Louisiana student threatens to sue over Confederate-symbol ban

By The Associated Press

05.07.01

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MANDEVILLE, La. — A high school student and his parents are threatening to sue a Louisiana school district after the boy was sent home for wearing a T-shirt depicting the Confederate battle flag.

Fontainebleau High School administrators had warned Tom King Jr. and other students on May 3 that they'd be sent home if they wore clothes with Confederate imagery. They sent King home the next day and said he could not return to school until he changed the shirt, which showed the flag and Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

"I told him he should do what he felt was right and I'd support him," said Rhonda King, who says she feels her son's free-speech rights are being violated. "It was his decision."

King's parents said they would fight the school's actions in court. A North Carolina-based Southern legal group is also considering a lawsuit.

King said he has worn shirts with Confederate flags and other Civil War images every Friday since December as a tribute to his ancestors, not to intimidate or agitate others. He said he was not aware of any turmoil at the 1,700-student school over the flag.

"I need to honor these people who gave their lives," King said, adding that his shirts shouldn't be associated with groups that use the flag as a symbol of white supremacy.

School officials said Principal Randy Morgan was concerned about mounting tensions between black and white students at the school and felt the Confederate symbols were disruptive.

"We just don't think it's safe for those students to wear that kind of thing at that school," Assistant Superintendent Richard Tanner said.

The school district allows principals to ban clothing they consider disruptive or inflammatory.

Although King's parents say they support the school's right to control what students wear, they feel that their son's clothes are not disruptive.

"I understand what they're trying to achieve, but they're going about it the wrong way," said Tom King Sr. "These are educators. They should be educating these students about the flag."

King's parents vow to fight the decision in court, saying administrators are sacrificing their son's rights in order to keep the peace.

"They're just putting a Band-Aid on the situation and not really dealing with the problem," Tom King Sr. said

Lawyers for the Southern Legal Resource Center, a Black Mountain, N.C., advocate for Southern history, said they were reviewing the case. Kirk Lyons, the group's chief trial counsel, condemned the school's actions, saying they violated students' free-speech rights.

"If there was an actual disruption among the students, then administrators have a right to take action," Lyons said. "But I would say it probably is a violation of his First Amendment rights."

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