5th Grader Suspended For Wearing Anti-Obama T-Shirt

Blogger's note: This article was posted yesterday in a Yahoo group that I'm a member of. After expressing my opinion, backed with facts, another member shot back...I'd like your opionons here. :)

From MyFoxColorado Reports
An 11-year-old in Aurora, Colo., says his first amendment rights are being trampled after he was suspended for wearing a homemade shirt (video: MyFoxColorado) that reads "Obama is a terrorist's best friend."The fifth grader at Aurora Frontier K-8 School wore it on a day when students were asked to wear red, white and blue to show their patriotism.The boy's father Dann Dalton describes himself as a "proud conservative" who has taken part in some controversial anti-abortion protests. Dalton says the school made a major mistake by suspending his son for wearing the shirt."It's the public school system," Dalton says. "Let's be honest, it's full of liberal loons."According the the boy's father, the school district told the student, Daxx Dalton, that he had the choice of changing his shirt, turning his shirt inside out or being suspended.Daxx chose suspension."They're taking away my right of freedom of speech," he says. "If I have the right to wear this shirt I'm going to use it. And if the only way to use it is get suspended, then I'm going to get suspended."Daxx's dad agrees with him and is encouraging his son to stand his ground. "The facts are his rights were violated. Period."Aurora Public Schools would not talk about the case but said the district "Respects a student's right to free speech, such as the right to wear specific clothing," but administrators say they review any situation that interrupts the learning environment.Paperwork submitted by the school district says Daxx Dalton was not suspended for wearing the shirt, but for willful disobedience and defiance. The boy's father says he intends to pursue a lawsuit against the district.


My initial response:

Interesting. This father sounds like he's doing some serious brainwashing of his FIFTH GRADER for that kid to be so strong in his defiance here. The problem is, I doubt the school violated any first amendment rights though. If his shirt was causing a ruckus in the student body, (and I'm quite certain it did) then the administration has the right to ask him to change the shirt or turn it inside out. When he refused to do either, then they have the right to suspend him for his open act of defiance. In our county, the school dress code includes the following paragraphs. I'm betting most systems have similar language in theirs...

XYZ County Public Schools recognizes the rights of individuals to express themselves through their appearance. Accordingly, the XYZ County Public School's dress code is intended to allow for such expression, as well as to curtail situations that would be inappropriate, unsafe, disturbing, or disruptive to the educational setting of the school. The administration reserves the right to define appropriate and inappropriate dress.

The following is a list of those clothing items that are considered unacceptable and strictly prohibited from use within the XYZ County Public Schools. The administration reserves the right to grant medical exceptions. Students in all grades will be prohibited from wearing:

A. Clothing and accessories that promote alcohol, tobacco, or drug usage or which display weapons or violence and which cause or are likely to cause a disruptionwithin the school environment.

B. Clothing and accessories that contain vulgar, derogatory or suggestive diagrams, pictures, slogans religiously, ethnically, or sexually offensive and which cause or are likely to cause a disruption within the school environment.

C. Clothing symbolic of gangs or disruptive groups associated with threatening behavior, harassment or discrimination and which cause or are likely to cause a disruption within the school environment.

D. Clothing, accessories and/or any words, pictures, diagrams, etc., thereon which are lewd, vulgar, indecent, plainly offensive, or which cause or are likely to cause a material disruption.

His rebuttal:

wow... b/c the kid stood up for something he believed in, he's being BRAINWASHED??? are you serious? but its ok to have this liberal crap shoved down our throats everyday at school??? wow. i applaud the kid. im sure that if he had on an Obama shirt, he would have been considered cool, but b/c this kid and his family consider themselves conservatives, now the shirt is "disruptive"? sad state of our educational and moral system.i have seen kids with "titty" shirts on (naming and describing various titty shapes) and you dont hear about them being sent home... wth?then you ask, why was the shirt causing a ruckus in a FIFTH GRADE STUDENT BODY??? yeah FIFTH GRADE??? you mean to tell me that the classroom is that brainwashed to create a ruckus when someone shows defiance to "the Chosen One"?wow, if I was a lawyer in Colorado, i'd be knockin on their door to take this case...

My response:

I see your point regarding my use of the word "brainwashed" Joe...perhaps "heavily influenced by his father/parents" should have been my choice instead. I don't have a problem with anyone standing up for what THEY believe in---I'm the first to stand up for myself (and for those who aren't as brave or strong enough to stand for themselves).

Now I'm not sure where you're from, but its hard to imagine a school system who would allow "titty shirts" in their schools at all---unless the kids aren't "believing in the titties" enough to standup for their choice in wearing them---and therefore not getting sent home for defying school administration. Could be a good reason we're not hearing about it. Regarding THIS boy's situation, I don't CARE where you're from, the nature of that t-shirt was offensive. I don't care if it had Obama's name or McCain's or Captain Kangaroo's---"Obama is a terrorist's best friend" is clearly going to ruffle some feathers, especially in our country's present-day anti-terrorism environment we now live in. If his shirt had said ANYONE'S name in place of Obama's, it would still be offensive, just as if the shirt had said "McCain is a black man's/poor man's/immigrant's worst nightmare." Worse, this shirt was a "homemade" t-shirt, which means the statement printed on the shirt probably came from hearing his father express it, a confirmed controversial anti-abortion protester. I've seen first hand how extreme their opinions are and how far they are willing to go to express them to whoever they think will listen. It gets downright violent at times. Yeah okay, so the boy's choice to wear the shirt was his choice. And yeah his choice to not change it, turn it inside out or be suspended was HIS choice. He was suspended for willful disobedience and defiance. Just like those controversial protesters his father is associated with.

On a personal note, I learned my first lesson just this weekend about raising a school-aged child in regard to influencing a healthy political view. As my girlfriend, our kids and I were leaving a community yard-sale on Saturday, we passed by a McCain/Palin tent where they were passing out literature, buttons and opinions to passers-by. My 11-year-old daughter says "stupid McCAIN" not only LOUDLY but with this venom in her voice I had not heard before. I was stunned. I jacked her up for being so rude and explained that we live in a country where we are privileged to live in a Democracy and that we all have a CHOICE. That those campaign supporters may not share OUR choice, but it is their choice nonetheless and we are to respect that. She understood better when I used an example of a non-Obama supporter who showed similar ignorance and rudeness to her when we participated in a voter registration drive this spring. (We are volunteers in our local chapter of Obama's campaign.) My husband and I discuss the election and politics in general on pretty much a daily basis during the evening news hour and she hears a lot of what we say and we try to discuss things with her so she has some understanding of what is going on (on both campaigns) and why this historical election is so important. That being said, it occurred to me why the venom was present. She hears her dad going off everytime McCain is on TV ads, in the news, or being discussed in the news. He's a very opinionated voter and voices his opinions openly and with a lot of emotion (mainly anger lol). It hit me that our daughter has heard so much of his ranting, that she had adopted his attitude--NOT HEALTHY. I discussed it with my husband and explained that she is at a very impressionable age and that it's natural for a child to adopt his/her parent's political opinions & views as their own until they are mature enough to develop their own. She's likely to remember this election for the rest of her life--and now that she has become invested in one of it's nominees. I want it to be a healthy experience for her, not one that is going to get her suspended because she takes after her father in the "mouth of the south" department and gets her ass in trouble for forcing her opinions onto others. School is definitely not the place for that.