Two students expelled for bringing confederate flag to school

[soulcougher73]

Depends... Are they gay?

 

[Stewox]

They don't have the first amendment to bring flag to school but the principal has first amendment to talk about the flag in a negative way calling it racist.

 

[her209]

That was was about more than slavery, of course. It is still an undeniable fact that it was much more about slavery than anything else.

Even after the war, the South still tried and succeeded to impose their will on the newly free black men and women through discriminatory laws for another 100 years.

 

[fskimospy]

They don't have the first amendment to bring flag to school but the principal has first amendment to talk about the flag in a negative way calling it racist.

Why would the first amendment apply?

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

They don't have the first amendment to bring flag to school but the principal has first amendment to talk about the flag in a negative way calling it racist.

The first amendment has nothing whatsoever to do with this. Nobody is threatening to arrest these kids for bringing a flag to school. This case in no way involves the government.

You are doing to alleviate my . . . hesitancy about paying attention to people who follow Alex Jones.

 

[Incorruptible]

This is a private school so they can do what they want. I do love the hypocrisy from the liberals since the situation would be different with a private business.

 

[fskimospy]

This is a private school so they can do what they want. I do love the hypocrisy from the liberals since the situation would be different with a private business.

No it wouldn't. Gotta love the stupidity from the conservatives.

 

[smackababy]

No it wouldn't. Gotta love the stupidity from the conservatives.

The only people who have issue with this are those that actually believe the Confederate flag doesn't carry and racist overtones. Which, surprise suprise!, is TH.

 

[Pens1566]

This is a private school so they can do what they want. I do love the hypocrisy from the liberals since the situation would be different with a private business.

Who reminds you to breathe???

 

[Strk]

This is a private school so they can do what they want. I do love the hypocrisy from the liberals since the situation would be different with a private business.

You mean a private business that is open to the public?

 

[Meghan54]

The first amendment has nothing whatsoever to do with this. Nobody is threatening to arrest these kids for bringing a flag to school. This case in no way involves the government.

Exactly! That's the other point. No one kept them from owning the flag. No one shot them, arrested them, beat them, confined them for bringing the flag to school, so their freedom of speech was not impaired at all.

The consequences of exercising this freedom, on the other hand, is what grinds some people's gears. I guess freedom of speech should have no consequences to hear some talk.

I put this to everyone up in arms with what happened to the kids......you believe in freedom of speech so much. Go into your boss's office and tell him he performs fellatio on gay men, his kids are dumber than monkeys and his wife sucks rectal orifices of donkeys and see how well that freedom of speech goes.

This is a private school so they can do what they want. I do love the hypocrisy from the liberals since the situation would be different with a private business.

What hyprocrisy? That a business wouldn't do anything about an employee flaunting a symbol of racism?

If you think that, you're stupider than a sack of door knobs and you'd be so damned wrong your pencil neck would snap faster than a dry twig in a wind storm.

Timken Bearings has a plant in Sylvania, GA. A few years ago, one of the employees began wearing a Confederate handkerchief/headcloth tied to his arm every damned day....the blacks in the plant found it rather insulting and complained.

Instead of telling the complainants to "F" off, the company took this tack: He was suspended repeatedly, fined and eventually fired because he refused to quit wearing his confederate rag.

Sorry, dude, but the confederate flag ranks right up there as a symbol of intolerance and racism as Nazi symbols. Perhaps you don't recognize that it does, given your outlook and where you live, but I grew up in the South and in all my 60+ years, the confederate flag has represented nothing but a covert sign of racism....a "gentle" reminder that blacks are and always have been and always will be inferior to whites in the south.

The only people to fly such trash in the south are true "trailer trash" idiots...the ones who refer to blacks as "N's" and want them put "back in their place", to paraphrase the rhetoric that's said daily down here, even to today.

It is an offensive symbol, always has been and always will be. Thankfully, as we've actually progressed in the south, much to the conservatives' chagrin, the incidence of the confederate flag being flown is dropping quite quickly in recent history, esp. over the last couple of decades. Guess the knuckle draggers aren't spawning enough to overcome the progressive thinkers down here....thank God.

 

[Incorruptible]

You mean a private business that is open to the public?

It's still private property. It's immoral for the government to force them to do business.

 

[werepossum]

It is a symbol of rebellion and they are teenagers. Rebel is what teenagers do. It is their nature to challenge the status quo.

Rebellion is not the sole property of the south. It occurs everywhere. People mistake the rebel flag for white on black hatred. It is because people are simple uneducated fools. The rebel flag stands for more than the war between the north and the south. That war was about more than slavery. It is about economics and control by the elite. Only the elite were plantation owners.

