Posted on 05/22/2006 11:00:46 AM PDT by 300magnum
LATTA, S.C. - A 15-year-old girl led a small protest march Monday over her high school's ban on Confederate flag clothing, which she is also challenging in court.
Candice Hardwick walked with about a dozen people, about half of them family members and some wearing Confederate T-shirts, a few blocks to Latta High School. Hardwick wore a Confederate belt buckle and button and had the Confederate flag on her cell phone cover. She removed those items before entering the school, where she is a sophomore.
Hardwick says she wants to wear the emblem to pay tribute to ancestors who fought on the Confederate side of the Civil War. She said she has been forced to change clothes or turn her shirt inside-out, and has been suspended twice and threatened with being kicked off the track team.
John Kirby, school superintendent, said Monday that officials "have clothing issues every year ... and we've handled it consistently every time."
Among those marching with Candice was a black man, H.K. Edgerton, board chairman of the Southern Legal Resource Center, the group that filed a federal lawsuit in March on her behalf.
"She's made a stand for her Southland," said Edgerton. A former local NAACP leader in North Carolina, he is known for dressing up in Confederate gear to emphasize what he describes as the role blacks played in voluntarily supporting the South in the Civil War.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1969 that the First Amendment protects students' political expressions during school hours so long as they don't substantially disrupt the education process.
The high court has not ruled specifically on whether a student may wear Confederate symbols. Three years ago, the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta upheld a lower court ruling allowing a school to ban the Confederate flag.
Let the hypocrisy begin....
There's the rub.
Don't waste the court's time.
Many FReepers will cheer this girl on, and then go to another thread (with an article where students protest for liberal causes) and scream about how schools are not a political soapbox.
At least I can still wear my Mexican flag. :)
I agree. Make them wear uniforms and get back to the reason for being there in the first place.
ping
If the confederate flag is to be put away then the race card must be put away also.
Think any "black caucus" members would go for that?
Not a chance.
Just ban all logos of any kind on clothing worn to school... oh, and teach the kids, if there's time....
What's the big deal?
Thanks for the ping.
"Knock 'em out John . . . won't be long now." ;^)
There's the rub.
Don't waste the court's time.
Nah. Take it to federal court, instead:
United States Code, U.S. Criminal Code,
Title 18 Section 242:
Deprivation of rights under color of law
Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death.
Perhaps if you were to dredge up the SCOTUS ruling(s) we would see why that doesn't apply here.
Then again, students don't have an inalienable "right" to disrupt the classroom with their mouths, either. So, there's obviously something to that "so long as they don't substantially disrupt the education process" stuff.
Aw, heck. The school's just gotta look important here. They wanna make the 6 o'clock news...
Football or basketball uniforms? It's all about sports, not education.
Whatever your status (rebel or yankee), you've got to admit that the confed battle flag is terribly gaudy.
Nice try, but why would I admit to something that I don't believe? Just like old glory, she's a beauty.
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