School’s Flag Policy Draws Protest

You've probably never heard of Peyton Robinson. It's not often that we learn much about 18 year old high school seniors, unless they're an athletic phenom or have gotten themselves into a huge amount of trouble. Peyton has made a name for himself by standing up for the flag.

From The Blaze:

Peyton Robinson said he got the bad news from a school administrator Wednesday morning. The 18-year-old senior at York Comprehensive High School was told he wasn’t allowed to fly his American flag and POW-MIA flag in the bed of his pickup truck.

“He said, ‘We’re having some issues. Some people were complaining about the flags in your truck,’” Robinson told WBTV-TV. He said the administrator said the flags could “possibly” be offensive, and told Robinson to take them down before coming back to the South Carolina school Thursday. 

Groan. Here we go again with the "flag might be offensive" chestnut again. And, to make matters worse, it seems the school administration couldn't bear the thought of waiting until the next day.

He told WBTV that at some point Wednesday, a school official unscrewed the bolts securing the flags to his truck and laid them in the bed “when I wasn’t even there.”

 

By the end of the school day, officials announced that flags such as Robinson’s are safety concerns. Superintendent Vernon Prosser told WSOC-TV the fear is that they could block the view of other drivers and cause a wreck.

The senior — who has relatives who served in the military — was upset. ”I was pretty mad,” he told WBTV. “I don’t see how it’s a problem. Nobody has ever complained about it before.”

“I’d understand if it was the Confederate flag or something that might offend somebody,” he added. “I wouldn’t do that. But an American flag — that’s our country’s flag. I have every right to do it. I don’t see a safety issue. I mean, I understand it’s a big flag — it’s 4 by 6 — but nobody has ever complained about it being in their way or anything.”

 

So, Peyton did what you do in today's world...he headed to Facebook to share his experience. Fellow students rallied to his cause, and more than 70 cars and trucks, all flying the flag, pulled into the school's parking lot the next morning. A crowd gathered nearby to cheer them on, while a group of veterans stood near the entrance to the lot and saluted as the flag waving vehicles drove past.

Here's what happened next: