The Confederate battle flag continues to stir up controversy in high schools in both the US and abroad as teenagers who display the flag as a symbol of pride in their heritage and traditional values are being told by school administrators that it is in reality nothing more than a symbol of hatred.

The Confederate flag – the most recognisble cultural symbol of the Southern people – is banned in many US schools

Dolores High School in Dolores, Colorado, banned the battle flag last December following an alleged hate crime at the school.  (See here for SNN’s coverage of the story from last year.) Yet, despite mandatory anti-Southern ‘tolerance’ instruction, the debate continues. Tanya Mendis with Albuquerque’s ABC affiliate, KOAT, had the story in late January.

Residents packed a Delores [sic] school board meeting Tuesday to voice their opinions on a controversial ban that’s forced one student to park off campus and a visit from the U.S. Department of Justice.

The meeting stems from an alleged incident that took place at Dolores High School this past fall where a teacher became a victim of a hate crime.

After that, the superintended [sic] decided he was banning anything that could be perceived as hateful like Swastikas, Black Power fists and Confederate flags. The ban caused such uproar that it attracted the Justice department.

The DOJ sent a peacekeeper to try to bring calm to a school board meeting and the hundreds more in the small farming town who are torn apart.

Rather than admitting that they acted hastily and reverse the ban, then focusing on finding and punishing the perpetrator of the alleged hate crime, this town of about a thousand has invited the federal government in to help alleviate tensions.

After a hateful display showed up in a teacher’s classroom, the school banned all Confederate flags, forced Logan to park off campus and brought in the DOJ.

“We had seen a rise in the display of Confederate flags and also a rise in racial slurs,” Dolores Schools Superintendent Scott Cooper said. “(We brought in the DOJ) as a positive next step for kind of patching up after a pretty rough end.”

While school administrators have banned ‘anything that could be perceived as hateful,’ there is no evidence to suggest that any students were going around wearing swastikas or displaying Black Power fists. In fact, the superintendent is clear that the display of the Confederate flag had been on the rise—not the display of the swastika or the Black Power fist—and it had to be stopped. Including ‘anything’ that could be perceived as hateful was really not necessary, since none of the other named symbols even existed at the school. Therefore, it appears that in actuality only Confederate flags were banned.

Meanwhile, in Ontario, Canada, students at Sutton District High School are being told that they can no longer display the Confederate flag on school grounds, reported Katie Daubs of the Toronto Star.

A high school in York Region has banned a controversial flag long synonymous with America’s Deep South, but also with prejudice and racism.

The Confederate flag became popular at Sutton District High School in the last two years, said principal Dawn Laliberté, emblazoned on bandanas, lighters, belt buckles, backpacks and pickup truck windows.

After explaining the flag’s symbolism to students this week, the school implemented a ban.

“Our first step is always to educate. We are only dealing with a handful of students who view it as a white pride kind of thing, so we thought now is the time to get the message out,” Laliberté said.

Note the anti-White language used to justify the ban of the flag. Laliberté speaks of ‘white pride’ as if it is something negative that must be dealt with, through education and indoctrination.

“It’s more about the country values, we don’t think of it as racist,” said a Grade 10 student, who has T-shirts, belt buckles and hats with the symbol, and plans to keep wearing them.

“I didn’t even know it was racist,” said Grade 12 student Jess Pasco, as her friend agreed. “Then I Googled it.”

Some students obviously see the Confederate flag as a positive expression of their own identities, while others had no opinions about it one way or the other, until influenced by school administrators to believe that the flag is something negative.  Administrators are clearly creating a controversy where there was none.

On Friday, officials with the school did not return calls, but the York Region District School Board emailed a statement saying the decision to ban the flag was in line with board policy about respectful workplace and learning environments.

“The board recognizes and respects the diversity of our people as a source of strength and does not tolerate any expression of prejudice,” the statement read in part.

However, their tolerance clearly does not extend to individuals who value the Confederate battle flag as a symbol of heritage and traditional values.

It is interesting to note that Sutton District High School is located near Toronto, which is touted as one of the most multicultural cities in the world. Toronto’s own website boasts that as of 2006 they are home to 30 per cent of Canada’s recent immigrants, and 20 per cent of all immigrants to Canada, and that between 2001 and 2006 the city welcomed more than a quarter of a million immigrants. As of 2001, 47 per cent of Toronto’s residents—more than 1.1 million people—reported themselves as ‘visible minorities,’ meaning that they are non-White.

With such statistics, it is not surprising to see young White Canadians embracing the Confederate battle flag as a symbol of pride and tradition. Like the US, Canada is also being overrun with Third World immigrants, and young Whites are likely beginning to fear the genocide of their own people.

Tags: anti-white, colorado, confederate flag, dolores high school, sutton district high school, toronto

This entry was posted on February 28, 2013 at 12:47 am and is filed under News & Ideas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.