at 11:00 am today, whilst in my english class an announcement was made. the colors RED and BLUE are no longer allowed in any way at our school unless it is blue jeans

thats right people the @#$%ing commies that run our school wont let us wear red and blue. RED AND BLUE?!?! last time i checked, 66% of our NATIONS FLAG IS RED AND BLUE!

because red and blue are 'gang' colors. which they are, i know that. but does this make every single person who wears these colors a gang member. just because i want to support a fooptball team, does that mean i also wanna cap everyone who doesnt support that same team?

MY GOD! what has this world come too. are we really willing, as a nation, to give up the freedon to wear a certain color kfor 'security'?

i guarantee you a red or blue gang member is not going to shoot me for wearing a certain color unless
a) he knows im in the rival gang
B) i pissed him off.

i like to think im smart enough not to **** a gangster off. gee, seeing as im only 16 i dont know whats good for me, and im in danger! :gasp:

I am so pissed right know you have no idea.

what am i goning to do? im making a petition. and im not stopping wearing my red and gold. and i know there's gonna be more ppl with me. i know it. thats just how it is. people dont wanna give up their rights.

this is america. last time i checked, we beleived in not giving up freedom for secutiry. i thought we beleived in fighting for whats right. I'm gonna actually put ti use some of the stuff i learned about 1984, and brave new world and comminism in russia. im going to use the civil disobedience i learned from Martin Luther kind Jr and Gandhi.


but what! whats the problem you say? its just a color? yeah but think about how friggin irrational this is. suppose someone starts a new gang, wearing GREEN. will green be banned? will we one day have to live in a school environment where nomatter what happes, we ALWAYS must wear white? must we give up or self expression?

in closing, i have one thing to say to my school's administration:

@#%$ you, you commie bastards. i'll see your hiney in heck

 

That's crappy Arin. I know your pissed, but I had to edit one of the words out.

 

really? where....

i dont really remember. was it something that wasnt in the filter?

in any case, sorry, i guess i might've gotten a bit carried away. im just nutsd right now. and my parents really dont give a crap about it. it goes against every single thing i actually learned last year and they say to blindly follow what the authority is telling me, even if its totally wrong because it wont look good on my college app.

sorry if i offended anyone or said something overzealous (unless you happen to be part of my school admin, in which case i refer your to my final comment in the first post...)

oh and that friggen smiley shoud be 'b' ), as in part b....


the worst part? i still cant beleive that my parents, who have always told me to do whats right are being a bunch of hypocrites and saying "do what your told". they even told me not to make a petition! the most civilized thing i can do is banned from me by my family. i hate to say it, but some things in this world have really gone to heck. integrity is no longer a principle, its a friggin vocab word

what if in the future, when im older, the government makes outrageous laws that ban things just b/c they dont like it? am i supposed to sit idly by and watch wrongdoings just happen?

bah look at me, im ranting.. just thought i'd let everyone know.

and friggin school pictures are tomoro. c'mon!!!!

 

i know i prolly sound like a whiney lil kid right now, but im just wondering what everyone else thinks about this

am i just overreacting? heck i have a rough draft of a letter i wanna send to the SF chronicle... mayb e im just nuts


just lookin for other opinions

 

OK, you asked for it. Not saying I agree with this, but here's the explanation.

The school administration has a responsibility for keeping the environment conducive to the educational process. It has been ruled time and again that they are allowed to set standards for dress, as long as those standards don't single out any one group - they can't ban the wearing of certain religious items for example - and as long as the dress in question can be reasonable concluded to be disruptive of the educational process.

The government today does make seemingly arbitrary laws. Marijuana is illegal, but alcohol and tobacco are not. Many sexual acts between consenting adults are illegal in many states (rarely enforced). Even alcohol was at one time illegal - and that didn't go over too well.

Drawing an analogy between this and an adult in the USA as a whole is flawed. The public school environment where they're put in charge of minors is a fairly unique environment. Almost parents by proxy. Like it or not you don't have the rights of an adult in that environment - you cannot choose to walk away from the school midday without there being repercussions for example - and those sort of restrictions have been proven constitutionally valid time and again.

If they said "you can't wear a shirt with an American flag", then yeah I'd say go fight it with all you have.

But this? Is it that big a deal? Is it really a first step on the slippery slope?

You could go to school every day wearing a shirt with a flag on it. You could wear a white shirt, then light blue, then slightly darker, etc. until they took action. You could be a wiseass and wear a white shirt with the words "RED SHIRT" in marker across the front.

What would the school administration do? Nothing? Suspension? Label you as a disciplinary problem?

