School kicks 12-year-old out of class for 'Don't Tread On Me' patch
By: Washington Examiner
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Washington Examiner
A 12-year-old Colorado boy was removed from class due to a patch on his backpack that showed the Gadsden flag .
Reading "DON'T TREAD ON ME," the Gadsden flag has its roots in Benjamin Franklin's Join, or Die cartoon, which features a snake and calls for colonial unity. It was introduced in 1775 as a flag for the Continental Navy .
It has served as a symbol of national strength, but officials at the Vanguard School in Colorado Springs took the young student out of class because they argued the flag has "origins in slavery."
Despite the school's attempts to have the boy remove the patch and return to class, neither he nor his mother gave any ground toward the school's persistence.
The exchange between the boy, his mother, and a school official was captured and posted to social media.
"Do they know what the Gadsden flag is?" the mother asked. "That it's a historical flag?"
"The reason that they do not want the flag, the reason we do not want the flag, is due to its origins with slavery and slave trade," a school official responded.
The mother questioned if the two were talking about the same flag and asked the Vanguard School official what consequences her son would face if he did not take off the patch.
The mother stressed how upset she already was that the 12-year-old student was missing "so much school," but the official insisted he could not return to class if his bag had the patch on it.
"We can't have that in and around other kids," she said.
The mother continued to explain how the Gadsden flag has nothing to do with slavery.
"Maybe you're thinking of, like, the Confederate flag?" she asked.
She is only there to enforce district policy, the official maintained, before telling the mother how she has every right not to agree with it.
"Because the ACLU says that he's allowed to wear that," the mother responded. "If you go on their website, it says in big letters."
"Unless there's like a ban on patches, period, like if you said, 'There's no patches allowed at this school. You cannot display what you think,' ... or anything like that, I think it's, like, one-sided."
"Other kids have patches," her son added.
The mother described the origin of the flag again and encouraged the official to visit the American Civil Liberties Union page.
"We're following district policy," the official reiterated. "The last thing I want is him out of class."
She completely agreed with the latter, the mother said.
"He takes his classes seriously. He studies. He wants to get straight As. He made honor roll when he was here before. He intends to do that again."
"But it's hard because he keeps missing class for this. ... We teach him to always stick up for your beliefs, and, I mean, you're going over the Revolution for seventh grade. I mean, the Founding Fathers stood up for what they believed in against unjust laws. This is unjust."
Footage of the exchange was paired with myriad emails from another school official attempting to justify the boy's treatment under the school's dress code.
In the explanation, the official pointed to an article citing a "graphic design scholar" who alleged that due to its common use next to Trump and Confederate battle flags, the Gadsden flag might be viewed by some as a symbol of intolerance, hate, or racism.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Vanguard School for comment but did not receive a response.
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Gadsden flags displayed next to (literally) Confederate flags and Nazi flags
and people wonder why it is considered racially problematic ?
Guilt by association? Smearing the old Tea Party movement that was opposed to high taxes?
I thought Obama had them destroyed by Lois Lerner and Jack Smith?
Can't you discuss idea without smearing those with different values, in this case: TRADITIONAL AMERICAN VALUES!
The answer would be NO.
OMG John - you see the individual carrying the shield with the Thunderbird on it? Oh Jeezzz - please don't tell me you're gonna starting trying to tie Native Americans into this type of BS.
Good point. I missed that one.
Maybe we'll get another radical professor quote.
Dem/Lib logic explained in detail -
Oh no!!!. If the thunderbird is used together with a swastika it's a good thing I don't ever intend to step back into the USA again because this is my favourite jacket I wear most of the time in cooler weather. It was given to me because I was a regular volunteer at Toronto's Native Men's Residence, either as a cook or on the road. This is the back of the jacket:
And the letters under the thunderbird on the front emblem are "NA-ME-RES" for Native Men's Residence:
Anyway, memories - here I am in the kitchen of the Native Men's Residence cooking up a big pot of spaghetti with meat sauce:
Are polo shirts and khakis also problematic?
