Swartz Creek (Mich.) HS senior leads battle ... to fly Confederate flag...

[marmar]

Swartz Creek senior leads battle for right to fly Confederate flag
SWARTZ CREEK
THE FLINT JOURNAL FIRST EDITION
Friday, September 15, 2006
By Robyn Rosenthal
[e-mail] • 810.766.6310
SWARTZ CREEK - Swartz Creek High School senior Brian Wendt wears displays of the Confederate symbol to school each day: a large square ring on his right hand, a colorful beaded necklace, a belt buckle nearly the size of his hand.

He said no one has complained.

But when he flew two Confederate flags from the back of his pickup truck at last Friday's football game, Wendt crossed the line, district officials said.

School administrators forced Wendt to remove the flags, and later confiscated them when he put them back up at the end of the game. They have since been returned to Wendt.

"Where is the line between me wearing the accessories and flying the flag?" asks Wendt. "When I drive through these gates, my rights are not shed. I'm still an American citizen."

The 17-year-old senior attended this week's school board meeting and asked them to reconsider the district's policy. He plans to meet with Superintendent Jeff Pratt on Monday and hopes to persuade the administration to reconsider its stance.

School officials see it differently.

"For us, it's symbolic of the incident a few springs ago," said high school Principal Michael Vanderlip. "A pin and belt buckle hasn't drawn the attention of someone waving a flag in a school parking lot."

The complete article is at: http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-39/1158328488167590.xml&coll=5

[rurallib]

1. Wow - George Allen has a bastard son in Michigan!

[LynneSin]

3. That would be Bill Frist's son

That Junior there on the left with the confederate civil war pants and beer belt!

[BlueManDude]

10. Jesus that kid looks like an asshole...

and has bad taste in suds to boot.

[marmar]

4. Yup, even in blue states we've got boatloads of 'em...

Actually, I feel kind of bad for the kid, because it's clear that he doesn't understand completely what the flag represents. And I'm sure no one has ever taught him.

[AValdoux]

2. The Confederate flag?

I'm always very confused about why you would want to fly this flag. It is explained to me as "a symbol of their heritage". First, the south LOST!!! It tore this country apart because it didn't want to be told what to do. Second if the south had won, you wouldn't be an american.

Also if it symbolizes your southern blood and has nothing to do with the civil war & slavery, can my husband fly the Nazi flag? His father immigrated as a teenager from Europe after WWII, his grandfather was in the Luftwaithe. Can my husband argue that the Nazi flag is a symbol of his heritage and doesn't have anything to do with WWII & the damage the Nazis uinflicted on Europe?


AValdoux

[FSogol]

5. Symbol of a Loser. How many years has it been since the South failed

to rise again? ;-)

[rurallib]

25. Not so ure the south lost

Actually over the 140 years since the end of the war, they have been able to throttle a lot of potential progress. I would say that today's admin is yet another feather in their cap.

[Lindacooks]

31. Yes, unfortunately, you have a good point.

The attitudes of many in the South are a huge drain and drag on this country, from taking in more Federal dollars than they pay out to voting repuke, against science and medical advances, equal rights, and I could go on and on but I'm sick of thinking about it.

[Scout1071]

6. I use the same example all the time.

Just because it's someone's supposed "heritage" doesn't mean that it's right to walk around and shove their hateful, ignorant and bigoted "heritage" in people's faces. You don't see Germans flying swastika's, because it's a disgusting and morally reprehensible thought.

No, these people know how hurtful it is and that is exactly why they fly it.

I know that some will come on here and try to defend that piece of shit flag, but if you know how hurtful that flag is and how much hate it represents and you still support it - then you are part of the problem too.

Come in to my neighborhood and fly it. I'll knock somebody's mothafuckin' block off.

[Yupster]

14. So if someone flies a flag you don' like

you attack them physically?

I guess that's okay for people on the other side too? or is their disgust not legitimate while only yours is?

[bperci108]

24. I think you are missing the bigger picture.

"I know that some will come on here and try to defend that piece of shit flag, but if you know how hurtful that flag is and how much hate it represents and you still support it - then you are part of the problem too."

I guess I'm proud to be "part of the problem" then. :)

Like it or not, and regardless if you are offended by that "piece of shit flag", it is STILL a free speech issue. Your approval is not required nor is your taking offense an issue.

Constitutional rights are not subject to your, or anyone else's approval.

Look - These douchebags offend me too, so do KKKluckers, Minutemen and Illinois Nazis. ;)

But, like it or not, they have the right to be offensive, socially retarded fuckheads and wave their flags, make their speeches and parade around in their silly costumes.

Flying a flag is protected free speech and so is burning one.

Hell, I'm sure my red and black Anarcho-Syndicalist flag would offend some of the RW nutjobs around here, but I don't think any of them have a clue as to what it is or what it means.

