Hereford High School senior Vita Shats had seen it weekly. The Confederate flag on T-shirts. The swastikas in bathrooms. She’d seen a fellow student with a Confederate flag on his belt, flaunting it in a Black student’s face.
Two years ago, she talked to her school principal about implementation of a policy to ban those symbols – but was told it was beyond the school’s jurisdiction. So, she tried two superintendents.
Neither got back to her, she said.
There was no statewide policy regarding hate symbols in schools – and Hereford High didn’t have one, either – leaving Shats and students like her with few options.
But now, that might just change, as a bill in the Maryland state Legislature is aiming to ban the display of symbols of hate in public schools effective July 1.
“Allowing students or others to wear or display these symbols on school property or at school sponsored events, is both offensive, and is disruptive to the learning environment,” Del. Michele Guyton, D-Baltimore County, told a committee on Feb. 5.
The law, filed as HB0418, would institute a statewide order disallowing any symbols of hate including, but not limited to: swastikas, Confederate flags and nooses – though they can be displayed in classroom settings.
Guyton, the bill’s sponsor, said it’s a timely and necessary measure, especially in light of the emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement to the forefront of the national conversation.
Well I hope they banned the black lives matter bs also. That offends me greatly.
1st amendment violation right there.
The tail is wagging the dog again.
Better include communist symbols, BLM flags, Inverted crosses, rainbows, LGBTQ they are all hate groups too… ya know
The dangerous part is that it’ll be used as a political weapon to use against anything they choose … this is the opposite of freedom this is the opposite of America. Public school is a Nazi indoctrination center
We need charter schools
Nice idea – no resourcing or collective agreement on that. Maybe when the old/sky is falling mindset is out of the way….
never survive the court challenge! what’s hateful to you may be some one’s free speech!
suck it up buttercup!
Ding ding ding 11:16 & 1025 win the prize.
NO BOOK BURNINGs or NO BLANKET RESTRICTION ON WHAT THEY DEEM IS NOT POLITICALLY CORRECT!
Its a back door attempt to stiffle 1st amendment!!
So is the American flag going to be banned too? so many snowflakes are offended by it.
Who gets to decide what is a symbol of hate?
Changing the Constitution and BILL OF RIGHTS takes Constitutional AMSNDMENTS PASSED BY 2/3 of CONGRESS and 2/3 of the STATES
Just think these are the IDIOTS that were elected to uphold the US CONSTITUTION and STATE CONSTITUTION which cannot supersede the US CONSTITUTION.
ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF DEMOCRAT STUPIDITY.
Who gets to decide what is and is not a hate symbol? Kinda like what Joe Stalin said, “It doesn’t matter who votes but rather who counts the votes.”