Maybe VA will stop offering it as a license plate option. May as well put Pepe on your license plate.
Today, it is likely still socially acceptable to fly the Gadsden flag, but that will change as the far right racists and traitors continue to appropriate its meaning.
It is not entirely clear cut, but I think the school is justified in banning it from its campus.
Or can students have Nazi backpacks and Confederate lunchboxes?
When I lived in VA I would see that plate once in a while, and the drivers all tended to have a rednecky look to them.
[✘]
But a Pride or Trans or Che patch would be acceptable and celebrated?
This is just another example of progressive overreach and repression of controversial objects and ideas
Sorry John, but left wing hate and intolerance just lost another round.
NEW: The Gadsden Flag Kid Just Secured Total Victory – RedState
Obviously, the school board is made up of white supremist.
I'm curious? What meaning do the far right give the Gadsen flag? I've never heard one.
BTW, we have one in our home opposite the US Flag
Then it's time for us to take it back and return it to its original meaning.
I don't hear dog whistles whenever I see this flag
I dont think this issue is clear cut, yet. There are people who fly that flag with benign intentions. But as time goes by, on the course existing now, the Gadsden flag will become associated more and more with the far right, anti-government activism, and white nationalism.
Then we all should start flying / wearing it to take the symbol back.
Would've been of more interest if you had copy'n'pasted the part of the Newyorker's article regarding the ACTUAL context regarding the actual INTENT of the Gadsden Flag -
One answer involves history. The Gadsden flag is one of at least three kinds of flags created by independence-minded colonists in the run-up to the Revolutionary War, according to the writer and historian Marc Leepson, the author of “Flag: An American Biography.” Liberty flags featured that word on a variety of backdrops; the Pine Tree flag floated the slogan “An Appeal To Heaven” over a depiction of a pine tree. Neither endured like the design of Christopher Gadsden, a Charleston-born brigadier general in the Continental Army. His was by far the coolest, with its menacing rattler and provocative slogan.
The snake, it turns out, was something of a Colonial-era meme, evidently originated by Benjamin Franklin. In 1751, Franklin made the satirical suggestion that the colonies might repay the Crown for shipping convicts to America by distributing rattlesnakes around England, “particularly in the Gardens of the Prime Ministers, the Lords of Trade and Members of Parliament; for to them we are most particularly obliged.” Later, in what may be America’s first-ever political cartoon, Franklin published the famous “Join or Die” image, which depicts the American colonies as segments of a snake. Among other borrowers, Paul Revere put the snake in a seventeen-seventies newspaper nameplate. Gadsden’s venomous remix, for a flag used by Continental sailors, depicted the reassembled rattler as a righteous threat to trampling imperialism. “ The origins of ‘Don’t Tread On Me,’ ” Leepson summarizes, “were completely, one hundred percent anti-British, and pro-revolution.” Indeed, that E.E.O.C. directive agrees, “It is clear that the Gadsden Flag originated in the Revolutionary War in a non-racial context.”
Thanks for the valuable observation.
Sorry, didn’t mean to be redundant in 3.1.13 just saw you comment.
Are you stepping into Carnac the Magnificent's realm - will become associated more and more with the far right, anti-government activism, and white nationalism.
I believe that's called supposition/assumption/wild-azz guessing 'cause there's no factual basis for your assumption.
jan 6, 2021
I dont think the Capitol Police hung that there.
Agreed. I've always gone with the original meaning myself.
VCU huh? Maybe I should take a ride over and give her something to think about.
Won’t do any good. Many in Academia are lost in their delusions.
Completely lost.
I'm sure the 99 sworn police officers and more than 200 security personnel staffed at VCU will welcome you with open arms.
Don't forget the FBI. They may shoot me on sight.
