Confederate flags and things.

They should teach this in schools.

In other news.

Rebel flag shakes up assembly

By ANNIE NELSON of the Tribune’s staff
Published Friday, February 3, 2006

Yeah, it's from yesterday, nothing interesting hashappenedd today so far.

Two Hickman High School students disrupted a multicultural assembly yesterday in the school’s auditorium by unfurling a Confederate flag from the balcony.

I'm surprised that they Headline didn't say "Teen racists riot at multicultural assembly."

Ryan Lanman, 17, who is white, and a friend enacted their plan while another student was singing "The Yellow Rose of Texas" to commemorate the Spanish-American War and honor Texas.

Notice they have to mention he is a white kid?

After the disruption, the students involved were told to leave, and the assembly continued, Principal Mike Jeffers said, adding that he couldn’t talk about whether the students would be disciplined.

They will be. You can bet on it. Nothing wiinterfereear with the multicultural agenda.

Lanman, reached by phone after the assembly yesterday afternoon, said he and fellow student Kevin Meyers meant to "show Southern pride" and didn’t intend the flag to be racist.

I don't see it as racist. I bet they were not even using the real Confederate flag and instead unfurled a Confederate battle flag.

"Me and Kevin, we don’t believe in slavery or anything else that goes along with the symbol," Lanman said.

Most people don't, unless they think they can get something from saying they do.

The assembly included celebrations of Irish, Spanish, Bosnian, Indian, Middle Eastern, black, American, Japanese and Chinese cultures, among others, Jeffers said.

The only culture these kids need to learn is American. They learn too much pop as it is.

Lanman said he and his friend waited until "The Yellow Rose of Texas" to unfurl the flag out of respect for the other cultures being celebrated at the assembly.

At least they waited. A friend of mine and another guy Halloweenoween assembly in High School dressed up like the Klu Klux Klan. 3 day suspentions.

Jeffers said he questions Lanman’s argument that his actions were about cultural support for the South.

Nothing wrong with that.

"Ryan’s interpretation of things well, there’s information I can’t share with you," Jeffers said. "Ryan is not telling you the whole story."

He would have to be a dumbass to do that.

Collin Kemble, 16, who is white, said he is sure the unfurling of the flag was intended as a racist action. He and a group of football players sitting outside Hickman yesterday discussed what Lanman and his friend did.

Nothing like the almighty bull session to determine what someone else intended.

None of the students said he believes there will be any retaliation against Lanman or anyone else.

"No, there ain'’t going to be no riot," Vaughan said.

Maybe they should spend less time on multiculturalism and more on grammar, that was... nasty.

One thing that bothered those in the group was something they saw as a double standard. "Students wear Confederate stuff all the time," said Michael Tufts, 16, a sophomore. The school "doesn'’t do anything about it."

Why should they? Its not like they are saying "Hang the niggers" or "Blacks are slaves at heart."

"If I came to school in a 'I hate crackers'’ T-shirt, I'’d be sent home," said Xavier Bagby, 16, who is black.

"I hate crackers" is definatly racist. A Confederate flag is a lot harder to prove racist.

Jeffers said Confederate flag clothes are not prohibited unless they cause disruptions, adding that Lanman's use of the flag did cause a disruption.

So it's not an issue about the flag, it's about the disruption.

"It's one thing to wear something and another to stand up in a multicultural assembly with a Confederate flag," Jeffers said. "You don'’t have the right to run into a movie theater and yell, Fire, and you don'’t have the right to do something disruptive in school."

No shit.

Jeffers said school officials planned to meet with students parents today or Monday.

So said officials can determine if the parents are guilty too.

"I think if you see kids this age who are racist, you have to look at their parents," said Evan Conrad, 14, a white student at West Junior High School. "They'’re not going to just develop racism. They learn it from somewhere."

Intelligent for a 14 year old. Now if he can learn the difference between being racist and just being proud of your region, Texas anyone?

Tom Lanman, Ryan Lanman'’s father, said he disagrees with his son'’s behavior and actions.

Fine.

"However, a lot of students have grumbled about how the multicultural assemblies don’t represent" the Southern point of view, said Tom Lanman, adding that nobody in his family is a racist. "Ryan is a student that steps up to the plate and makes a statement. He'’s a leader in that sense."

Do you mean that multiculturalism won't represent the culture of the majority? There is a shock.




At the school I go to they have two or three "multicultural" events every 2 semesters or so. Last week they had these dancers who do "African dances". That is all very nice but we are not Africans and neither are the blacks who go to the school. But,they cancelled classes at that time so people could go to it.

Now on "Multiculturalism day" They have alot more events, Irish, Jewish, African (as usual), Hmong, and food from other cultures. On this day, no classes are cancelled. Go figure.

The only time I remember a class being cancelled was so we could attend the Holocaust peoples event (I don't remember what it was called but it had to do with the death camps).