Posted on 10/20/2011 4:06:01 PM PDT by Colonel Kangaroo
DOWAGIAC, Mich. -- School officials at Dowagiac Union High School have banned students from wearing the Confederate flag. Now students are fighting back!
There has been outrage, hurt feelings, and death threats after a student was suspended last Friday for wearing a belt buckle with the Confederate flag on it.
On Monday, a handful of students wore Confederate flag T-shirts in retaliation, and they too were suspended.
On Wednesday, dozens of students went to school in protest, wearing T-shirts with a Confederate flag on them. The students either left school on their own, or were sent home for fighting back against the school. School officials say wearing anything with the Confederate flag on it is violation of the dress code.
The school stands by its dress code policy and students were again warned on Wednesday that they would face expulsion if they wore anything that displayed the Confederate flag on it.
Still, students says they are not backing down. The students say they want the same rights as everyone else, and refuse to compromise, even with threats of violence surging on the internet.
While students and their parents say it is just about principle and fighting for their Freedom of Speech, there is no doubt that this protest has the community divided.
Many people in the community say they understand that everyone has the right to voice their opinions, but they say students are walking a very thin line when it comes to racism and doing something that could offend someone.
"Honestly, I think of 'redneck', 'country', and 'racist'."
That is what Angelique Ware immediately thinks of when she sees someone wearing or flying the Confederate flag. She has four kids, all around high school age. Although they do not attend Dowagiac Union High School, they do compete against student from that school in sports.
"To see their friends or classmates wearing something like that, to me, it really hits home," said Ware.
That is because her kids are interracial, which is why she worries about what kind of message these students are sending.
"Why are they doing this? Is it really for the rebellion aspect, or is it because they are having problems with racism at school?"
Ware hopes the latter is not the case. She says diversity is important to her and it was something she considered when choosing which school her kids would attend.
"We live in Benton Harbor, but we bus our kids into Berrien Springs because it is such a diverse school," said Ware.
She says she supports the school’s decision to ban the Confederate flag from the dress code, and also says any other reaction to the controversial symbol would be unacceptable.
"If I knew the school system was okay with flying that flag, my kids would definitely not attend that school."
Angelique says this sort of thing is something she would never expect to happen here in Dowagiac, and added that she is very concerned about why students at the high school feel so strongly about expressing themselves this way.
...It speaks volumes in terms of American defiance, and I would wager that none of the history teachers in the school would even be able to identify it.
I’ll bet there are plenty of books (novels, histories, etc.) with the Stars & Bars on the cover. And I’ll bet there’s no rule against carrying them around school.
Bunker Hill Flag—American Revolution Victory or death.
It is so tiring the revisionist false history of slavery and the civil war. For Starters:
HOW AND WHY ABRAHAM LINCOLN STARTED THE WAR OF NORTHERN AGGRESSION TO PROTECT HIS OWN POLITICAL CAREER
http://www.iahushua.com/hist/lincoln.html
First State Recognized Slave Was Owned by Anthony Johnson - a Black Man
http://current.com/groups/learn/92619535_first-state-recognized-slave-was-owned-by-anthony-johnson-a-black-man.htm
DIXIE’S CENSORED SUBJECT BLACK SLAVEOWNERS
http://americancivilwar.com/authors/black_slaveowners.htm
Close...it’s the Bedford Flag carried by the Bedford Minutemen at Concord Bridge.
It’s part of our history and, properly interpreted, the Stars and Bars is not a shameful banner considering the South’s overwhelming desire to avoid exactly what we’re experiencing today - out of control Federalism. It’s the left (read: Democrats) that has made the Confederacy a mythological scapegoat for their own paranoia, submerged racism and the sins of slavery, Jim Crow and lynching - all early RAT programs. Properly understood, Americans fought Americans over the just role of Federal power and because of loyaties to their homes and states. After the war, Democrats made as much a slave plantation out of the remnants of the South as they have in the large cities in the North ever since the late 50’s.
And as a second observation, why did it survive for over a hundred years without someone pissing and moaning about it until someone chose to make a name for themselves?
Guess some people are born with a need to be pissed off about something.........
Some say I have it, but I think I sound more like a Central Ohioan. I have no Southern heritage, but Dad's side of the family came from Adrian and worked on railroads, and later tool and dye and auto factories. They moved a lot downstate, so there's a lot of different accent influences that rubbed off on me.
I agree, accepting loserdom epitomized by the confederacy flag should be a reason to be kicked out of school.
If these kids can’t pick a winner by the time their 16, don’t waste any more time and education money on them.
I’m full yankee but people have told me I have the slight southern accent. I grew up in southwestern Jackson county (Hanover) about 15 miles from Hillsdale.
haha - that will really confuse people.
Are Gadsden flags welcome at the school?
And how is it that a person from Windsor, Ontario, can have an entirely different accent, eh? It is only about a mile from Detroit to Windsor across the Detroit River, eh?
I was reading in an 1898 issue of the Confederate Veteran magazine, where a writer stated there will come a day even in the south, where Confederate soldiers and sailors bravery and valor of arms would be spat upon.
I guess that day has come for many, but to this 72 year old southerner who's grandfather fought under that flag, it never will.
The Somali flag is similar, but has a lighter shade of blue.
Shares same name as my favorite CSA commander...it was orig a Seven Years War flag no?
Shares same name as my favorite CSA commander...it was orig a Seven Years War flag no?
Shares same name as my favorite CSA commander...it was orig a Seven Years War flag no?
Shares same name as my favorite CSA commander...it was orig a Seven Years War flag no?
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