[jwirr]

34. Wait a minute. A free speech issue? I live within 100 miles of the

Canadian border. Their maple leaf is seen occasionally on such places as hotels and restaurants. When their flag is flown in our country it is ALWAYS flown below our flag. So if he or you want to fly a foreign flag then you need to fly our stars and stripes above it. I am assuming that the reverse is true if I were to drive into Canada.

[bperci108]

37. No.

You can fly any flag you want, fly it above Old Glory or below, even fly the American flag upside down (as a real or symbolic distress signal) legally.

It is customary to fly the national flag above all others, but not legally mandated (except on some state property, mandated by some state legislatures, and I don't think that would hold up under Constitutional scrutiny...).

(At least in this country. I can't speak for Canada.)

My response was to the poster regarding the Confederate flag. He was highly offended by the mere sight of it and implying (I think?) that it shouldn't be allowed because it is inflammatory.

As far as the Constitution is concerned - tough shit. Deal with it.

There is an interesting turn of events when you juxtapose this with the family flying the rainbow flag over their B&B in Meade, Kansas. The locals were offended and tried to run them out of town. That too was wrong, but the same applies for the Stars and Bars.

[MidwestTransplant]

8. That's an interesting analogy. Never thought of that.

[Yupster]

13. I think your husband can fly the Swastika

in the USA. It is not illegal is it?

Whether something is tasteful and legal should be two very different things.

[bleedingheart]

7. The flag of the enemy (of the Union) and the losers of the Civil War

and if you asked this kid any questions like...who was John C. Calhoun....he wouldn't know...and I would place money on that one.

[WCGreen]

9. Come on.....

EVeryone knows John C. Calhoun was the drummer for Lynyrd Synyrd...

[Yupster]

15. I was at DisneyWorld this summer

and someone had a Starry Cross flag on their shirt with the slogan, "if you are offended by this flag, you need a history lesson."

My thought was, "geeze mister, is DisneyWorld the place to be picking a fight over the Confederate flag?"

[Fenris]

11. Huh. I don't recall Michigan being south of the Mason-Dixon.

[ShortnFiery]

12. Yes, and since The South Lost, in essence, The Confederate Flag

is A Traitorous Flag! Better have others ask Dear Leader's henchmen to arrest them as Enemy Combatants and let the rot in Club-GITMO. Imagine the friendships that could be formed? :P

[AX10]

23. Sounds good to me!

[MikeNearMcChord]

28. Yeah I thought that too.

besides if I were to fly a "rebel" flag, it would be the Gadsen Flag. Might need one the way Bush is acting.

[Hosnon]

16. I can at least understand the heritage argument but with Northerners (and

I am assuming they have no familial link to the Confederacy) it can only be a symbol of bigotry. Why else would they fly it?

I go to the Indy 500 every year and am amazed by the displays there - I suppose my assumption could be incorrect but I find it hard to believe that all of those displaying the flag in Indiana have familial links.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

17. Let me guess...

The visiting football team was predominately African American.

[5thGenDemocrat]

22. Wrong

Linden (3-0) defeated Swartz Creek (2-1) 44-41. Linden is probably even more monochromatic than Swartz Creek. But both are pretty white.
John
I live 35 miles north of SC up here in Saginaw. I must admit you made me look up the opposition (I'm an old sportswriter). If this yeehaw had tried this against, say, Flint Beecher, his flags wouldn't have been the only thing flappin' in the wind.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

26. lol

[cobalt1999]

18. Interesting...

If the flag is banned because it causes a disturbance, then could they also ban an anti-Bush shirt, or politically flags?

If everyone agrees they can ban the confederate flag, then I guess everyone has to accept they can ban other "disturbing" things.

I tend to be more libertarian on this issue.

[Strawman]

19. Looks like this little boy got the attention he wanted

I say just ignore him and his stupid flag.

Bet he wouldn't have the balls to pull that stunt in Flint.

[marmar]

20. "Bet he wouldn't have the balls to pull that stunt in Flint."

True that. And if one thing holds true for just about every right-winger, they're are the biggest cowards on the face of the earth.

[jayfish]

21. I Am On The Side Of The Kid Here.

If the school had nothing to do with it and he wants to show the whole city what a racist jack-ass he is, that's fine by me.

Jay

[nealmhughes]

27. As a native southerner, an FFV and FFNC, then a pioneer of Tennessee and

North Alabama, I say, let the kid show what a jerk he is.

It is very offensive to southerners when this flag is misused, such as at racist rallies along with swastika Nazi flags. I guess some see it as heritage, but our heritage is black and white and red in the South...most southerners didn't own slaves themselves, even though about 1/3 of the families were tied to slave owners.

