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Subscribe to RSS"I just thought it was cool," said Texanna Edwards of the confederate flag dress that got her banned from her senior prom. WMC-TV's Janice Broach reports.
MEMPHIS – A high school senior from West Tennessee says she was banned from attending her prom because her dress resembled a Confederate battle flag, WMC-TV in Memphis reported.
"It wasn't done to offend anybody," Texanna Edwards, 18, told the NBC station. "It was done just for the sole fact that I just wanted a rebel flag dress because I thought it was cool."
But officials at Gibson County High School officials in Dyer, Tenn., did not agree with her coolness factor. Principal James Hughes declined comment to WMC.
"He told us y'all have to leave because the dress is inappropriate," Edwards said. She said that last year she wore a camouflage dress to the prom without any objection.
She said she doesn't understand why the dress was banned because students in school wear rebel flag shirts, hats and belt buckles.
"I don't see the point of not letting someone in their one and only prom, senior prom. The year they graduate. Doesn't represent anything bad," student Cody Beasley told WMC-TV.
Gibson County Special School District Superintendent Eddie Pruett, however, said a teacher had warned Edwards months ago that the dress might be inappropriate, The Associated Press reported. Pruett said there have been racial tensions at the school in recent years and the high school principal worried the dress could have caused more, according to the AP.
This story includes reporting from WMC-TV's Janice Broach.
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Leave a Comment:
I think the little girl needs to stop worrying about the prom and go back to history class.."it doesn't mean anything bad" really sweetheart. That's ignorant. If you ask anyone right now what the confederate flag stands for and you will get racism. Ignorance is bliss I guess.
Ok everyone, there is ABSOLUTELY NO PLACE in today society for these kinds of racist ,stupid acts. Her parents should have put their foor down and explained to her that it was an unacceptable choice and not let her walk out of the house dressed like that. They should teach her to show more respect for herslef and others .Parents are ultimately responsible for what their children say and do. They are a reflection of their parents and their parents beliefs. So I guess the apple didn't fall far from the tree.
The schools there should make sure they are teaching the kids the meaning behind things like the confederate flag. I'm sure thye probably are not teaching US history the proper way ,if they were kids wouldn't think that these kids of displays are ,cool or ok . They shouldn't allow , hat, or shirts or belt buckles either.
IT'S NEVER OK TO ACT OR SHOW RACISM IN ANY FORM. SOME PARTS OF THE COUNRTY NEED TO GROW UP AND GET OVER IT. THEY ARE PART OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA not the Confederate States of America.
RACISM HAS NO PLACE IN THIS WORLD!!!!!!!!!
Bumper sticker: Proud parent of Redneck High Onner Role Stoodent.
I was far more shocked when I was sitting in the parking lot of a grocery store with a black friend waiting for another friend and we noticed a pickup truck painted as a giant rebel flag. Well, ok, my ancestors owned slaves and fought under that flag and it sure stood out in the parking lot so you'd always be able to find it in a crowded lot.
A young African-American man came out of the store, hopped in to that truck, and drove off. My friend deadpanned, "Some day I have to have a long talk with that boy!"
As to the War Between the States and its cause... Does anyone really think that over three-hundred thousand white men willingly died for black rights in the 1860's? I don't think you could get them to do it today, much less back then. I know it sounds good to say the valiant North gave its all for the rights of slaves, but I don't buy it.
Don't let movies teach you history. Ever see "Glory"? Do you know there were no freed/runaway slaves in the entire regiment? Hollywood made it look like escaped slaves were fighting for their families. Really it was mostly small businessmen, all of whom could read and write and who knew their left from their right.
It was the agarian south against the industrialized north over tariffs and big government against the rights of states to govern themselves. And not all Southerners approved of slavery. Robert E. Lee went before the Confederate Congress to ask them to include the prohibition of slavery in the Constitution of the Confederate States because it was an immoral practice and should not be allowed by the new government. You were not taught that because the men who write the books have dumbed down education to the point of "us good; everyone else, bad."
Nope. Wrong. It was about slavery. Read the states Declarations of Secession. They tell you exactly why they are seceding.
SLAVERY. PERIOD.
Southern christians are no different that northern christians you just think you are.
no most southern christains are racist - and who gives a crap about christains anyway - northern southern , western - you are all delusional screwballs who live your lives believing in a fairy tale
No, someone yelling racist all the time...is a racist!
