MdKnightR Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 I'm sure this will spark some debate. I personally think that both the kids and the school are in the wrong....and for the same reason. Neither of them seem to have a grasp of its history. But beyond that, is this really something that should prevent a student from graduating from high school if they have met the requirements to walk? http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/19529829.html?location_refer=Homepage Three Bloomington Kennedy seniors were kept from their graduation after bringing Confederate flags to school. By PATRICE RELERFORD, Star Tribune Last update: June 4, 2008 - 11:25 PM Three high school seniors were barred from Bloomington Kennedy High School's graduation ceremony Wednesday night at Target Center because of what the school district called a prank involving Confederate flags. Rick Kaufman, a spokesman for the Bloomington School District, said three male students brought the flags onto school property Tuesday morning. Kaufman said they were suspended after "carrying and waving" the flags in the parking lot as parents and students arrived at the school. Bloomington Kennedy senior Kellie Rezac is a friend of the three boys. She helped organize a protest Wednesday against the suspension of Dan Fredin, 18, Justin Thompson, 18 and Joey Snyder, 17. Rezac said the flags were on the boys' cars and that her friends aren't racists. She said they've flown the Confederate flag before and simply admire the "Southern lifestyle" and TV shows such as "The Dukes of Hazzard." A male character from the popular 1980s show would slide across the hood of a now iconic two-door muscle car featuring a Confederate flag decal. Fredin said teachers and security guards told the boys to get rid of the flags. One of them complied and another drove the truck home and returned to school without it. "They didn't even drive 100 feet into the school parking lot and the teachers and [security guards] came out and said 'remove it from sight,'" Fredin said. He had arrived separately and had gone into the building before the teachers made the request. Fredin said someone removed the flag from his vehicle on Tuesday without notifying him. "I don't even know where it is now." Principal Ron Simmons spoke with the boys shortly after the incident and suspended each of them for three days based on the district's anti-discrimination rules. Superintendent Les Fujitake affirmed Simmons' decision Tuesday evening, despite objections from the boys' parents and several students. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Construct Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 ...wow...this...this is one reason why the USA is goin' down I think... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Web Rider Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 1: nobody other than that kid should have touched his car. If people, be them police or school started removing things from my car without my permission, or any form of notification, be it a flag, a quarter, or my passenger seat, I would probably take legal action against the school. 2: If the students took their flags home then why are they being suspended for it? Their punishment was to remove the flags from campus and return without them. "you brought a Confederate flag to school yesterday, so you're suspended today and banned from graduation." what? On the list of things kids can do that are stupid, this ranks just a little from the bottom. Guns, knives, swords, drugs, "I hate black people!" t-shirts, yeah, I can understand a retroactive suspension, but seriously, In Ojai, the liberal intellectual elite town near Ventura, ca, tons of people had confederate flags. In one of our 4th of July marches, there were more confederate flags than US flags! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth InSidious Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 Now, kids, this is what comes of flag-worship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCarter426 Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 But beyond that, is this really something that should prevent a student from graduating from high school if they have met the requirements to walk? Just to clarify: they are banned from attending the graduation ceremonies, not from graduating. Now, when I first saw the title, I was going to come in here ranting about how it was 145 bloody years ago and the Civil War wasn't about slavery at all. But then I saw that the students are even dumber than I thought, because they aren't white supremacists or militiamen; rather, they just like to wave Confederate flags for no apparent reason, which led me to the conclusion that whoever suspended them and banned them from graduation is even dumber than the students, is overly sensitive, or has to deal with dumb and/or overly sensitive people to such a degree that they deserve more sympathy than anyone could possibly give. Also, it seems the school system isn't doing its job right. You'd expect the people of a state that was admitted to the Union just before the start of the war to have a better grasp of history. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jae Onasi Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 Waving the Confederate flag in a southern state is very much an in-your-face racist move. Saying they're waving that flag because they like The Dukes of Hazzard, a show from the 1970's, is a load of crap. If there are rules about the flag in the anti-discrimination rules in that school district and the kids violated that rule, then they get what they deserve. If it's not that clear, then the suspension is overkill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCarter426 Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 Waving the Confederate flag in a southern state is very much an in-your-face racist move. They're not in a southern state; they're in Minnesota. They're so far up north that I wouldn't be surprised if they don't know what color the flag is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corinthian Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 Idiots. All of them. They're stupid for bringing the Confederate Flag, and the School's stupid for overreacting. I mean, come on, this is like going