XPost: alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.education, alt.stupidity   
   XPost: alt.politics.democrats.d, talk.politics.guns, sac.politics   
   From: remailer@domain.invalid   
      
   > This "teacher" should have the shit kicked out of them, then their   
   teaching credentials revoked.   
      
   A Colorado middle schooler was reportedly kicked out of class for   
   having several patches on his backpack, including one of a Gadsden   
   flag — sparking a social media uproar.   
      
   The 12-year-old student at the Vanguard School was ordered to remove   
   the patch of the flag — which features a coiled rattlesnake and the   
   phrase “Don’t tread on me” on a yellow background — before he was   
   allowed to return to class, according to footage of a meeting   
   between the child’s mother and an administrator posted to X,   
   formerly Twitter.   
      
   The administrator at the public charter school tells the boy’s mom   
   that he cannot display the patch due to the flag’s “origins with   
   slavery and the slave trade,” the video of the meeting shows.   
      
   However, the mom replies that the Gadsden flag’s origins can   
   actually be traced to the Revolutionary War — not slavery.   
      
   The seventh-grader also reportedly had other patches depicting   
   semi-automatic weapons, which the school said violated its dress   
   code policy.   
      
   The clip of the meeting was posted by conservative author Connor   
   Boyack and quickly went viral online, drawing attention across the   
   country and sparking a nationwide debate over the history and   
   relevance of the flag.   
      
   Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, even weighed in to defend the   
   boy, Jaiden.   
      
   “The Gadsden flag is a proud symbol of the American Revolution and   
   an iconic warning to Britain or any government not to violate the   
   liberties of Americans,” Polis tweeted in response to the video.   
      
   “It appears on popular American medallions and challenge coins   
   through today and Ben Franklin also adopted it to symbolize the   
   union of the 13 colonies. It’s a great teaching moment for a history   
   lesson!”   
      
   The flag was first used by the US’s first naval commander-in-chief   
   as a personal ensign during the American Revolution, according to   
   Britannica.   
      
   In more recent years, it was adopted by the conservative Tea Party   
   movement and has become increasingly associated with right-wing   
   politics.   
      
   The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruled in 2016 that the   
   flag itself is not a racist symbol but is “sometimes interpreted to   
   convey racially-tinged messages in some contexts” while   
   investigating a US Postal Service employee complaint about a co-   
   worker wearing a hat with the flag.   
      
   Following public outrage, the school’s board of directors called an   
   emergency meeting and walked back its demands that Jaiden remove the   
   patch, the Denver Gazette reported.   
      
   The school notified the student and his family on Tuesday that he   
   may return to class with the flag emblem on his backpack, according   
   to the local newspaper.   
      
   “From Vanguard’s founding, we have proudly supported our   
   Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the ordered liberty that all   
   Americans have enjoyed for almost 250 years,” the board wrote in an   
   email to Vanguard families. “The Vanguard School recognizes the   
   historical significance of the Gadsden flag and its place in   
   history. This incident is an occasion for us to reaffirm our deep   
   commitment to classical education in support of these American   
   principles.”   
      
   However, the school district said the dispute over the Gadsden flag   
   that garnered so much attention is only part of the story.   
      
   “There has been National media attention on our charter school, The   
   Vanguard School, related to a student having the Gadsden flag on his   
   backpack,” Harrison School District 2 administrators said in an   
   email obtained by the newspaper. “Unfortunately, this story is   
   incomplete.”   
      
   The child also had multiple patches of semi-automatic guns on his   
   backpack.   
      
   “The patch in question was part of half a dozen other patches of   
   semi-automatic weapons,” the administrators said. “…The student   
   returned to class without incident after removing the patches of   
   semi-automatic weapons from the backpack.”   
      
   https://nypost.com/2023/08/30/colorado-middle-schooler-kicked-out-   
   of-class-for-dont-tread-on-me-gadsden-flag-patch-that-teacher-   
   claims-originated-with-slavery/   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)