Challenge her the way her students are evidently not
Only dangerous radicals think that way, or of course, paranoid individuals. Trump and his MAGA Hats seem to think that they should be able to act like tyrants...
Yet falsely accusing Biden of being one...
Democrats don't think or behave that way.
You mean those who have to live in blue cities.
Ya, they are extremely paranoid.
No, I mean that nobody sane believes Biden sics the FBI on the old cranks who falsely accuses him of of all sorts corruption and malfeasance on the internet. He is bigger than that and innocent to boot...
Trump, on the other hand, straight up says that he is coming for his immagined "Enemies" if he regains power. Should liberals be afraid? You imply they should!
The facts:
FBI Kills Yet Another American in His Own Home, This Time It's a '100% Disabled Veteran' (westernjournal.com)
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They earned it
I would be surprised if you did not shoot them on sight.
Hum...
Joe and Jill Biden's taxes are public going back decades. If you could prove he ever had any unreported or illicit income and you would have him. You cannot do it...
Never can, because Biden isn't like that!
Wild unfounded accusations from Putin allies trying to get Trump reelected do not count. Show us the money, or shut up...
Yes yes, we know. Some unnamed "Biden Family" members supposedly got millions from somebody for doing something per some shady criminal ex somethings with ties to Putin and the Kremlin. So, Prove It!
Then you should sleep safe and sound in your bed so long as the FBI is only going after veterans, who happen to be insane and armed and dangerous and issuing threats to harm others and themselves. [deleted]
If Biden and Garland are half as bad as you imagine, you should probably flee America!
You won't, because, your fears are unreal.
No one in the family has denied it..................except Joe. Maybe they are handling "the big guy's" share until he is out of office. No need to spend it since he using OUR money. $18 million on a mansion? Holy shit. and that doesn't count all the trips to Delaware that as of LAST November had racked up over $11 Million.
And please no "yeah buts" or "whataboutisms"
You pull that tax bullshit all the time. You must really think they are stupid if you think they would expose any "extracurricular activity"
We can no longer do that.
After all, you are not a veteran..
No, I'm not. How about you?
Because, your fears are unreal.
Tell that to the black residents of Chicago and LA and NYC.
Again with the unfounded accusations?
Can you artulate crimes that took place?
The last I checked earning money is still legal in America. So, why do you think Clarence Thomas' and John Roberts' wives make all those millions for sitting on all those corporate boards? They are not even business types! Hell, they add nothing except their connections to their husband's names. The gop in the Senate has already investigated Biden and they found he did nothing illegal and had never personally profited from any form of graft. So, take you high hat off and unwad em...
Get back with us when you are serious...
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Like Hunter and daddy? Yeah like that.
And I guess you missed this part of my post. Let me help you....................
Dismissed................
Speaking of unrealistic fears. See a lot of Vets snapping and shooting people do you? Meanwhile gang violence claims multiple Americans. Day in, day out, every day.
Hatred toward Veterans here is regularly noted by this Veteran. It’s easy to spot fake military supporters here.
Easy.
He’s not, clearly he’s not.
Is that crickets I hear?
WE don't have to do anything. The Republican investigative committees are in the process of proving it.
Obviously, this school knows little about our Revolutionary War history.
I dont think the school explained the objection very well, but there is a very viable objection. The flag has been co-opted by the far right (see Charlottesville and Jan 6th)
The US flag represents all Americans, of every race creed and color. The Gadsden flag is not used for that purpose.
What does their dress code say?
As has the American flag. Which way do you want it John?
I couldn’t find any reference to this flag in the 1619 Project so it must be Ok.
'Course not - they weren't around until 1876 - 101 years after the original use of the flag.
There's a LOT of history they don't understand
.
Slavery wasnt around until 1876? What in the world are you talking about?
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I replied to #7 by Drinker (trying reading the "hints" in the reply slot) where he stated the CO obviously doesn't know much 'bout the Revolutionary War - "Obviously, this school knows little about our Revolutionary War history."
