Posted on 06/05/2008 12:09:34 PM PDT by XR7
BLOOMINGTON, Minn. (WCCO) ― Flying the Confederate flag has long been controversial in Southern states but now it's causing a heated debate at Kennedy High School in Bloomington, Minn. Three seniors who displayed the flag will not be allowed to attend their graduation ceremony Wednesday evening.
"It was sitting like that in the parking lot," said Justin Thompson, as he held a Confederate flag that was hanging from a pole inside a pick-up truck bed.
On Tuesday, three seniors, each with a rebel flag on the back of their pick-ups, parked at Kennedy High School.
"I'm just a country type of person, country music, big trucks and everything, that's basically all it means to me," said Thompson.
"And then I found out later that day that it had been taken off when I got called down to the office," said Dan Fredin, who displayed the flag.
They were suspended and the suspension means they're barred from all school activities including their own graduation ceremony...
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.tv ...
The rotund school superintendant's voice says it all.
But burn the American flag and you get extra credit.
Will they hold the same standard to those who wave the Mexican flag?
Illegalize flags, and only criminals will have flags.
They should have shown up with the Mexican flag, they would have been asked to give a speech.
...or the Rainbow fag? I mean flag?
How is this not violation of free speech? Many schools bar ALL signs, flags, etc. at graduations, and that’s fine, but the school cannot allow some banners while specifically barring another.
How exactly does one define “the Confederate flag”? (I assume the school means the battle standard.) Can a student hailing from Georgia show his state flag, one quadrant of which is the old stars and bars? Can a student fly something very similar to the stars and bars BUT with kelly green instead of navy blue? Silly rule.
Yeah - when the founders said “free speech” they didn’t mean for non PC types...
Don't apologize: tell the truth and assert your rights.
I think you mean the Mississippi state flag.
To so solidarity with the Good Youth of JFK High, All Freepers should bring Confederate Flags to their workplace next Tuesday.
Black principle + white kids + rebel flag = no graduation
Remember when liberals were in the minority and shrieked about Free Speech when they burned American flags and made clothing out of them? Now they’re in charge and all Free Speech gets screened for political correctness.
yeah, didn’t something like 30% of black voters vote to keep the Confederate flag as part of the Miss state flag?
When my class was graduating H/S they had a no jeans, shorts, etc rule. My friend came from a lower income family and lived on a farm. Jeans were the only pants he had. He bought them new and wore them to school, when they became ‘worn’ he wore them while working on the farm.
He showed up for the walk with his newest pair of dark blue jeans (concealed to the shins by the robe); the school told him they didn’t care the circumstances “change, or don’t walk.” He ended up finding a pair of ratty teal cordouroys, from his older brother (which were too big for him), and barely made it back as we were starting to march onto the field.
— It seems schools are always trying to find reasons to keep certain students from the Graduation Walk
1920-1956
1956-2001
2001-2003
current
Two things stand out. One, the principal declared that the flags are forbidden because they’re “symbols of hate and racism”. Second, the ACLU has refused to help. Surprise surprise.
There was a thread on this yesterday:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2026064/posts
I’ll repeat what I said then:
Im always torn about issues like this. In a public space, they have the right to do this. On private property, they have the right to ban it. Since its a public school, I guess thats public space in a way, but its also owned by the school district, so its arguable that they have the right to make rules like this. High schools are tricky like that; freedom of speech has to be balanced with not allowing kids to be disruptive.
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