as seen on tv
Senator
Which is worse, the confederate flag or a nazi flag . . . ?
And which one should be banned completely, because it is non-essential to the concept of free speech?
Full disclosure – as a white (non hispanic) northern secular woman of jewish ancestry, I don’t have either flag. So you might think the question is academic. But then again, you might not, if someone decided that your dispay of an Irish flag or similar memorabilia was offensive, due to the “troubles” with the IRA, or Ireland’s history of repressing the rights of women, or they just feel leprechauns are an offensive stereotype.
Two boys have been suspended “indefinitely” in Long Island for entering the school premises with a confederate flag. Since this is Long Island, I think we can safely assume they weren’t championing secession and the right to own slaves. But you never know. Oh, my bad . . . yes we do know. The flag was simply a prop at an athletic event (some sort of north south game) and they brought it with them back to school.
So if the flag itself can get you expelled indefinitely, what’s the penalty if you open your history book to the chapter on the civil war, and make a photocopy of a page which has the confederate flag? Or during a locker search you are found to have a DVD of the “Dukes of Hazard” (starring my fave, Johnny Knoxville)? It’s hard to say . . .
We already know that the public education system in Missouri got this question right, when THEY were faced with it. At one point the notorious Mr. Miller/Cross, of anti-semitic fame, but who shot catholics by due to incompetence, appeared on campus as a “guest lecturer” – invited by the Poli Sci department so that students could hear first hand what fringe and unpopular political parties espouse. (Full disclosure – Mr. Miller/Cross appeared in class without compensaton, and no taxpayer dollars were used to support or suppress his views).
Let’s now come back to the Long Island high school dudes-of-hazard. Should they actually be suspended indefinitely? And what does “indefinitely” mean?
My guess is that in this case indefinitely means “until the ACLU files a free speech brief on behalf of the students”. Thank goodness this is America, and not France, where you can be expelled from school for wearing muslim headgarb, the star of david, or christian cross, eh?
But I think this event has the potential to become an amazing “teachable moment” for students – and administrators – at this hapless blue state high school. The constitution in action, and what free speech actually means. This is something these students will remember long after the senior prom and the big football game, no?
