Student suspended for allegedly wiping hands with American flag after using bathroom:

Quote :

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/student-suspended-allegedly-wiping-hands-american-flag-using-203613303.html

A 13-year-old student in Virginia was suspended from school after teachers accused him of using an American flag to wipe his hands after going to the bathroom.

Local affiliate WTKR NewsChannel 3 reports that the parents of Moses Hinton say the incident never happened and that their child is being singled out over his race.

Hinton, who is African American, is part of the gifted program at Plaza Middle School in Virginia Beach. "[This has been] very traumatic," Victoria Hinton, Moses' mother, told the station. "It has had an emotional impact on my son's education."

However, WTKR reports that Plaza Middle School's principal is also African American. Virginia Beach Public Schools Spokesperson Eileen Cox tells the station that a teacher witnessed Hinton using a nearby flag to wipe his hands after leaving the bathroom. When the teacher asked Hinton to explain himself, he reportedly said that the bathroom was out of napkins.

Hinton's mother says he told her he touched the flag only after losing his balance while walking up a flight of stairs. Hinton's parents have since begun pursuing legal action, hiring attorney Wayne Scriven.

"Why react so harshly?" Scriven said of the one-day, in-school suspension. "You have a bright, gifted, young black male; it seems to be an attempt to pour ice water on his motivation." Scriven points out that flag was not knocked over and did not suffer any damage in the alleged incident.

Hinton's parents are not currently seeking any financial damages over the incident but rather are asking for teachers at the school to receive more "sensitivity training."

Shockingly few people know the protocols and etiquettes associated with the flag, and that goes for adults as well as students.

I don't think there was any intended maliciousness at all. I wouldn't even say the boy was necessarily disrespectful. I just don't think he has enough knowledge of the flag, and what he did, and that is likely not his fault. As I write this I've been trying to remember any time in school when we had lessons on the meaning of the flag and how to respect it. I may be wrong but I don't think there ever was. And, yes, the schools should damn well teach that.

If this was a military school then there'd be no excuse at all.

Bluesmama wrote:

Shockingly few people know the protocols and etiquettes associated with the flag, and that goes for adults as well as students.

I don't think there was any intended maliciousness at all. I wouldn't even say the boy was necessarily disrespectful. I just don't think he has enough knowledge of the flag, and what he did, and that is likely not his fault. As I write this I've been trying to remember any time in school when we had lessons on the meaning of the flag and how to respect it. I may be wrong but I don't think there ever was. And, yes, the schools should damn well teach that.

If this was a military school then there'd be no excuse at all.

Pretty much. Remember in the wake of 9-11 how people were displaying American flags out the ying-yang? Hanging off of highway overpasses until they were in tatters, etc. People fly them off their front porch in all weather, day or night. Now, maybe if he had said, "They were out of toilet paper" instead of just paper towels...

Wow.

People are always going too far in their reactions. INTENT is far more important than CONTENT.

Bluesmama wrote:

Shockingly few people know the protocols and etiquettes associated with the flag, and that goes for adults as well as students.

I don't think there was any intended maliciousness at all. I wouldn't even say the boy was necessarily disrespectful. I just don't think he has enough knowledge of the flag, and what he did, and that is likely not his fault. As I write this I've been trying to remember any time in school when we had lessons on the meaning of the flag and how to respect it. I may be wrong but I don't think there ever was. And, yes, the schools should damn well teach that.

If this was a military school then there'd be no excuse at all.

I agree. Although I don't buy the story he allegedly told his mother (just lost his balance and happen to fall on the American flag) for one minute, I do not believe he acted with malicious intent. More likely what happened was the story the school official says he gave (the bathroom was out of hand towels and he conveniently dried his hands on the closest thing available). I think that it is inappropriate for a school to discipline a child for "disrespecting the flag" if that lesson was never taught in school to begin with. How was he supposed to know?