Student ejected from ceremony for graduating while black

The “fact” that all you’ve done is glory in your own opinion of the matter (“They’re dumb racists, unlike me”) rather than bringing anything new to light. Which leads me to assume that you don’t have anything to offer in that direction. Which then leads me to the conclusion that your magic 8-ball tends to give you the kinds of answers you like hearing rather than the kinds of answers that we’d have any basis to believe. A bit of a leap on my part, yes. I’d happily be proven wrong with a shower of additional facts and background on how and why this all went down.

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See this, for instance: http://www.acluct.org/updates/school-censorship-of-t-shirt-violated-free-speech-rights/

Could you point me to something I’ve said that brings you to those “facts”?

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I think you’re injecting your hatred of “the State” into this.

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Specifically?

More from Sacremento Bee:

Novella Coleman, attorney for the ACLU of Northern California, said
it could be problematic for a school district to allow students to wear
any accoutrements not associated with the school, but then disallow
another form of personal expression, such as a kente cloth.Pinkerton said that each school establishes its own rules about graduation attire.San
Juan and Folsom Cordova unified school districts spokesmen said their
schools also issue guidelines for what students may wear on their caps
and gowns for graduation.Trent Allen at San Juan said the
district has no written policy. But he said, “Our practice is that
students are not allowed to wear anything on the outside of their gowns
and caps that is not issued as part of the school’s graduation program.”
Twin Rivers Unified’s executive director of student engagement, Craig
Murray, said graduation ceremonies are an opportunity for students to be
recognized for their academic achievements with sashes and cords. “We
don’t allow students to decorate their gowns and caps,” he said.Holmes
said he doesn’t regret wearing the kente cloth. “I was able to
acknowledge my culture, my ancestry,” he said. “I want people to know
that it’s not OK to not have a discussion about culture and religion in
America. We are a very diverse country and we need to stop accommodating
just one people.”

Holmes is going to Cal State Fullerton. Best of luck to him. He seems to be a strong willed young man. . . .and I guess we’ll see what happens with the district’s graduation policy, which, students confirmed elsewhere in the story, is pretty strictly enforced. Whether or not being escorted out by (apparently) school security (not deputies as reported elsewhere) was just because he was black? I don’t even see Holmes himself saying that–he’s more about changing the graduation rules.

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And this is what we fundamentally disagree on. If litigation is seriously so much of an issue that it can be used to squash expression in a fairly racist way, then the district should mandate (holds mouth while I puke a little) binding arbitration from the students parents.

I can’t see any reasonable person agreeing that this student was a distraction, other than arbitrary guidelines.

(I also think this conversation would be better in person, over a beer :D)

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I’ll give you a hint: other than asking you to point out what I’d said that made you come up with your version of reality, I had posted only twice in this thread.

Specific info on how to fix something in a post, and

After @anon15383236 had asked the same question repeatedly and gotten no substantive response.

Kind of like how I asked you a specific question twice and still have gotten no response. I know you think that means we’re all in awe of your power and control, but no.

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Not sure I’m following you. I don’t hate the State. I am deeply suspicious of it and, moreso, of anyone who wishes to mantle themselves with its authority.

shhh… you’re disrupting the outrage. everything is racist, didn’t you know?

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And you’re still babbling about the State when this article has nothing to do with the US government.

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Principles should have principles.

I think many people have forgotten that.

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I appreciate the sentiment, but wasn’t that the very specific legal defence deployed at the Nuremberg trials?

Not that I see any similarity between Hitler’s Germany and this situation, of course. They’re entirely distinct circumstances.

You have not asked a specific question. You are playing some sort of cryptic game which really isn’t very clever. But whatever.

To be clear. “Our practice” and “We Don’t Allow” don’t seem to be clear and unambiguous, written rules. Yarmulkas have been mentioned.

“Our practice is …” is a weak assed response - the best that can be pulled out in a time of crisis? Fuck, I bet Westpoint has some pretty clear rules. In the absence of pretty clear rules, why stop yourself? This situation is, frankly, racist in extremis.

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Lol. Lol.

You really think it is coincidental that the student that the school just happened to call the police on to remove was black and that, in America, they would treat a white student with non-conforming dress the same? Really?

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Just to clarify–in this case, the uniform dress code for graduation would probably pass muster as an acceptable restriction on freedom of expression (I don’t think there’s ever been a really definitive test case for dress codes in general, but I’m thinking a one-off ceremonial occasion would probably be in a pretty strong position in applying a pretty strict dress code.)

So they aren’t saying that the kente cloth was unduly disruptive in and of itself. They’d be saying that for this ceremonial occasion they have a dress code (for historic reasons, to keep the focus on school-related achievement, etc. etc.) . And this dress code is enforced pretty strictly. Only school-issued regalia. Period.

Now if they were to say, “Well, we’ll allow some outside jewelery or regalia that meets certain standards . . .” THEN they’d to start applying the “disruptive to the school activity” standard as they distinguished between one person’s kente cloth and another person’s Aryan fist symbol, Boer flag, red hand, gang insignia or whatever . . . and it’s a fairly high standard to meet. Rather than fighting each case to decide whether it is truly disruptive, this school’s approach is just to exclude everything they don’t issue themselves and there is thus very little leeway for legal challenge.

And I just don’t see it as “racist” to apply a general rule (no outside accouterments) to an African American individual. Holmes himself has pretty much taken this tack: the rule is stupid, he defied it, and he hopes the attention his case is getting makes the school district change. And I’m totally cool with that. I haven’t seen anything where he suggests he was treated differently because of his background.

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Why did they call the police?

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Not in the slightest, because both are subjective judgements.