Patriotism or prejudice? Teen suspended for criticizing Muslim student

ABCActionNews ^ | 8/31/09 | Elizabeth Dinh

[Sammy67]

SPRING HILL, FL -- While showing off her JROTC uniform, 16-year-old Heather Lawrence told us joining the Army is her next big goal, to follow in the footsteps of her father and grandfather.

"Our flag represents everything that our country is," she said.

The teen says an issue over the American flag is why she was written up and handed a five-day suspension from Springstead High School this week for criticizing a Muslim student. Heather says the other girl was sitting down during the Pledge of Allegiance.

"You know, I made a not-so-kind remark, and I do sincerely apologize for referring to the thing on her head because that had nothing to do with it." Heather told us, "But I told her, 'Why don't she act like she's proud to be an American?'"

[Republic of Texas]

God help us all.

[Ben Mugged]

'Why don't she act like she's proud to be an American?'"

Is this how we teach our students to talk these days?

[US Navy Vet]

I see a MAJOR Civil Rights lawsuit.

[wac3rd]

Because of Teddy’s immigration fiasco, we deal with issues not imagined by our grandparents.

Go back to the f-ing desert if it’s so great there, maggot.

[HIDEK6]

Unfortunately, WE’RE not doing the teaching and they aren’t OUR students.

[Islaminaction]

Yea, that question is just so vile....Sarc/

This girl is a true patriot.

[Mr. Mojo]

"But I told her, 'Why don't she act like she's proud to be an American?'"

The raghead, if anything, is proud to be among the hordes whose goal is to destroy America.

[muawiyah]

In response to the question of why another student wasn't acting like an American the school administrators decided they'd do that and began acting like Nazis.

Really good lesson school administrators. Come the reolution you will be remembered.

[I Buried My Guns]

Social pressure was once a great motivator to conform to group norms and standards.

All the great waves of European immigrants faced this pressure, and guess what, it worked. The grandson of Luigi the Dago is now Steve Dago, Systems Analyst at Cisco, not some backwards canoli-eating drunk who speaks only Genoese and a little pidgin English. Maybe because those folks WANTED to become Americans. This current crop HATES America.

SO I say harrass the muslims mercilessly until they conform. It was good enough for my ancestors, and it's good ennough for them.

[sheik yerbouty]

Sometime the place is just Floriduh..

[xcamel]

Muslims using our idiot liberialism to destroy us one incident at a time..

[charlie72]

She probably said, “Why don’t you act like you’re proud to be an American?” Obviously, most Muslims detest America. They are here to make it a Muslim nation. That is treason. They should all be sent back to the desert. Maybe it is going to take our young people to see what is going on.

[MarMema]

and I do sincerely apologize for referring to the thing on her head because that had nothing to do with it.

Now here in Washington state, my son on the school bus listened for many weeks to a bully telling him he was going to do all kinds of things to my son, such as cut his stomach open, among other numerous physical threats.

My son, just having made Eagle and also a wrestler in excellent physical shape, simply kept telling the kid, "Good luck with that".

So how this girl was nailed for bullying is beyond me.

It's gotta be the muslims are above criticism thing currently running in this country.

BTW, my son is brown, being adopted from the Republic of Georgia, and the kid who was harrassing him was white.

The kid ended up in Juvie after breaking the jaw of a much younger and smaller boy by hitting him.
I sure hope this kid is not on the same bus this fall.

[Fee]

I think many of these watered down emphasis on being an American attitude is fostered by the greatest traitor to American sovereignty known as corporate America in their efforts to create a global workforce and economic/social order. They want Americans to be morally numb or unconcious to foreign atrocities and anti Americanism in order to work amongst them to make money for corporate front office. If you don’t believe me, look at what is taught in every prominent US business and political schools. Wave an American flag and the prof will kick your butt and chew you out. September 2008 finanical meltdown has already proven that in addition to big government, big corporations are also the enemy to Main Street America. Their lobbyists have brought our politicians in areas of illegal immigration, abuse of H-1/H-2 visas, off shoring good jobs creating unemployment and underpaid work force, and all these social costs are dumped on the US taxpayers; same lobbyists advocate government healthcare behind the scene so corporations can dump their workers on guess who, the US taxpayers; many corporations are for cap and trade, especially the Wall Street ones; guess where all the bailout money went?????? At the rate things are going, America is heading for a French revolution.

[Leg Olam]

‘Council President Ahmed Bedier’

Nah...could’nt be that Ahmed is a...

[SkyDancer]

Not too sure about this but don’t the Jehovah Witnesses refuse to salute the flag too? Just asking ...... what if it was a JW instead of a Muslim ... would she have been suspended over the same issue?

[tatsinfla]

these people want to live here for the freedoms we have but they do not want to stand and pledge the flag...at least show some respect and stand in silence....this country is doomed...