Revolutionary War - 1775 - Colorado statehood - 1876 - 101 years.
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He said the school not CO which I assume you mean Colorado
Yes'm since the young fella is going to a school in Colorado Springs
THAT is the comment you were responding to. Not a word (or inference) about Colorado becoming a state in there.
Your comment has nothing to do with what John wrote in 7.2.5. He's responding to 1st who's comment John responded to was wrong
Just about everyone has co-opted the Gadsden Flag. Meh!
Oh snap!!!! LOL
Uh...I don't get it.
Sure you do. He is pointing out that not only repubs or supremacists have used the flag. He is showing that the LGBTQ folks have too.
Those are the Pride Colors? Where's the purple and the pink?
there's no pink but at least there's purple
You know what...never mind. I hope I gave everyone a good laugh today
It's the Rainbow/LGBTQ+/Gadsden Flag ... available at fine emporiums of Made in China crap.
I see that now. I'm having comprehension problems today
The words are in the purple but the pink is under the snake.............just bad coloring from the site that it came from????
Mostly Libertarians ... anyone remember them?
See my comment 8.2.2. I didn't see the purple on the bottom. And there is no pink in the Rainbow flag...which is wrong! Pink goes with everything
Good, that means I have company!
Used to be one. I liked that whole legal cannabis thing. But then they went far right Christian and lost me
We're good company
We are all part Libertarian.
Porn for kids? Great!
flags? Scary! Must be banned!
The new puritans are a strange lot.
4 legs good, 2 legs bad.
I don't think this is the hill you want to die on, John. So it was displayed along with Swastikas and the Stars and Bars. As I saw in video after video and photo after photo, so was the American flag
I do believe this kid is within his rights and the school is wrong.
I dont die on any hill on Newstalkers. I am always prepared to defend my position on any topic I comment on.
I would agree that not every person who flies the Gadsden flag is problematic, but enough of them are to make it inappropriate for school attire.
Flown by many protesters at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, the Gadsden flag has a design that is simple and graphic: a coiled rattlesnake on a yellow field with the text “Don’t Tread On Me.” But that simple design hides some important complexities, both historically and today, as it appears in rallies demanding President Donald Trump be allowed to remain in office.
The flag originated well before the American Revolution, and in recent years it has been used by the tea party movement and, at times, members of the militia movement . But it has also been used to represent the U.S. Marine Corps, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. men’s national soccer team and a Major League Soccer franchise.
As a scholar of graphic design , I find flags interesting as symbols as they take on deeper meanings for those who display them. Often, people use a flag not because of what is explicitly displayed, but because of what the person believes it represents – though that meaning can change through time, and with one’s perspective, as has happened with the Gadsden flag.
A 1754 woodcut illustration in Benjamin Franklin’s ‘Pennsylvania Gazette’ is the first instance of the American Colonies being depicted as a snake. Benjamin Franklin/Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons
The beginning of a myth
The flag’s origin isn’t entirely clear. It seems to begin with a simple illustration accompanying an essay by Benjamin Franklin in 1754, 20 years before American independence. The image, possibly drawn by Franklin himself , portrays the American Colonies as parts of a divided snake, simply stating “Join, or Die.” The essay it accompanied addressed the major current issue for British colonists in North America: the threat of the French and their Native American allies.
Later, as the American Revolution took shape, the image took on a new meaning. Colonists hoisted various flags, including ones depicting rattlesnakes, a distinctly American creature believed to strike only in self-defense. The flag commonly known as the “First Navy Jack” had 13 red and white stripes, and possibly a timber rattlesnake with 13 rattles, above the words “Don’t Tread On Me.”
A flag showing a design possibly used by the early U.S. Navy. Petty Officer 2nd Class Steven L. Shepard/U.S. Navy/Wikimedia Commons
In 1775, as the American Revolution began, South Carolina politician Christopher Gadsden expanded on Franklin’s idea, and possibly the red-and-white flag as well, when he created the yellow flag with a coiled rattler and the same phrase: “Don’t Tread On Me.”
