A student at Dwight D Eisenhower High School in Blue Island, Illinois, in Chicago’s south suburbs, has accused a teacher of pulling him out of his seat while he was protesting the abusive treatment of African-American males by police officers by remaining seated during the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance at his school, the Daily Southtown reports.
The teacher “grabbed me by my arm,” the paper quoted the 15-year-old student as saying. “I pulled back and she grabbed me, and eventually I yanked, all the way.”
According to the news report, this student has been engaged in protests since August 26.
But following behavior the student’s mother considers inappropriate for a school, she told the Southtown she’s pulling her son out of the high school and enrolling him in an online charter school. She also alleges other students have been calling her son names as he walks around in the school’s hallways.
The school is playing this as an isolated incident, but protests like this are becoming very common in schools across the country. Police officials and some school officials consider the protests un-American, but they are, in fact, as American as can be, even though claims that Francis Scott Key’s words glorify slavery are perhaps misplaced or exaggerated. The Associated Press reports that fans at East Carolina University booed the 19 band members who took a knee during the playing of the national anthem at the school’s football game Saturday.
“We want to empower students to make meaningful contributions to our schools and district,” the paper quoted Community High School District 218 Superintendent Ty Harting as saying in a statement. “One way to do this is to empower our students and make sure they are aware of their school rights and constitutional rights.” He has also reaffirmed what we already knew: Students aren’t required to stand for or recite the pledge.
