Wednesday, November 16, 2011

14 Yeard Old Suspended For Wearing Confederate Flag Shirt To School


14-year-old New Jersey girl has been suspended for wearing a sweatshirt with a Confederate flag on it.
Many see it as a symbol of hate and racism, but this teenager claims its part of her heritage, reports CBS 2’s Christine Sloan.
Torri Albrecht said Monday when she showed up to her middle school wearing a sweatshirt with the confederate flag. She said her vice principal gave her a choice:
“He said I had to take off the sweatshirt or flip it inside out or face the consequences,” Albrecht said.
But the eighth grader, who was born in Virginia and lived there just a year, said she refused to take it off.
“It shows I am from the South. I am proud of where I came from and it shows my heritage,” Albrecht said.

The teenager’s mother, who took a picture at the Kreps Middle School, said her daughter was suspended for not changing into something else — a violation, she said, of her First Amendment rights.
“The Indian kids get to wear turbans. The Jewish children can wear yarmulkes. That’s their birth right, their heritage. It’s my daughter’s heritage,” said Jane West, Albrecht’s mother.
An assistant superintendent said Albrecht was not suspended for the sweatshirt but for a confidentiality policy they can’t discuss.

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