Gadsden was a slave owner and trader, who built Gadsden’s Wharf in Charleston, South Carolina, which was a major slave-trading site. As many as 40% of enslaved Africans who were brought to the U.S. first arrived there. The site is slated to be the home of the International African American Museum , which estimates that 150,000 captured Africans came through the wharf, and that between 60% and 80% of today’s African Americans can trace an ancestor to the trade there.
In 2015, a demonstrator held up the Gadsden flag to protest a visit by President Barack Obama. AP Photo/Ryan Kang
A symbol awoken
For most of U.S. history, this flag was all but forgotten, though it had some cachet in libertarian circles.
The First Navy Jack version resurfaced in 1976 on U.S. Navy ships to celebrate the nation’s bicentennial, and again after 9/11, though today that flag is reserved for the longest active-status warship. Its use remained largely apolitical.
In 2006 the slogan and the coiled snake saw some commercial use by Nike and the Philadelphia Union , a Major League Soccer team.
Around the same time, though, the flag took on a new political meaning : The tea party, a hard-line Republican anti-tax movement , began using it. The implication was that the U.S. government had become the oppressor threatening the liberties of its own citizens.
A post-election protest in Harrisburg, Pennslvania, on Nov. 5 includes a display of the Gadsden flag. Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Perhaps as a result of the tea party movement, several state governments around the country offer a Gadsden flag license plate design . At least some of those plates charge additional fees for the special plate, sending proceeds to nonprofit organizations .
The Gadsden flag has appeared at other political protests, too, such as those opposing restrictions on gun ownership and objecting to rules imposed in 2020 to slow the spread of the coronavirus. Most recently the flag has been flown and displayed at some post-election protests, including events where demonstrators called for officials to stop counting votes – and both inside and outside the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., during the counting of the electoral votes on Jan. 6.
Because of its creator’s history and because it is commonly flown alongside “Trump 2020” flags, the Confederate battle flag and other white-supremacist flags, some may now see the Gadsden flag as a symbol of intolerance and hate – or even racism . If so, its original meaning is then forever lost, but one theme remains.
At its core, the flag is a simple warning – but to whom, and from whom, has clearly changed. Gone is the original intent to unite the states to fight an outside oppressor. Instead, for those who fly it today, the government is the oppressor.
It’s sad that this flag is now associated with racist assholes, because I dig it. Aesthetically, it’s one of the coolest flags we have.
The people making the association are the problem. Not the flag.
I believe most Americans won’t buy it but it makes for good press for those that do.
Some flags were always arguably offensive, but this is not one of them. People who just love America might want to fly this flag - or even just the Stars and Stripes - but they don’t because of all this bullshit about how it’s associated with this or that group of assholes. I think that’s a shame.
I fly three flags on my lighted flagpole. Occasionally my college flags on game day.
But daily, the Stars and Stripes, State of Michigan flag and a Marine Corp flag but I’d have no problem raising the Gadsden flag as well. I might need to get one now.
I think most would agree
I really hope those groups don’t start using my favorite coffee mug.
I’d really miss it.
Flags and symbols are co-opted that is a fact. One of the most famous is the Swastika which was co-opted by the Nazis. It had been used for centuries by Native Americans and other groups. It was the patch of the US 45th Infantry Division until the Nazis co opted it and the division changed its symbol to the Thunderbird ( animikiig) another Native American symbol.
The 45th Infantry Division held a contest to assist in selection of the new insignia eventually the Thunderbird became the new insignia of the 45th Infantry Division. In keeping with the tradition formerly established, it was also decided to maintain the same colors and design of the original insignia. The Thunderbird was a Native American symbol signifying "sacred bearer of happiness unlimited."
#educateinspirepreserve
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