This is getting ridiculous. Were Bo and Luke Duke racist for having the confederate flag painted on their car... no.

I grew up a child of the 80's thinking it was a symbol of southern pride, granted I grew up in East Windsor, but it was never a racist symbol to me... It was the Duke boys.

If you want to incite a riot and disrupt the classroom, then by all means wear the Confederate battle flag to school. It is a symbol of racism, slavery and terrorism against the federal government of the USA. Confederate heritage? That would be slavery, lynching and disenfranchising blacks for another 100 years. Slavery was in the Confederate constitution; slavery was specifically mentioned and protected, so don't hand me this garbage that the Civil War was not about slavery. Slavery was the basis of the Southern economic system. I am really getting sick and tired of people glossing over what the South really stood for during the Civil War. The Confederacy endorsed, promoted and protected the enslavement of a whole race of people. There was slavery in some of the northern states but it was being abolished (NY abolished slavery in 1838, for example). When did the South abolish slavery? Oh wait, that's why they seceded from the union (an act of treason and terrorism), to preserve slavery, remember slavery was in their constitution. The Civil War and the victory of the North is what abolished slavery in the South and for the whole country. I have nothing against the South of today nor modern southerners. They are great people and the South of today is light years from the South of 1861. The South of today is a great place to live and has made enormous progress over the decades. It is not my intent to besmirch contemporary Southerners, that would be wrong.

I grew up in Louisiana, I went to Robert E. Lee High School. We were the Rebels, I was in a marching group called the Confederettes. Do I think that someone should wear the Confederate battle flag to school? NO! It is a symbol that is offensive to a large number of people; including me. I was young and didn't comprehend the offensiveness of our images. Our school district was integrated and black girls joined the Confederettes...but they removed the flag from their hats and anywhere else.

I don't believe that it is the right of anyone to wear offensive images to school. The flag is not an expression of any sort of positive southern heritage. Find a positive symbol if you want to express the fact that you are southern. Try politeness and consideration.

I think the school missed the opportunity to educate everyone on the controversy of the flag, its meanings, and why it is an issue for people. Then the ids can make an informed choice about it. The student was quoted in a report for CBS news that she didn't know the meaning of the flag and that she "ignores what she doesn't know about." That pretty much sums it up. Let's teach our children!

*kids, not ids.

This is a great moment for sensitivity training in the school. Students should have the opportunity to discuss the situation and be sensitive to the feelings of others. The children have learned that they "have the right" to wear whatever they would like. Now they should learn to respect the feelings of their fellow students.

So will we be removing turbines from the indian children too? Just wondering.

Since when has a turban been a symbol of hate, racism and slavery? Many of the Indians with turbans in this country are Sikhs. Sikhs do not cut their hair as a symbol of respect to God. The turban is used to cover their hair.
Wearing a Confederate Flag (or flying one in front of your home) is equal to doing the same with a Swastika or coming to school in a Ku Klux Klan outfit. I'm not sure I would want to use the Confederate Flag to brag about my southern heritage.

How can you compare the confederate flag to a swastika or a ku klux Klan outfit? Just because the south had slavery during the civil war doesn't mean that's what the flag symbolizes. Do you really believe the civil war was only about slavery? There was slavery in the north, too. Does that make the American flag a racist symbol?

Also, the original American flag had 13 stars on it. Each of those stars represented a colony. Each of those colonies supported slavery. That being said, can I fly an old style American flag and not be considered racist?

Just curious, if I wear a Penn State jersey does that mean I am supporting pedophilia?

This is the United States of America, not the Confederate Union. The following is a comment made by the mother Ms. West & an answer by the principal " The Indian kids wear their turbans. The Jewish kids wear their yarmulkes. That’s their birthright,” she said. “I told him that Torri was born in Virginia. That flag is her heritage and I’m not telling her to take it off. He said ‘I guess she’ll have to suffer the consequences.’” Their garb is not a heritage, it's a religion. Is Ms. West claiming the Confederacy a religion? Please Justin, would you kindly expound on what the Confederate Flag did represent & the Confederacy stand for? Why don't you ask some of our Veterans how they feel on the subject. The Civil War was brutal for both sides, I don't think we should keep dragging up ghosts to remind us of the horror. No we will never forget, but this is the 21st Century, let's look to the future. God Bless the United States of America.

the confederate flag has always had meaningss of rebellion, patriotism, self-determination, dissent, freedom, and liberty. The north was plagued with slavery just as much as the south, yet somehow you believe that the north was fighting the south solely about slavery. The student that was suspended was from the south, so why is it so wrong for her to show respect for her ancestors in the civil war?

