A Michigan school district called the historic “Betsy Ross” flag a symbol of hate and profusely apologized after students displayed the flag at a recent high school football game.
“To wave a historical version of our flag, that to some symbolizes exclusion and hate, injects hostility and confusion to an event where no one intended to do so,” wrote Forest Hills Public Schools Superintendent Daniel Behm in a letter to parents.
The controversy surrounding the 13-star flag erupted on September 9 during a football game between predominantly white Forest Hills Central High School and predominantly black Ottawa Hills High School, MLive reports.
Forest Hills students not only waved a “Betsy Ross” flag, but they also displayed a Donald Trump banner (behavior guaranteed to get you labeled deplorable).
At least one parent was “shocked” to hear students chanting, “USA” and wearing red, white and blue.
Oh, the horror.
“You can’t deny the overt, intentional racism and intimidation,” said Briana Urena-Ravelo, co-founder of the Grand Rapids Black Lives Matter group.
Ms. Urena-Ravelo, who represents a group that specializes in overt intentional racism and intimidation, told television station WOOD that the students intended to be racist.
“For these white kids from a white school to bring out a flag of the colonies with the ‘Make America Great Again’ Trump flag to a game with black students on the field, it’s all very obvious,” she told the television station.
Parent Matthew Patulski wrote a scathing Facebook diatribe — accusing students of “brandishing these symbols of nationalism and white supremacy.”
Supt. Behm fired off a wordy, two-page letter lecturing folks in the district about their “privilege” and apologizing to the inner city school.
“Whether our privileges are derived from the circumstances of our birth, our race, our geography, our work, or our wealth, our blind privileges can produce a poverty of perspective and understanding,” he wrote.
“Injecting partisan politics into a community football game and into a commemoration of the events of September 11 is inappropriate,” he wrote. “Parading our current United States flag in a manner that is inconsistent with proper etiquette is disrespectful to all who have served our nation.”
So let’s look at the facts:
1. The students wore red, white and blue because it was a “red, white and blue” theme night.
2. The students traditionally wear red, white and blue to commemorate September 11.
3. There are no local news reports of students using any sort of derogatory or racially offensive language.
4. The Betsy Ross flag is not racist.
5. A Trump “Make America Great Again” banner is not racist.
Parents and patriots in the Forest Hills Public Schools district should rise up and demand that the superintendent retract his offensive letter and apologize for smearing the brave teenagers who dared to show their American pride.
Oh, by the way — Mr. Patulski also took great offense because the students were chanting, “Go Green! Go White!”
“We were all quite taken aback by these loud chants,” he wrote.
That’s because the school colors are green and white …
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