Pretty sure this is the Confederate battle flag. That's a particularly beautiful flag, but it represents only brother killing brother for the right to keep people as property, in direct contravention to our Declaration of Independence. Or if you want to be highly technical, it represents only brother killing brother for the states' right to grant people the right to keep people as property, in direct contravention to our Declaration of Independence. No different from bringing a Nazi flag, or a Che Guevara poster, in that it represents a lot of things almost all of which are bad.

Actually, the school probably could do just what happened even if it was a public school.

While the Tinker v. Des Moines Independent School District Supreme Court decision of 1969 said:
(Remember, the Tinker case revolved around students wearing black armbands to protest the Vietnam War, a far cry from parading a Confederate battle flag today.)

The Court did not, however, grant students an unlimited right to self-expression. It said First Amendment guarantees must be balanced against a school's need to keep order: As long as an act of expression doesn't disrupt classwork or school activities or invade the rights of others, it's acceptable.

Simply put, this ruling means school officials may not silence student expression just because they dislike it. They must reasonably forecast, based on evidence and not on an "undifferentiated fear or apprehension of disturbance," that the student expression would lead to either a substantial disruption of the school environment, or an invasion of the rights of others.

And given today's environment and the chosen expressions of speech....blackface and the Confederate battle flag....I'd be willing to wager any school, public or private, could do just what this school did in the OP's post without any ultimate backlash, as the school would probably rightly claim disruption to the school environment as the Confederate battle flag is nothing more than a left-handed slap to many groups.

Any school, public or private, could do just what this school did in the OP's post without any ultimate backlash, as the world is not fair. Smart people realize this, realize the world is not fair for everyone, put on their big girl panties and move on.

I'm visualizing a sign with a brain and a tape measure that says "You must be this non-stupid to attend our school."

 

[werepossum]

Depends... Are they gay?

+1 I admit it, I laughed.

 

[TurtleCrusher]

Nope.

It's a religious institution,.. and, as per you; they can do whatever they want.

This.

 

[AViking]

Good. That stupid flag is a symbol of hatred and bigotry. I hope those idiotic kids learn their lesson.

 

[HomerJS]

Good. That stupid flag is a symbol of hatred and bigotry. I hope those idiotic kids learn their lesson.

Don't know why anyone here is bitching about their rights. Student lockers can be searched without a warrant.

You can't have it both ways OP, opining about students being punished for bringing flag to school while claiming to be against the confederate flag.

 

[werepossum]

Don't know why anyone here is bitching about their rights. Student lockers can be searched without a warrant.

You can't have it both ways OP, opining about students being punished for bringing flag to school while claiming to be against the confederate flag.

Sure he can. What use is the right to free speech if one supports it only where one agrees with the speech?

 

[Victorian Gray]

Sure he can. What use is the right to free speech if one supports it only where one agrees with the speech?

It's a Catholic high school, no free speech issue found. OP trolling? Found.

 

[Knowing]

It's a Catholic high school, no free speech issue found. OP trolling? Found.

So what other rights does one give up at the (private) schoolhouse gate?

 

[JEDIYoda]

How much do you think the students are going to get for the school suppressing their civil rights? --- they will get nothing!!
Or, since this is a private school does the school have to right to restrict freedom of political expression? -- YES!!

 

[DominionSeraph]

So what other rights does one give up at the (private) schoolhouse gate?

None.
You don't give up a right you don't have.

 

[Knowing]

So that supreme court case didn't actually happen?

 

[MongGrel]

Two separate incidents have occurred at the school in which 4 students were expelled.

The incident I would like to discuss is the two students who displayed a Confederate flag and were expelled forever. Parents were notified the students will not be allowed back into school.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/apr/17/confederate-flag-blackface-flaps-lead-catholic-sch/



How much do you think the students are going to get for the school suppressing their civil rights?

Or, since this is a private school does the school have to right to restrict freedom of political expression?

Hopefully the ACLU will sue and get the kids a nice payday.

I disagree with what the confederate flag is supposed to stand for. However, being offended is no reason to suppress civil rights.

It's been done many times in the past and failed get over it.

Probably one of the reasons they brought the hammer down that fast.

 

[Victorian Gray]

So what other rights does one give up at the (private) schoolhouse gate?

You do understand that in the U.S. the right of 'free speech' relates to the government and citizen relationship don't you? And, even in public schools, the Supreme Court has ruled that there is no absolute right of free speech.