An Oklahoma high school is facing backlash after students had their American flags confiscated by school officials and were escorted to the principal’s office. The incident comes just days after students had been told they were not allowed to fly the red, white, and blue on their vehicles. Several similar incidents have occurred across the country in recent years, where students are reprimanded for their patriotism.
According to a social media post, at least one student in Edmond, Oklahoma, appeared to be facing punishment for passing out American flags within the school. Another student recorded the incident while a teacher walked in front of them with a handful of flags. The individual recording asked the student in the frame what he was in trouble for, to which he responded, “Handing out American flags.”
Earlier this week, students at Edmond North High School protested after student Caleb Horst was informed that he was not permitted to fly the American flag on the back of his pickup truck. Reportedly, over 50 cars and trucks circled the high school, donning the flag to support Horst. “I’ve never really had problems with it before, and it’s our First Amendment right, so it’s kind of hard for them to infringe upon our rights,” Horst said.
Some residents expressed worries as to what the public school system might seek to ban next. “If it’s the flag today, what is it tomorrow?” Lynn McNeely, a parent of an Edmond North student, stated. “It’s not a protest. It’s not political. It’s not about red. It’s not about blue. It’s about red, white and blue. So, where do we draw the line?”
The incident also caught the attention of State Superintendent Ryan Walters, who said, “Patriotism should never be penalized at Oklahoma schools. Ever. EPS has a history of prioritizing woke agendas over our history and our freedoms. We will investigate, and I will act.” Walters also issued a video statement vowing to revise guidelines prohibiting the American flag from being displayed at Oklahoma schools.
Walters stated, “No school in Oklahoma should tell students they can’t wave an American flag. We’ve had Americans die for that flag. Die for students to have the right to carry the flag, to wave the flag, to be proud of that American flag. My department right now is working on guidelines that we will be issuing to districts to ensure that no student is ever targeted for having an American flag, and also that our schools will promote patriotism. We want our young people to be patriotic. We want them to love this country, and we’re going to continue to support our young people to have the greatest understanding of American history in the country and to be proud of our country. And so we will continue to do that, and we will continue patriotic students across the state.”
Footage of the student having his flags confiscated was uploaded to X with the caption, “Kids at @EdmondSchools had their flags confiscated by a teacher and were escorted to the principal’s office. This is a couple of days after the superintendent stated they couldn’t fly flags on their vehicles. Truly sickening.” Watch the incident below:
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Featured image credit: Noah Wulf, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:American_Flag_on_Pickup_Truck.jpg