[tdcore] Confederate T-shirts Spark Debate
- From: "thehex@xxxxxxxxxx" <thehex@xxxxxxxxxx>
- To: list@xxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2001 02:03:48 -0400
PLEASE read my comments at the end, I am considering whether or not to
not only make an editorial out of this, but to take action. Even if you
just skim through the article, read the end.
By The Associated Press
04.15.01
RICHMOND HILL, Ga. ? Zane Dunn wore a banned T-shirt to school and became
a rebel with a Confederate cause.
Like six other students at Richmond Hill Middle School, 14-year-old Zane
was suspended for a day because of the Confederate flag on the shirt.
More than a century after Lee surrendered at Appomattox and a few months
after defenders of Confederate symbols lost battles in the Georgia and
South Carolina statehouses, the fight over Southern heritage has moved
to schoolhouses.
"My Confederate ancestors, they died for this flag,'' said 14-year-old
Zane, whose mother bought him the shirt after another student was suspended.
"I was born and raised in the South and I have to stand up for it.''
Educators say they have banned Confederate symbols to prevent racial
violence.
Parents and students from Richmond Hill, 18 miles south of Savannah,
wore Confederate shirts and bandanas to a recent Bryan County school
board meeting to protest the suspensions last month.
In Cairo, Ga., rebel flag-waving parents picketed their school board
after 50 students at Cairo High School and Washington Middle School were
told to change their Confederate shirts.
The American Civil Liberties Union has gotten involved in a similar controversy
in Brunswick, Ga., where the principal of Jane Macon Middle School wrote
to parents saying the shirts caused ``rumors of threats and impending
fights.''
Cairo High principal Wayne Tootle said the actions do not stem from political
correctness but from school shootings that have taught administrators
to be wary of anything that might lead to violence.
"School folks are in a very precarious situation,'' Tootle said. "If
they don't do something to try to prevent, and something happens, then
the parents and news media will just lambast them for what they didn't
do.''
In recent years, children wearing Confederate symbols, even as backpack
patches, have been punished in Kentucky, North Carolina and Virginia.
In Georgia, the controversies followed the Legislature's move in January
to change the state flag, which had been dominated by the Confederate
emblem since 1956.
School officials said bans on Confederate emblems have been in place
for years, but the flag fight prompted students and parents to violate
them deliberately.
"Adults who want to keep arguing need to do something other than use
our youngsters as a pawn in some political game,'' said Gary Russell,
superintendent of the Bryan County school system.
A lawyer representing parents in Richmond Hill and Cairo said the change
in the Georgia flag had emboldened school officials.
"The flag came down and they said, 'Oh, boy! It's open season on Confederate
flags,''' said Kirk Lyons of the Southern Legal Resource Center, whose
clients have included a former Ku Klux Klan grand dragon and the head
of a North Carolina NAACP chapter.
The classroom clashes have been a boon for Dewey Barber and his T-shirt
company, Odum-based Dixie Outfitters, which has more than 200 shirt designs
that incorporate the Confederate flag.
"When they tell them they can't wear the rebel flag, they say, 'By gosh,
we have the right of free speech and to our heritage!' And they buy more,''
Barber said.
Dixie Outfitters shirts are so popular that some schools have banned
them by brand name. Zane and his six fellow students all wore Dixie Outfitters
shirts. Zane's shirt depicted a snarling, wild boar, with the Confederate
emblem as a backdrop.
Another Dixie Outfitters design shows just the flag's corners peeking
from a basket of sleeping puppies. A third shirt depicts slaves working
in a cotton field beneath the words "The Land of Cotton.''
No lawsuits have been filed in Georgia, but the state chapter of the
ACLU has sent letters urging schools to lift the bans. Georgia ACLU legal
director Gery Weber said the bans violate students' free-speech rights
unless a school can show evidence that a shirt causes classroom disruptions.
"It is hard to say a Confederate flag on a T-shirt is going to create
that when, until recently, the Georgia flag had that on it and was placed
in all the schools,'' he said.
Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected without comment the appeal
of an Ohio student whose T-shirts of shock-rocker Marilyn Manson were
banned from school.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had sided with the school, saying
it could ban shirts that were offensive, even if they didn't cause a
serious disruption. But the same appeals court last month revived a lawsuit
by two Kentucky students who were suspended for wearing Hank Williams
Jr. shirts with the Confederate flag. The court said the school needed
to better explain its reason for the ban, such as whether there had been
racial violence.
************************************************************************
All that I can say to the article above is....
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech,
or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and
to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
- The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
confederate \Con*fed"er*ate\, a.
(Amer. Hist.) Of or pertaining to the government of the eleven Southern
States of the United States which (1860-1865) attempted to establish
an independent nation styled the Confederate States of America; as, the
Confederate congress; Confederate money.
What people need to understand is that this is not about racism nor civil
rights. This is about American soldiers losing their lives for a belief.
Whether we deem their beliefs right or wrong, their fight for their belief
is what America was founded upon. This is an issue of putting to shame
American soldiers who did nothing other then what their country asked
them to do when it was founded. Fight for your freedom, fight for liberty,
and fight for your beliefs.
Then comes the issue of "offensiveness." People say, "Well, it may not
mean racism, but some people still may take offense to it." OK, well,
let's take the brand FUBU for example. FUBU, **in my observation** and
by investigation of their website is warn mostly by African Americans.
Ok, that's fine. Wear whatever you want to wear, everyone should have
that privilidge. But ya know what, FUBU stands for "FOR US BY US." FUBU's
website, located at FUBU.com, contains banners/graphics/images containing
ONLY African Americans (with the exception of a CDNOW advertisement containing
Eminem) and makes it pretty clear that they are quote "Afrocentric Activists"
So, am I to assume that their slogan, "FOR US BY US" means for African
Americans only? Am I to assume that I am not accepted, wanted, or allowed
to wear their clothing because I am not African American?
But I guess that's their First Amendment right. Freedom of speech. So,
you want to talk about racism? You want to talk about 'segegrative clothing'?
If your going to tackle possible racially offensive clothing , make sure
you tackle it on all sides. I'm also willing to bet that FUBU clothing
is permitted at Richmond Hill.
Wake up America. Everyone's offended by something. Their is no shielding
your eyes from the world, and when it comes to racism and 'racial hostility'
, no race is any better then the other.
I said this list was going to be a proactive one and I meant it. I would
like to hear some comments on how you all feel about this. Pending opinions,
we shall decide if this will be our first proactive undertaking.
--------------------------------------------
J. Glenn
HNC Network | Senior Editor ; Media Center
SiliconTech | Senior Designer & Technical Writer
HFX International | News & Info. System Chief
Personal Office | (USA)
p: | (609)-569-0331
f: | (609)-641-9171
e: | (thehex@xxxxxxxxxx)
"Learning is finding out what you already know." - Roger Bach
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