OPINION:
Sorry, not sorry. American school teachers who aren’t informed on the truthful history and meaning of the Gadsden flag shouldn’t be trusted to teach America’s children.
Colorado Springs’ charter Vanguard School officials, are you listening? Fire ‘em. Fire ‘em all.
To call out the symbol of America’s great revolution against tyrannical Britain as racist and offensive and “disruptive,” and to prohibit a little 12-year-old boy from displaying the Gadsden patch on his backpack — er, make that, try to prohibit; ‘cause the boy won his fight with the school — is to proclaim widely and loudly utter ignorance.
And ignorance is something America’s schools don’t need more of; the teachers unions have already provided sufficiently on that score, thank you.
Here’s the background, along with the update: School administrators with the charter facility Vanguard told a mother of a 12-year-old boy that her son had to remove a Gadsden flag patch from his backpack as a condition of staying in the classroom. The mother pushed back — the elementary school teacher flailed her hands in the air and cited “policy” this and “disruption” that, then said the symbol had “origins with slavery.” And the mother said — it does not; stop being ignorant.
Well, she didn’t explicitly state the second phrase. But it was implied. And why not? This teacher — this administration — this school board — was most definitely ignorant.
The “Don’t Tread on Me” tag beneath a curled snake — the Gadsden — was named after its designer, Christopher Gadsden, a brigadier general who withstood the British as a leader of the Continental Army. He designed it in 1775 — you know, American Revolution years — and it was later flown at select sites during the war by various branches of the military. The Gadsden also served as a banner for the Thirteen Colonies; it was also used for political symbolism by Benjamin Franklin; it was also waved in more modern times by tea party types to express rebellion against the ruling political elites. In other words: the Gadsden is unifying, not divisive; and it’s certainly not disruptive — any more than the American flag itself; and moreover, it’s certainly not a symbol of racism, slavery or the slave trade.
“So,” the teacher tells the 12-year-old and his mother, in a widely watched video posted initially online by Connor Boyack, of Tuttle Twins literary fame and the president of Libertas Institute in Utah, “the reason that they do not want the flag — the reason we do not want the flag displayed — is due to its origins with slavery and the slave trade.”
Fire that teacher.
She’s not only uninformed, she’s dangerous. She’s a threat to young impressionable American school-age minds.
She’s the type of teacher who would bend over backwards to accommodate the whims and wishes of the woke crowd — of a single woke individual — even while simultaneously insisting on the right of the insane, psychologically deranged and anti-American zealot to display their own offensive messages and symbols. She’s the kind who would welcome the gay pride flag, but not the Gadsden. She’s of the class who would embrace a month of Black Lives Matter learning, all the while cutting down the Constitution and Founding Fathers in watered-down, historically whitewashed civics as racist, out-of-date, misogynist and needful of condemnation.
And when the masses complained about the anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-traditionalist teachings? When parents of little girls complained about her kinds’ permissive attitudes toward little boys who wanted to pretend to be females, or its, or theys for the day, and go to the bathroom with the females? She’s of the sort who would self-righteously proclaim the need for tolerance.
She’s the epitome of what’s wrong with today’s schools. And she should be fired.
So, too, all those teachers, administrators, school board members and union representatives who side with her particular brand of un-American, unbiblical, immoral insanity.
The story ends with a win.
“There has been national media attention on our charter school, The Vanguard School, related to a student having the Gadsden flag on his backpack. Unfortunately, this story was incomplete,” the school said in a statement to KOAA local news. “The patch in question was part of half a dozen other patches of semi-automatic weapons.”
That’s not what the teacher was telling the mother to remove; watch the video. But today’s schools can’t ever acknowledge error, even when making statements about backtracking from their errors.
“The Vanguard School recognizes the historical significance of the Gadsden flag and its place in history,” the district went on.
The boy — after missing three days — was allowed back in school. With his Gadsden patch. With his backpack bearing the famous “Don’t Tread on Me” messaging.
That’s good.
But next time — and that’s the problem. There will be a next time. There will be another time. There will be another teacher at another school and another district and another board and another administration — there will be another to demand a child remove something that someone some time along the line accused as racist, or offensive, or discriminatory. And that’s why firing is the best route. It would send a message to those who might come; to those who might try similar attacks on American symbols; on American history, in fact.
Firing a few of them is really the only way to make sure schools stop attacking good old-fashioned American principles and values.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.
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