Texas LOL
"
We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable.
That in this free government all white men are and of right ought to be entitled to equal civil and political rights; that the servitude of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator, as recognized by all Christian nations; while the destruction of the existing relations between the two races, as advocated by our sectional enemies, would bring inevitable calamities upon both and desolation upon the fifteen slave-holding states.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_texsec.asp
No one is saying Slavery is right .. it never has been ... never will be and sadly still happens in parts of the world today ... point is The Civil War was about States Rights
WWII was about stopping Hitler from taking over Europe and the world .. the fact of what he did to jews and others was just a horrible chapter > but had nothing to do with WWII starting or being fought
silence from the confederates? Where are your "states rights" arguments now?
The only "state right" at issue in the south was "property rights" when the "property" was "negros".
You can't handle the truth Texas A&I?
Sam .. you cant handle the truth ...
Truth is under the law does she have the RIGHT to wear it ... that is the only issue and she in fact does ... as i know NO LAW anywhere that states a dress that sort of looks like it might take after a confederate flag is in fact illegal
Yes, she has a right to wear it. The school also has a right to keep her from wearing it to school or school sponsored functions. An employer also has the right to fire her for wearing it.
Crawl out from under your rock.
I think that dress looks ridiculous, I would not put that flag up anywhere on anything. but if the school was already leting people where that flag than why not her dress? that's the part that does not make sense.
Give me a break. I see girls going to proms dressed like ten dollar hookers and people get offended by this dress? Not the best of taste, mind you, but I'm sure she wasn't advocating slavery or anything else, just wanted to be different.
There are way too many people in our society who are just waiting to be offended by something.
Confederate Flag is no more about Slavery than the American Flag is about the whole slaughter of Native Americans in the 1800s
And to say The Civil War was about Slavery is as dumb abd naive as saying WWII was about the Jews.
Hey, Texas!
Think you need to read a little. The real history, not the revisionist junk! You'll find out that the whole nasty fight was about the right of the plantation owners to enslave other humans to do their work for them, thus making it not only a racist issue, but an economic one as well. Along with the fact that the sorry plantation owners were too lazy to get in the fields themselves and did not want to pay prevailing wages to people who needed the work. (again, an economic issue) Not angry with you or anyone else, just want you to read a little.
It is the symbol of the confederacy which seceded from the union over the right to own slaves.
PERIOD. Read it. Straight from the horses mouth. No interpreting. No revisionist history. The truth hurts, doesn't it?
Texas-
What was WWII about then? About power and persecution.
Why did the South secede? For their rights as states to own slaves. Look into it.
To say that the Civil War is not about slavery is to say that a car needs no frame to work. Slavery was not the only reason the Civil War was fought, but was important during the Civil War, before the Civil War, and after the Civil War.
If not slavery, then what?
so why did she not wear an american flag, no she had to wear a symbol of hate and death... and one other point ........ they freakin LOST ........... remember ............ or there would still be slaves ....... someone want to dispute that - if the south had won the world would be very different and slavery would still exist .. but that does not stop them from waving their flag in their battle against decency... and they are to ignorant to fell any shame ... how embarassing for the country ........... other civil parts of the world are probably horrified by the morons that still exist here today
The Civil War started over States Rights.
Rich in the south (very few people actually owned slaves, and poor whites worked in as bad of conditions) took slavery as a states right, but it wasnt the only reason ... and again Lincoln said he didnt care if the south had slaves as long as New States did not.
Should we allow Native Americans to tell the USA to get a new flag .. because under our flag native Americans were killed for sport .. fact is Slaves had a value and few were killed ... native americans had NO value to the USA Gov and most people .... you cant pick and choose .. fact is only a tiny percent of southerner had slaves ....
States rights to own slaves....
Straight from the horses mouth. The southern states seceded over slavery. Period.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_missec.asp
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_geosec.asp
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_scarsec.asp
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/csa_texsec.asp
No southerner will ever admit that the war was over slavery, so why waste your breath trying to convince them otherwise?
Some people just don't get it.
Sam 298381-They hate it when you show them in the document............
i went to school in MN in the 70s. We actually had a girl move there from VA & she thought the South had actually won the Civil War. maybe these "proud americans" who "love this country" were brought to realize that this flag is also a symbol of treason and was used by a group of states who did not want to be a part of The United States of America it would go away - how can you be a proud American and yet use this symbol?
