Students work together to ban Confederate flag
On Tuesday, Jan. 19 students were greeted with the Confederate flag flying in the parking lot. Within an hour, snapchats and tweets about the flag littered Free State students’ feeds. Teachers held discussions and students expressed their opinions about the flag and what it stands for.
Later in the day, junior Seamus Ryan took the flag off the truck and put it in his own car. Ryan received In-School-Suspension for taking the flag.
“I took down the flag because I thought it was racist and offensive to be flying,” Ryan said. “Basically I was told that it was stealing, which I guess technically it was, but I felt like the administration should have been doing it on their own. It shouldn’t be the students’ responsibility to act on complaints that have already been filed against it.”
It should be banned because the district has a duty to provide a safe learning environment for students and the Confederate flag is definitely not part of that safe environment,” Peasah said. “When I see it I feel unsafe and attacked.
— junior Abena Peasah
After news of Ryan’s suspension spread, a group of students started a petition to ban the Confederate flag on school grounds. Junior Calvin Yost-Wolff began writing the petition and brought it to Ryan’s attention.
“I told Seamus I was going to start writing something about [banning the Confederate flag] and then I contacted Seamus once I had written a tiny bit and he got on board,” Yost-Wolff said. “We got Maame [Britwum] to be on board and we all sort of worked on it together and it just took off from there.”
Circulating the petition around the school, the students gathered over 200 signatures and set up meetings with administration. Counselor Tina Mitchell helped the group in the process.
“They asked me for guidance on the process as far as how policy changes, so I have just been a support to them,” Mitchell said. “Their mission is one that I definitely stand behind so I just offered to be a support and to help them figure out what steps they need to take in order to ask for a policy change.”
Junior Abena Peasah, who also helped coordinate the petition, feels strongly about the issue.
“It should be banned because the district has a duty to provide a safe learning environment for students and the Confederate flag is definitely not part of that safe environment,” Peasah said. “When I see it I feel unsafe and attacked.”
Senior Isaac Jones, who flew the flag on his truck in the parking lot, was told he will be suspended if he flies the flag again.
“I just got done talking to the principal, I guess the petition is going to be real and they’re going to suspend me whenever I fly the flag at school, but I really don’t care because it’s going to keep coming up no matter what they do,” Jones said.
Jones says the flag represents what he believes in and that he didn’t intend to start anything when he flew it.
“It stands for my opinions,” Jones said. “It stands for people who have fallen in the South and people who have fallen in the North because I had both flags flying, the American and the Confederate.”
In late January principal Myron Graber announced to the staff that, “if the question comes up again, the Confederate flag will not be allowed on school grounds. I know that many of you had great conversations about the issue and hopefully those conversations advanced the idea of equity. There is a good possibility the flag will show up and we will deal with it in an appropriate manner.”
Anonymous • Jan 11, 2020 at 4:38 pm
It is the students constitutional right to display the Confederate Flag on his property at school. As long as it is not disrupting the educational process, it is constitutionally protected under the 1st Amendment. The flag was being displayed in the parking lot, that is far away from where the educational process is being held. The Confederate flag is not hate speech. The racism associated with it only comes from people’s perception of it. Yes, The Confederate flag’s history is full of racism. However, it is important to realize that the flag is not just a symbol of hate and bigotry. The history behind its use is somewhat vague and unclear, many people do not know that during the Civil War is was not the flag that represented the Confederacy. It was most likely a Confederate battle flag that did not get used to represent the Confederacy until decades later. The entire concept and practical application of symbolism is subjective and can change over time. Many people who fly the Confederate flag claim that they are representing their southern heritage, as the student who flew the flag in this article states, to honor the fallen Confederate soldiers. If you have a problem with that interpretation, then that’s your personal opinion. But as long as they aren’t being racist and are claiming to represent something else, then theirs not a problem with it. And you are choosing to get offended. The Confederate flag never represented racism, unlike, say the Swastika. Which was the symbol of the Nazi party. The difference between the swastika and the Confederate flag is that during the Civil War, the south thought the north was treating them unfairly. Only about 5% of Southerners actually owned slaves. And yet tons of Southerners still choose to fight against the Union and represent the Confederacy. It represents the pride and unity of the Confederacy. While the swastika, as far as I know, only represented the Nazi Party and Nazi Regime. And the Nazi occupation of Germany, unlike the Confederacy, is universally looked down upon as a shameful part of German history, when it was being ruled by a dictator who oppressed his subjects and severely punished any opposition. The Confederate flag was sparsely ever used in history as a symbol of racism towards black people. During the Civil Rights Movement in the 50’s and 60’s, it was used by racist groups to show their racism towards blacks. But since then, it has evolved and many people in the south have reclaimed it’s meaning as a symbol of their heritage.
My final thought is that I understand why people and black people would feel uncomfortable and unsafe in the presence of a Confederate flag being waved around proudly. But I have done my best to explain. I just ask of the people who want it to be banned to try and understand the other side and why they would do something like that. I have rarely come across people who were genuinely racist. And even though people feel offended and unsafe by it, you shouldn’t be. Because it is very uncommon for someone to fly it to show their racism nowadays. I am genuinely sorry if the Confederate flag offends you and makes you feel unsafe, but it isn’t racist. And I don’t believe was ever widely used as a symbol of racism. With the exceptions being racist groups during the Civil Rights Movement. Sure, they were fighting for the oppression of black people. But that was not their movement, as most people during the time began realizing how wrong slavery was and saw it as a necessary evil. Even Robert E Lee, the top Confederate General, thought this. Because it would leave the southern economy in ruins.