Thread by @cboyack

Meet 12yo Jaiden who was kicked out of class yesterday in Colorado Springs for having a Gadsden flag patch, which the school claims has "origins with slavery."

The school's director said via email that the patch was "disruptive to the classroom environment."

Receipts in the 🧵

They cited @USEEOC, which admitted that the flag "originated in the Revolutionary War in a non-racial context"…

But then said "However, whatever the historic origins and meaning of the symbol, it also has since been sometimes interpreted to convey racially-tinged messages…"

The director then argued that the flag is associated with "hate groups," linking to this weak article that cites a "graphic design scholar" 😂 who claimed that "some may now see the Gadsden flag as a symbol of intolerance and hate—or even racism."

Link: theconversation.com/symbols-of-whi…

As you can hear his mom say in the video, Jaiden wanted to stand up for his (non-racist!) beliefs. So after he was kicked out of class, he asked his mom to take him to the news station to get the word out.

(He got the idea from a @tuttletwins book 💪🏽)

They declined an interview

So what rule was he actually breaking? According to the director, this one (see highlight).

Though it's unclear what alleged slavery connections have to do with drugs, tobacco, alcohol, or weapons.

School district: @HarrisonSD2

School: (no Twitter/X account)

Director: Jeff Yocum, [e-mail]

https://twitter.com/cboyack/status/1696579100725416277?s=20

https://twitter.com/cboyack/status/1696693472533635562