Hi Justin:
You are correct that the Civil War was about more than slavery. It was about the differing views of the economic way of life between the north and south. Slaves played a critical role in the economy of the south. They were the labor force that made the south what it was. While the north had slaves they had many more rights in the north than in the south. Also, the north outlawed slavery much earlier than the south.
Wearing the confederate flag does not show respect for one's ancestors who fought in the civil war. Using your logic, should German Americans wera swastikas to show respect for their ancestors who fought in WWII? WWII was about more than the Holocaust.
Slavery, like the Holocaust, was about the systematic oppression of a race of people that did not end (technically) until the Civil Rights Act.
As I said earlier, there are many better things to honor someone's "southern heritage" than the Confederate flag.

The holocaust is not even close to comparable to the civil war. The holocaust was a genocide of an entire group of people, a mass murder. That is nothing to be proud about. Fighting for your rights however, is. The south was fighting for their freedom from the northern states and federal government. Maybe they didn't have the same beliefs as you, but that's no reason to tell this student she's wrong for honoring her ancestors and what they believed in.

Alot of wars and hatred has been committed in the name of almost all religions. In turn do you ban all symbols of religion? Just by removing a symbol does not erase the past. And yes the flag is miss understood as just pure symbol of slavery, but it was about states rights versus federal over bearing. It should be a time to discuss events of the Civil War. Didn't they just have a re-enactment of a Civil War encampment at the Kreps school?

It is interesting how you are unable to come to grips with the fact that what we (Americans) did to Blacks during the time of slavery was equivalent to not just the Holocaust during WWII but any Holocaust that has ever happened in this world. In fact, it may have been worse than the Holocaust. I'm not sure if you know this but it is thought that during the couple hundred years of slavery, about 22 million Blacks were killed. Are you aware of the conditions that Blacks endured coming over here? Piled in the hulls of ships, chained to each other, with little food or water and full of disease. Over half of them never got here because they died in transit. The south wasn't just fighting for freedom they were fighting to maintain their economic way of life which slavery was an essential part (free labor that you owned). So, any way you slice it, the slavery issue was a key part of the Civil War.
So, yes, it is wrong for anyone to "celebrate" ancestors who believed in the priciples of the south during the time of the Civil War by wearing or flying the Confederate flag. Freedom of speech is one thing but outwardly supporting slavery is another.

you're just not getting it. The confederate flag and racism are two totally different things. Did I say I supported slavery? Did the article say the mom or the daughter supported slavery? No. the meaning of many symbols depend on how people perceive them. People like you are the ones turning this into a race issue. The confederate flag was never meant to symbolize hatred or racism, and anyone who uses the flag to symbolize that is wrong. You need to do some research on the history of the confederate flag and stop turning everything into "black vs. white". Not everything is a race issue.

I agree with Justin. It's how u perceive it.

Forget it Marc, these people are not going to get it. This woman just wants the PR she doesn't care about her child or the situation. She wants the attention, period!!! Ask the media people who interviewed her.

So tell me, would you be offended and suspend a student if they came in wearing the Mississippi State Flag? It is quite literally red, white, and blue bars with the entire confederate flag, no altercation, tucked in the top left corner. This should be an outrage, and unacceptable to you, yes?

Enough already. The care custody and control of students is by the school district.They make the decision as to what is acceptable. They are the final arbitrator. The courts have upheld School decisions. So you all can go back to loving Jesus, loving the confederate flag, and loving to be totally ignorant.

Those assumptions are quite premature, and I am not sure what evidence you have to back those up about everyone that believes the opposite of you on this issue. But regardless, the issue at hand is not who has the final decision, it is whether or not the decision was appropriate. You seem to be saying that a higher authority is always correct, that if, for example, a man was sentenced to life in prison by a judge when there is clear evidence that he did not commit a crime, you would uphold the judge's decision. Unless this is your belief, i do not see how the schools having the final decision simply ends the issue.

@marc covitz "Most people, especially African Americans, associate the Confederate flag with slavery."

If you want to intelligently debate an issue you can't just make up stats to support your argument. I guarantee you cannot produce any evidence to support your assertion that "most people associate the confederate flag with slavery".

BTW my fellow Americans, if you read the statements by her classmates, you'll find the actual problem was not the shirt, it was the mouth.

See CBS NEWS .COM,,, also a report in The Trenton Times.

This entire mess has consumed enough of my time and everyones. I believe this nut case & her pathetic offspring "should" go to VA. where they'll both be more comfortable with their ancestors & their heritage. Goodbye, good luck, get lost. Happy Holidays

Its freedom of speech i wear my Confederate buckle to school every day and dam well proud of it. All u people who thinks its racist well why wen African americans wear t shirts that say black power its all good but god for bid if i wore a shirt or a hat that said white power i would be called a big racist anyone wont to awnser that for me because is it bad to be proud of being white then this an't my AMERICA (somonerrspond

Excuse me, but when did the Confederate battle flag become the flag of the US? When did we start pledging allegiance to the flag of the Confederate States of America? The CSA stood for slavery (slavery was written into the CSA constitution) and injustice, nothing to be proud of.