Would a college view such civil disobedience on a topic such as this and an associated blemish on your record as a good thing? Is it worth the risk?

I don't know enough about your situation to answer those questions, and you may not be the best person to answer them yourself.

Yes, write a letter to the paper if you want. Be civil and rational.

If the parents of the children at the school get upset enough they can meet with the board. It's quite possible something like this would blow over in a few days if enough adults complained to the school.

Your parents aren't being hypocrites, they understand that you need to pick your battles. Are the potential gains here great enough to warrant the risks?

Personally I think a school that does this is wrong. While schools do take a parental role while minors are in their charge this does reek a suppression of freedom of expression. I think it shows a school environment where the administration is so weak that something as vague as a symbol and the removal of it is an attempt to bring more order to the environment. What will gang members do? Find a different symbol, at least while on school grounds, that fits within the guidelines, making them meaningless.

An act like this does teach the students at the school a lesson. I don't think it's the lesson that the administration set out to put forth.

 

I think you should concentrate of expressing yourself with good grammar rather than opting for slang or trailer trash language which will neither gain you support nor respect. There is nothing wrong or embarrassing with putting one's best face on display.

As for the colors, you have to weigh the negatives vs. the positives and what the school administration is trying to accomplish with its decision, which in case you missed it, deals primarily with your safety.

 

well that certainly puts in in perspectve. i do like the "RED SHIRT" idea though.

im sewing an american flag to my backpack as well, just to see. im gonna try say a black niner shirt with red logos all over and see what they say.

i dunno. i mean its been going on for years sorta. before we couldnt wear more than one article of red or blue together. ask me how many times i've had my beloved niner hat confiscated.. geez.

the only thing i've learned from this is that our school has no idea how to effectively deal with a problem. be it funding, gangs, or anything else

it really means alot for me, cuz i have this thing about not wearing a shirt unless it has a niner logo on it. trivial i know, but this Xmas it will be five years straight. thats a big statement, at least i think so.

myabe my generation has had it too easy. no major conflicts/events that we're involved in so im getting all riled up over something small... but then again... maybe not

 

yeah... well i dunno, i guess i just explode when im pissed off. thats why i didnt just send of my letter to the paper right away. i guess i was just really frustrated... i wasnt really thinking about how others would view it, i was just venting

i guess i should apologize for my choice of words here. sorry guys

 

Here we're not allowed to wear clothes with the confederate flag on it since people view it as hatered (sp) to black people. Everyone I know wears those shirts (usually) to show respect for their ancestors. The stuff they do nowadays is just plain stupid.

 

i dont really see how people get offended by a flag or by something so and so's ancestors did so many years ago.

 

the problem is when someone takes a certain thing or ideal and pushes it or abuses it in a way that it was not meant to be, that is when authority has to take a look and see what they need to do to keep a possible problem from happening. Does that make sense?

 

Thats a load of bull, u should be able to wear what ever u want, but pick ur battles Arin.

 

i see what ur saying scott, but doesnt it strike you as absurd that we have to resort to banning a color?!

i mean seriously...

 

Ok, so the kids going to school aren't allowed to wear certain colors just because they are associated with the Bloods and Crips, but Chrysler/Dodge use Snoop Dogg, a self proclaimed member of the Crips in commercials.

 

There is really no need. I was trying to bring a point to light not to scold you. Let's just say that your age gives you some lead way which is no excuse, but that's how you can learn.

 

Yes, it does. And that's one of the lessons I was talking about. Absurd things can be done in the name of authority. Having to resort to such measures damages their roles as authoritarians more than it helps them maintain control.

 

thats all well and good, but i seriously doubt banning colors will in any way hinder gang members. sad, but true.

i mean heck, if people like me are this frustrated, what about fanatical gang members? i guarantee you they are more pissed about this than i am. if anything, i think that this may aggravate them more.

just invoking some good debate points here

 

Begin temporary hijack/small rant

I do not think that would be much of a risk, considering the slant of most collegiate faculty/administrators i.e. their "progressive" attitudes. Most of what they believe is based on civil disobedience.

End hijack/rant

 

Arin, you are always full of surprises. You have to be more specific on today's frustration level. Help us here.

 

Arin, I agree with your statements and also see this as an irrational action... I just checked, and for the record, every article of clothing that I own has either red or blue on it... What would I do, go naked? And my parents couldn't afford a whole new wardrobe for me because of some stupid hiney rule like this...
what if the gangs just change their colors say bloods with purple, or crypts with yellow? I believe colors are an irrational means of representation... and Arin, I believe you should use your head, but DON'T give up on what you believe is right, America is gonna have to waken up soon and stand up for our rights if we don't want to lose them...