.

Behm continued with an apology: "To our gracious hosts — the students, families, staff, and community of Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills High School and Grand Rapids Public Schools — and to the student-athletes, coaches, officials, and supporters of both teams, we are truly sorry. These actions are not characteristic of our schools, our staff, our students, or our community, and they represent a lack of knowledge."

Forest Hills Public Schools released a statement that said the students wouldn’t be disciplined for the Betsy Ross flag and “it will be used as a teachable moment.”

The district said if the act occurs again, “Each situation would be addressed individually and in the context in which it occurs.”

Tim Bowen, who sells historical flags for the Little Rock, Arkansas company Flagandbanner.com, called the condemnation of the Betsy Ross flag “deplorable.”

“It is a historical flag. It was never used as a symbol of hate,” Bowen said. “This person needs to take a history lesson.”

Ronald Hall, a professor at Michigan State University and an expert on racial relations, didn’t return an email seeking comment. Daniel Valentine, spokesman for the national NAACP, said he sent an email from Michigan Capitol Confidential to Yvonne White, who is the president of the Michigan State Conference of the NAACP. White didn’t respond.


TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: america; flag
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To: MichCapCon

Superintendent Behm is cowing to demands made by Ms. Urena-Ravelo, the founder of a local “Black Lives Matter” group and homosexual who wants to “make straight white boys cry”.

Suppose a straight white guy said “I want to make black girls cry”. Would Behm consider the demands of that person credible?

More here: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3469591/posts


21 posted on 09/21/2016 7:49:26 AM PDT by Ray76
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To: Ray76

Chicken.


22 posted on 09/21/2016 7:59:47 AM PDT by madison10 (Proud to be a Deplorable)
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To: MichCapCon

This idiot needs to be FIRED!


23 posted on 09/21/2016 8:02:24 AM PDT by Mollypitcher1 (I have not yet begun to fight....John Paul Jones)
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To: DiogenesLamp
And you probably thought this nonsense would stop with the a ban on the confederate flag. :)

One thing I've learned in life is that the nonsense never stops.

24 posted on 09/21/2016 8:10:20 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: MichCapCon
...that to some symbolizes exclusion and hate, injects hostility and confusion to an event where no one intended to do so...

OK so we're not talking Confederate flag here. How does the Betsy Ross flag promote exclusion or hate, much less hostility? The confusion I'll grant, though I think it lies with him superintendent himself.

25 posted on 09/21/2016 8:13:05 AM PDT by DoodleDawg
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To: MichCapCon

These people sacrifice everything ever held to be true on the altar of political correctness. Thin skinned and milquetoast is no way to go through life.


26 posted on 09/21/2016 8:13:29 AM PDT by OriginalChristian (The end of America, as founded, began when the first Career Politician was elected...)
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To: DoodleDawg
One thing I've learned in life is that the nonsense never stops.

And on that, I happen to agree with you.

27 posted on 09/21/2016 8:17:32 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: MichCapCon

We should not let the mentally ill run schools. They can be baggers at the local grocery but not “fake educators.”


28 posted on 09/21/2016 8:31:25 AM PDT by jmaroneps37 (Conservatism is truth. Liberalism is lies.)
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To: MichCapCon
Democrats ONLY HIRE FELLOW DEMOCRATS to run things in the giant bloated government bureaucracy.

They have saturated the highest levels of government

Now they are making their move to take over - Obama and HilLIARy were their dream come true.

But Trump is spoiling their plans.

Granted, you have to be pretty stupid to believe what most liberals believe... That is why the socialist leaders referred to their own supporters as “useful idiots”.

But their mindless insistence on moving their agenda is dangerous to 'non-believers'. That is why they have to KILL millions to implement it.

I used to wonder how Hitler, Stalin, Mao, etc were able to kill so many people. But I see the attitude here. I firmly believe the democrats and their idiot supporters would kill to get hilLIARy elected.

So its just a short hop from there, in what Obama may be willing to do to keep in power.

29 posted on 09/21/2016 8:34:59 AM PDT by Mr. K (<a href="https://imgflip.com/i/1adpjl"><img src="https://i.imgflip.com/1adpjl.jpg" title="made at im)
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To: Mr. K

Forty to fifty years of Uniparty agenda is at stake.


30 posted on 09/21/2016 8:39:08 AM PDT by Ray76
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To: MichCapCon
What educated stupidity looks like:

"Wull, gollllleeee!"

31 posted on 09/21/2016 8:40:01 AM PDT by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias; "Barack": Allah's current ally...)
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To: MichCapCon

Many (if not all) of these superintendent are failures in life. However, they have hitched themselves to the highly paid racket of being a superintendent. When they are shown to be idiots and frauds, they transfer to another school system.


32 posted on 09/21/2016 8:46:52 AM PDT by hal ogen (First Amendment or Reeducation Camp?.)
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To: MichCapCon
From the dumb@$$3d supt's letter -- corrected:

"These actions are not characteristic of our schools, our staff, our students, or our community, and they represent a lack of knowledge LEFTIST INDOCTRINATION."

33 posted on 09/21/2016 8:52:34 AM PDT by TXnMA ("Allah": Satan's current alias; "Barack": Allah's current ally...)
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To: MichCapCon
The superintendent received a complaint from a parent

So one parent complained and it evokes this as a response, I say BS to the response and FU to the parent. Don't like it, relocate to another country.

34 posted on 09/21/2016 8:58:34 AM PDT by Robert DeLong
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To: DiogenesLamp
I used to hang out the flag of the United States of America on my porch front every 4th of July for 35 years. I'd usually get around to taking it down around that time of year that the gutters needed cleaning. Then my son grew up and moved into a home of his own,.......... And he stole my flag to put on a pole in his yard. Later I received a gift from him and without completely ripping open the package I could see enough red, white and blue to know he'd gotten me a new flag for myself. He's a good boy.

So when the next 4th rolled around I unfurled and hung my new flag in my old spot on the front porch. Lo and behold. Yes, it had the correct number and colors of stripes ...........but there were only thirteen stars in a circle. It took me all of one minute to get used to that flag. I can see it from where I am now sitting. Hundreds of vehicles per day see it. It is very prominent and is visible from way down the street.

The sad thing is that you believe those thirteen original colonies were "slave holding" States. As if they pinned their identity on Slavery, the way the Confederacy did.

35 posted on 09/21/2016 9:07:05 AM PDT by HandyDandy (Don't make up stuff. It wastes time.)
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To: HandyDandy
The sad thing is that you believe those thirteen original colonies were "slave holding" States. As if they pinned their identity on Slavery, the way the Confederacy did.

Even if what you say is true, it does not justify invading them.

You cannot Atone for a war because 18 months after you started it, you declare that you are abolishing slavery. (But only in non-Union states.)

The morality of the South does not put conditions on their right to independence. Even Horace Greely (second most influential Republican in 1861) recognized that they had a right to create their own nation.


36 posted on 09/21/2016 9:27:39 AM PDT by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: MichCapCon

It’s time to stop bowing down to morons. Even if they freak out, we need to ignore them, not coddle them.


37 posted on 09/21/2016 11:14:38 AM PDT by Pollster1 (Somebody who agrees with me 80% of the time is a friend and ally, not a 20% traitor. - Ronald Reagan)
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To: I want the USA back

You are so right.

There are already some schools, as I have read in articles posted here, in which kids are not allowed to wear USA-themed garments.


38 posted on 09/21/2016 11:59:41 AM PDT by Bigg Red (Go away, Satan! -- Fr.Jacques Hamel (R.I.P., martyr))
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