School's Ban of Rebel Flag Hits Nerve

By Allison L. Bruce
Of The Post and Courier Staff

Summerville, SC -- In the tug of war between free speech and school control, the Confederate flag has lost out at one local middle school.

At DuBose Middle School, students sporting Confederate symbols have been asked to change clothes, and some have been suspended. The issue has gained the attention of the Southern Legal Resource Center, which handles Confederate flag cases.

For Principal Raymond Burke, the Confederate flag has become inextricably tied to hate through shirts some students wore in October.

The shirts depicted black cotton-pickers under the banner of the Confederate flag.

"It was not a problem before that," Burke said. "When someone decided to cross that line, we had to take a stand."

Burke said the T-shirts associated the Confederate flag with humiliation of a race and caused unrest on campus, something he aimed to stop by banning students from wearing the rebel flag.

Eighth-grader Kelly Bokern, however, said her decision to wear a shirt with the rebel flag Tuesday had nothing to do with racism.

Kelly and her mother, Kim Bokern, said they thought the school's ban was on shirts from Dixie Outfitters, the company that created the controversial shirts worn in October.

The 13-year-old said she had worn her shirt, which incorporated the palmetto and Confederate flag on the back, on several occasions. It wasn't until Tuesday that she was singled out for wearing it, she said.

She was sent to the office and told she would have in-school suspension unless her mother brought her another shirt.

"I was mad," Kelly said, "because I think it's a freedom of speech (issue), and I don't see why they sent me to the office because of what I believe in."

Kelly was given another shirt by the office staff and sent back to class, but her mother was angered by the situation. She said there needs to be consistency in the school's dress code.

"There are all kinds of shirts that students wear - I don't know if you would call them racial or what - but if they ban anything, they need to ban it all," Kim Bokern said. "They don't need to target one race."

If the rebel flag is banned, Malcolm X shirts should be banned as well, she said.

At local school districts, the decision on whether to ban certain clothing rests with the principal. Burke said his decision was supported by the district and school board.

"We haven't had any big instances like this at other schools," said Mike Windham, director of school and  community relations for Dorchester District 2. "We support Mr. Burke in this in that it did cause a major disturbance and safety problems out there. It is his responsibility as the school principal to make sure there is a safe learning environment for our children."

School officials in Charleston and Berkeley counties said individual schools decide how they regulate student attire under policies that advise against clothing that can be disruptive.

There are two points of view when it comes to a student's choice of clothing, said the Rev. Joe Darby, first vice president of the South Carolina chapter of the NAACP, which is calling for a boycott of South Carolina because of the Confederate flag flying on the Capitol grounds.

"On one angle, it could be seen as a freedom of speech - whether or not a young person is able to express their views with their clothing," he said. "The other angle is the school is responsible for the safety of students. The limit on free speech ends where public safety begins."

For Darby, a salient point is the precise image.

"If you are talking about a simple depiction of the Confederate flag and nothing else, somebody could make the case that it is a symbol of heritage," he said. Clothing that combines the flag with offensive material, however, is inflammatory. He said he would defer to the principal's judgment.

The Confederate flag debate in schools is not new to the South.

Kirk Lyons, chief trial counsel for the Southern Legal Resource Center, said the organization has received almost 275 e-mail requests since 2000 from students asking for help in Confederate flag issues at their schools. Requests from South Carolina students increased after the flag was taken off the Statehouse, he said.

He said schools that are trying to teach tolerance are denying it by banning Confederate symbols.

In 2000, a Confederate flag drawn by a Jane Edwards Elementary student in Charleston County was not entered in a competition because of a rule against offensive or profane entries.

In 1999, a Greenville County teacher in a private school was fired for refusing to remove a Confederate flag from his classroom.

In 1997, an Anderson middle school student was suspended for refusing to take off a jacket bearing a Confederate flag. That same year, a judge ruled that Stratford High School in Goose Creek did not violate a student's rights by banning a "New South" T-shirt that had the Confederate flag depicted in the symbolic colors of Africa.

More recently, a ban on shirts with the rebel flag at Cherokee High School in Canton, Ga., has sparked a debate over whether the shirts depict Southern heritage or racial hatred.

Dixie Outfitters shirts in particular have gained popularity with some teens while being targeted for bans by their schools. The line of clothing incorporates the Confederate flag into all sorts of themes, from puppies in a flag-lined box to sports themes.

On the Dixie Outfitters Web site, there is a link for students whose schools have banned the shirts. The Web site offers students a letter to send to their schools, a petition form, advice on approaching their school board and legal contact information.

The U.S. Supreme Court has on more than one occasion declined to hear cases where students were disciplined for displaying the flag, but Supreme Court decisions on the right of free speech in schools are often used in arguing the Confederate flag issue.

Lyons points to a case in the Sixth Circuit, which covers Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee, where the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned a lower court's decision to dismiss a suit by two high school students who were suspended for wearing shirts with the Confederate flag.

The Southern Legal Resource Center represented the students in the case, which lasted more than five years and was settled out of court, Lyons said.

Lyons said his organization is turning more toward the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to make its case. By arguing that the Confederate flag is a symbol of national origin, Lyons said the students should be given some protection.

This should make schools such as DuBose think twice when banning symbols, he said.

"Punish the kids that wear the bad shirts - don't punish the symbol," Lyons said. "This is a school that desperately needs Confederate Southern American sensitivity training."

The Southern Legal Resource Center is keeping an eye on the DuBose situation and has been in contact with the Bokerns, Lyons said. The next step is to look for community support and ways to approach the school board on the issue.

Legal action is a last resort, he said.

Burke said there may come a point when DuBose Middle's ban can be revisited, but he said now is not the time.

"Right now, it is basically my stand to continue to keep this environment safe from that stigma until further notice," he said.

Kelly Bokern said she has no plans to wear the shirt again, but she still feels wronged.

"I don't think they should have banned the shirts, because they're not racial," she said. "No one at our school has a problem with it except our principal."

PLEASE SEND YOUR TAX-DEDUCTIBLE CONTRIBUTION TO:

SOUTHERN LEGAL RESOURCE CENTER
PO BOX 1235
BLACK MOUNTAIN, NC 28711