into a berserker rage over the sight of a noose. Sometimes I wonder how I managed to keep any faith in humanity for the past sixteen years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jae Onasi Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 They're not in a southern state; they're in Minnesota. They're so far up north that I wouldn't be surprised if they don't know what color the flag is. Whoa--totally my mistake. I misread Kennedy as Kentucky. I woke up after about 5 hours of sleep after being up for over 24 due to a family emergency illness so I'm brain-fried today. Sorry about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MdKnightR Posted June 5, 2008 Author Share Posted June 5, 2008 Waving the Confederate flag in a southern state is very much an in-your-face racist move. I see someone has bought into the NAACP propaganda machine. It is not a racist thing to do to wave, fly, or display a Confederate battle flag (or other emblem) in any state, southern or otherwise. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jae Onasi Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 No, it's not technically incorrect to do wave the Confederate flag, no. However, it's become a cultural convention in the south to associate the Confederate flag with white supremacy and racism. It depends on how the flag was used, but I somehow doubt it was because they loved watching the Dukes of Hazzard. I laughed at that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCarter426 Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 It is not a racist thing to do to wave, fly, or display a Confederate battle flag (or other emblem) in any state, southern or otherwise. Neither was the swastika, before the Nazis adopted it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth InSidious Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 Neither was the swastika, before the Nazis adopted it. Many would argue that it still isn't - only those used in overtly Nazi cases. The town of Swastika in Canada is a particularly interesting example. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCarter426 Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 True; it's all about context. The context here seems to be that the students just associated the flag with the South, not with its other connections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnderWiggin Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 Idiots. All of them. They're stupid for bringing the Confederate Flag, and the School's stupid for overreacting. I mean, come on, this is like going into a berserker rage over the sight of a noose. Sometimes I wonder how I managed to keep any faith in humanity for the past sixteen years. I disagree. I think that the kids were totally within their rights to do what they did and because they complied with the administrative mandate to remove the flags there should be no punishment. I personally would take action against the district. _EW_ And no, I'm not racist. I just separate the idea of racism and the tangibility of the Confederate flag a little bit more than others do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jawathehutt Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 I dont think what they did was right, just I dont think the school should have any right to stop them unless they were impeading traffic or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnderWiggin Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 I dont think what they did was right, just I dont think the school should have any right to stop them unless they were impeading traffic or something. 2 Questions: Why wasn't it right? And why, if it _wasn't_ right, should the district not been allowed to stop them? _EW_ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rev7 Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 To me it seems that what these kids did was within their rights. However, I don't think that they should have done this. To me, it shows racism, and all the junk associated with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnderWiggin Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 However, I don't think that they should have done this. I can agree with this part, at least. _EW_ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Web Rider Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 I don't think the Confederate flag implies racism, the North wasn't exactly a paragon of tolerance either. I think when I see the Confederate flag I mostly think of redneck morons who chant "The South Will Rise Again!" which is completely stupid. I mean, most of America(or, I should say, the Confederate States), where racist against the Irish at the time. Was that a Confederate idea? no, it was pretty much shared by anyone who wasn't Irish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCarter426 Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 It's not the flag's significance back then that's in question, just like objections about the swastika have nothing to do with Hinduism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EnderWiggin Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 It's not the flag's significance back then that's in question, just like objections about the swastika have nothing to do with Hinduism. For the record... what then, is in question? _EW_ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JCarter426 Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 Well, seeing as I myself don't object to it, I couldn't say. But I'm betting it's its (perceived) connection to racism, through white supremacist groups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pho3nix Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 I'd understand if the flag in question was the nazi swastika, but this sort of punishment seems out of place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Web Rider Posted June 5, 2008 Share Posted June 5, 2008 Well, seeing as I myself don't object to it, I couldn't say. But I'm betting it's its (perceived) connection to racism, through white supremacist groups. which is a bit of historical revisionism on the part of political correctness groups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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