Oklahoma residents gathered en masse at their town's high school with American flags flying from their cars in protest after a student was told he couldn't fly the flag from his truck on school grounds.
Caleb Holst, a junior at Edmond North High School, said school officials told him on Aug. 21 that he was banned from freely flying the American flag in his pickup truck, but that he'd “been flying the flag for quite some time.” Coco.
“It's never been an issue before, and it's a First Amendment, so it's hard for them to infringe on our rights,” Holst said.
The media outlet reported that the Edmond Public Schools district has a “practice” of banning flags on vehicles and forbidding displays of “the American flag or patriotism.”
The school said the “practice” is not a policy, but is “designed to prevent disruptions and distractions” and is implemented to create a “safe school environment because flags on vehicles pose safety hazards.”
“To be clear, this is not about the American flag or patriotism. Edmond Public Schools proudly displays the American flag prominently, appropriately and respectfully outside each of our school buildings and in our classrooms,” the school district said in a statement Thursday before the protest.
The district said it bans flags from vehicles on school grounds, a “practice” that has been in place “for several years” and that is “explained” to students at the beginning of each school year.
But the sense that the seniors' patriotism was being suppressed still sparked anger among Edmond students and community members, who gathered in the school's parking lot Monday morning before classes started in a show of American pride.
Upon learning of the planned demonstration, the school district sent an email to parents of high school students warning them not to attend the planned protest.
More than 50 cars gathered in the school parking lot around 7 a.m. Monday to peacefully protest the school's policies, including reciting the Pledge of Allegiance during the demonstration.
“At the end of the day, we're all Americans, we're all united under that flag, and no one can tear us apart,” Holst said.
Vance Miller, a high school senior, said he decided to attend the protest because he has “brothers in the military” and the issue was “close to home” to him.
“The flag represents us, it represents unity, it represents our freedom. There are people who fight and die every day for our flag, so we should be allowed to fly our flag,” Miller said.
“If I was trying to make a political statement, that would be a different story, but there's nothing political about this.”
Miller said he feels the flag “represents us, it represents unity, it represents our freedom. There are people who fight and die every day for our flag, so we should be allowed to fly it.”
But anger over students not being allowed to fly American flags on their vehicles was not limited to the local community.
Oklahoma State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters Posts He told Mr. X that his office was “working on developing guidelines” that would be issued to all school districts “to ensure that no student is targeted because they are carrying an American flag,” and that the Edmond Public Schools had “a lot of explaining to do.”
“We've seen parents across the state who are tired of young people being told to hate their country or not be proud of their country,” Walters said. 9 News on monday.
“We want young people to be proud of their country. We seem to have a lot of patriotic students at the school and we want to encourage them to show their love for their country.”
Local lawmakers also announced they had asked the district superintendent of education to update the policy.
