Maryland principal bans Confederate flags amid racial tensions
A Cumberland high school principal's recent decision to ban wearing or displaying the Confederate flag has inflamed an already tense debate over racial sensitivity and freedom of speech. Deana Bryant allowed her 16-year-old son to wear a shirt emblazoned with the flag to school one day last week in open defiance of the ban. Bryant said the flag is not about racism. "It's his heritage," she said. The same day, Lakeal Ellis, a nurse, kept her three daughters home from Fort Hill High School. The African American family came here a little more than a year ago from the District of Columbia hoping to find better schools and a quieter life. But after enduring racial slurs and harassment, sometimes at the hands of youths with Confederate flags, the Ellis family decided to return to the District. At Fort Hill, the racial taunts had been going on throughout the school year, but the problems boiled over after a boy made racist remarks to one of Ellis's daughters in the cafeteria line this month. Her daughter and the boy were suspended after an argument. In response, some students started displaying the flag on their clothes and trucks in solidarity with the boy. The principal banned the display of the flag, but tensions continued to rise.
"The flag turned into a weapon," said Allegany County Superintendent Bill AuMiller, who met last week with parents and students who supported wearing the flag. “They have a First Amendment right to wear it," AuMiller said, but using it to harass and intimidate students “crossed the line.” He has asked students who display the flag “to voluntarily refrain until things cool down.” Flag fans often speak of their banner as a reminder of local history, a symbol of rebellion against authority and political correctness, and pride in their rural lifestyle. But one man's symbol of pride is another man's symbol of terror, said Charles Woods, an African American leader in Cumberland. Carl O. Snowden, civil rights director for the state attorney general's office, has received a complaint from the state and local NAACP and the Ellis family. He said he is closely monitoring the situation in Allegany County. “This is a time when leadership is very important,” he said. AuMiller said the school system will hold sensitivity training and cultural-awareness programs for middle and high schools. The Rev. Alfred Deas Jr. of Cumberland's historic Metropolitan AME church said he and other church leaders are also pressing for a community-wide dialogue.
Source: Washington Post, 3/22/08, By Mary Otto
[Editor’s Note: For one recent example of a court decision upholding school restrictions in a similar situation, see below.]
NSBA School Law pages on B.W.A. v. Farmington R-7 Sch. Dist.