[Lucky Dog]

Go back to the f-ing desert if it’s so great there, maggot.

Ok… Let’s get a grip here, people. Two wrongs do not make a right.

First, you should have, by now, figured out that rarely does a newspaper story tell all of the facts. Therefore, as Barrack Obama should be able to tell you, it is best to reserve judgment until you, in deed, do know all of the facts… unless you like having your foot in your mouth and want to be inviting everyone over for a beer… I’ll have a Coors, thanks.

Second, if you read the entire story you will have noticed that the Muslim girl denied not standing for the pledge. Perhaps she wasn’t going to do so until the other girl said something, or maybe, like a lot of teenagers, she resents authority and was showing her “rebelliousness” by getting up in her own time… well after everyone else.

Admittedly, such behavior, if that is what it was, is rude. However, such public rudeness is seldom properly addressed by the additional public rudeness of someone else who may have disagreed with the first display of rudeness. An after-school complaint to a school authority, or, perhaps, a quite, after-the-fact discussion in a private setting with the alleged perpetrator of the first display of rudeness would probably have been far more effective in altering future behavior and likely had no adverse consequences to young lady whom the school officials disciplined.

Based only on the article (which as noted earlier is, very likely, factually incomplete at best, and possibly slanted), it appears the school authorities over reacted in terms of sanctions. The punished girl’s father is probably correct in requesting a reduction. However, school authorities cannot ignore the incident if there is to be a continued expectation of student civility and non-violence with any semblance of a learning atmosphere.

Finally, this country is about individual liberty. That includes the liberty to be non-violently rude and disrespectful as a part of the First and Fourteenth Amendments. (Do not think that I am approving of either behavior alleged to have been displayed.) The first student had the “right” to disrespectfully remain seated during the pledge just as the other student had the right to non-disruptively and rudely express her disapprove in a peaceful manner. The question becomes whether the exercise of either of these individuals’ rights interfered with the creation and maintenance of the proper atmosphere of a public school setting.

[SoothingDave]

If the girl wants to join the Army, she needs to learn how to keep her mouth shut.

[Clemenza]

Why don't she act like she's proud to be an American?'"

Sounds like a real winner here. The only people who use "don't" instead of "doesn't" in my area are ghetto blacks and the dirty-t-shirt whites.

I agree with some of her sentiments, but why in Hades do we require the Pledge of Allegiance, which was written by the SOCIALIST Bellamy!?

[Clemenza]

The J-Ws actually won several court decisions starting in the 1930s that allowed them to opt out of the rather totalitarian concept of forcing children to recite what is essentially a utopian socialist poem.

[Bob J]

Forced patriotism always ends up breeding the exact opposite behavior. Not standing for or reciting the POA, as annoying as it is to many, is a protected form of free speech. Defending the Muslim girls right not to stand, even if you don’t agree with it, is more patriotic than getting in her face.

I just don’t get what some believe they will achieve by intimidating others into faux pubic displays of patriotism or respect. It fosters resentment and anger.

Patriotism is a subjective concept and has to be defined by each individual. Whatever it means to you, it should be held in your heart, not worn on your sleeve.

I don’t know, for some reason forced displays of patriotism for the father-motherland/government, etc., reminds me of the groupthink of nazis and the soviets. I think Jesus had the same concern with the Pharisees.

[rigelkentaurus]

guess I’m missing something here.

The muzzie has a right to hate America and not honor our traditions. The other student has the right to discuss and question the muzzie about her intentions. Freedom of speech works both ways. If she gives the muzzie had verbal hard time - tough - it’s just speech.

If the government, ie the school, were to enter into the issue and suppress either student, that is the problem.

Correct answer, as far as I am concerned, is no action should have been taken by the school for or against either student’s action.

My personal opinion, the muzzie should go home to whichever bigoted, totalitarian country she came from and is more comfortable with. We don’t want her here.

[DieHard the Hunter]

I would need to hear exactly what she said to the muslim girl before passing judgment. This could be a case of a girl wrapping herself in the flag to excuse bad behavior.

On the face of it, the muslim girl was in the wrong, but there are always two sides to every story.

[Joe Boucher]

If America gets hit by the terrorists again like on 9-11 I feel sorry for this little piece of crap.
She along with awhole lot of her ilk probably will get hurt.

[SkyDancer]

Ok on the JW’s but I disagree on the Pledge of Allegiance as a totalitarian poem. What I do agree on is the constant daily recitation of it. Once you pledge allegiance to something it’s done. You don’t have to keep re-allegiancing (my invented word) yourself on a daily basis because somehow overnight you’d loose it.

[wac3rd]

If you continue to import the 3rd World without assimilation (see Mexico, Somalia, etc.) you will get the ghettos we see all over the US.

The media slanted and I hope the girl (American) sues the school.