Maybe the kid is just a "rebel." But why not a nice skull and crossbones teeshirt or a Hank Rollins CD blaring from his truck?

If he identifies as "culturally southern," then I recommend he find a decent place in Michigan to buy Martha White or White Lily corn meal, get a glass of ice tea, eat fried okra or hushpuppies and catfish -- the odds are he'll have to find a black-owned restaurant in the Greater Detroit area!

But there are a lot of economic exiles from Michigan/Indiana whose families originated in the South, both black and white. Maybe his great-grandpa was part of diaspora?

Screw him and give him a history lesson. I can learn him right good, as that MA in southern history at Alabama comes in pretty handy sometimes...

[galileo3000]

30. Roll Tide Nealmhughes

Thanks for posting!

[5thGenDemocrat]

36. FFV here, too

Through both Hughes'(!) and Garretts. Like 1617 or so. And I have a g2-grandfather who was captured at the battle of Fort Donelson and spent three years in a stinkin' Yankee POW camp.
That said, eff the rednecks who want to fly the battle flag for the wrong reasons. I'd never fly it myself -- I'd use the Bonnie Blue if I was feeling particularly rebellious. Not one Yankee in a hundred would even know the reference -- but I would.
John
Related to Lynches (my ancestors fought alongside Francis Marion in the Waxhaws way back when and one of my g-uncles signed the Declaration of Independence for South Carolina) and Hambys too. We're old southern blood, but pretty liberal for all that. I say this guy is just a disagreeable dick, cousin, and not a true southerner at all. We have better manners than that -- even those of us in Michigan.

[nealmhughes]

38. The Parkers came in 1617, and were of a noble family. The FFNC crowd

were the Thigpens who came after the English Civil War and settled Perquimans County. One so many greats died in an Indian attack, another on a British prison ship in the Revolution. I am also a Jones, from VA/NC, and a Hughes/Alexander and Pepper and Smalley from Eastern Shore Maryland. We left ole Vriginny and Carolina when the Western Lands were opened for Kentucky and Tennesse, and thence onward to North Alabama. I have a CD we recorded in 1970 of my great grandfather (whose grandfather was a CSA soldier) and his accent is pure TideWater in "aboot" and "hoose" when singing, even though his family had left Virginia in the late 1700s!

[5thGenDemocrat]

39. I spent my Army permanent party time at Fort Monroe, VA

I know the accent very well. One of my good friends here in Saginaw is a direct descendant of Governeur Berkeley who, though a real prick personally, was about as first family as you can get.
Nice meeting you, Neal. We're probably ninth cousins or something.
John
Sometime, when we get into one of the many digressions here, I'll tell you about our Hughes' -- especially the two bomber pilots during WWII.
Families are strange and wonderful things. What would we do without them?

[nealmhughes]

40. Ciao, Cuz...

My Uncle Herbert was shot in the head at the Battle of the Bulge leading a charge in 1944. My uncle Morris was killed in Korea in 53. I served 6 years in the Navy, myself, so I guess that fightin' Hughes blood is still active, though, I can't claim to be a victim of an Indian massacre or die on a British prison ship like the ole' Thigpens did in the 17th and 18th centuries!

[galileo3000]

29. Freedom of Speech-

While I realize that this probably falls under the protection of free speech, It is also within his rights to waive the hakenkreuz and even stage World War II re-enactments of massacres in Poland. I'm confident he is within his rights, but what he sees as a point of pride, is seen as a threat by some. He might as well be brandishing a sword.

During the civil wars in feudal Japan, an invading army would quickly sweep into a town and take control. In one particular village, everyone fled just before the army arrived - everyone except the Zen master. Curious about this old fellow, the general went to the temple to see for himself what kind of man this master was. When he wasn't treated with the deference and submissiveness to which he was accustomed, the general burst into anger. "You fool," he shouted as he reached for his sword, "don't you realize you are standing before a man who could run you through without blinking an eye!" But despite the threat, the master seemed unmoved. "And do you realize," the master replied calmly, "that you are standing before a man who can be run through without blinking an eye?"

It takes a lot more strength and courage to be a non-violent person.

If we are to rise above such petty attempts to provoke, we must not take the bait.
"Remember, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent." -- Eleanor Roosevelt.

[lynne]

32. Could he be into reenacting?

It doesn't say but there are many who participate in reenacting. Each region has both north and south reenactors to be able to reenact the battles. Just a thought -

[Joey Liberal]

33. Strom Thurmond reincarnated! n/t

[flaminbats]

35. what would the neocons say if he was a minority?

they would say "no Koran at school, no wailing during the sunrise, and never allow gays on the ball team. But banning the Bible from the classroom, students from wearing Confederate flags, or from forming student prayer groups is too much government intrusion!!"