Steve, you are expecting too much. It seems you expect reason from the unreasonable.
My mother, who is quite intelligent, did not realize the South had lost until she was 12 years old. None of her history classes (in Texas) mentioned the inconvenient truth. That was back in the mid-twentieth century, but maybe not that much has changed.
It wasnt treason DA...the states had a right to secede. Read the constitution! The U.S. government was wrong! Study more!
Here's a statement made by President
Abraham Lincoln in 1848: “Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the
power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and
form a new one that suits them better.”
Steve - have you read any of the history books about the South that are sanctioned by the districts and administrations? It's a whole different story up North. It's called Revisionism.
It shouldn't matter whether or not slavery was part of the decision to secede. The south should have had the right to do it, just like the rest of the country had the right to do the same from England. I know at this point the idea of slavery is repulsive (and I agree that it's wrong), you have to realise we're not the only country who had slaves. It still goes on today. No one set out to make an offensive flag because they didn't care if it offended anyone. At the time the flag was made as a sign of rebellion, NOT as a sign of racism (the 13 stars/colonies with an X over them). While some of the supporters were very racist, some were not. AND YES THERE WERE BLACK SUPPORTERS AND SOLDIERS. But their economy would have (and did) fall apart without slaves. It was stupid to bring them here in the first place because the south ended up depending on it.
Anyway, kids today wear this all the time. (At least in the south). While at my school these were the same kids who didn't know or care about history at all, they just saw it as a sign of rebellion or thought it "looked cool." For the most part it was the white, redneck kids (and no, not everyone in Alabama or any other southern state is a republican redneck hick). Our whole football team had it on the back of their trucks though and they were mostly black.
People acting like this is racist just keeps racism alive. LET IT GO. NONE OF US WERE INVOLVED.
And yes, that dress is hideous, but she shouldn't be banned.
27sax,
Those states had the right to secede, but the rest of the states fought them and they lost. In the Revolutionary War, Britain lost. So, the U.S. was formed. That's how it works. The winners get to decide what happens.
It is a message of racism. Do you find the swastika to be a just misunderstood symbol? No...because things have meanings.
Nobody cares if the south had the "right to secede". They lost and slavery was abolished. If they had won, slavery still might exist in the Confederacy today. More likely, they would have continued to breed slaves until the whites were completely outnumberd (like in South Africa), and at some point, the white slave owners would have gotten their own "tire necklaces" and the Unites States would be dealing with all the white refugees fleeing the black dominated and black ruled Confederacy.
Public schools are forcing students to embrace and be "tolerant" of other cultures and religions, then are persecuted when they try to express their own culture and/or religion. That flag the dress represents does not represent my beliefs, but I totally support her right to wear that dress. They certainly would not have banned native-African attire, or Irish attire, or East Indian attire.
Sadly for everyone, you're mistaken. Just a couple of weeks ago, a boy of Scottish ancestry was banned for wearing a kilt.
That's too bad - I remember seeing Sean Connery in his. At his age, he still looked hot.
Elizabeth-
This is analogous to wearing a swastika because you are German. You surely do not condone this?
Oh, it's ok to wear pants down to your knees and show the world your dirty a$$ and thats not disrespecting anyone but you cant wear a rebel flag dress?
are you waiting on the government to step in and do your work for you? pull your own pants up!
Did somebody get to go to the prom with their ass showing? I missed that part.
Or wear the Union Jack that enslaved more people since the roman empire
Yeah she did...herself
This is not about slavery/non-slavery or the Civil War. And I know that some people view the Confederate flag only as a symbol of their heritage.
This is about the fact that in this very day and age, not during the Civil War, that people in the south NOW use the flag as a symbol of hate. Hate by whites against blacks and other minorities. And, if you don't believe this, read the news. Live in the south.
Because it is used (by some, not all) as a symbol of hate, and that hate is real, this symbol should not be displayed in public, in any form by anyone. What you do in your own home is your own business. Rebel flag bras and underpants are fine, as long as you keep them covered up. This is about being civil and respecting the feelings of others, whoever those others might be. Really, having empathy and respect is the only hope that we can all get along. Put yourself for a minute, just one minute, in the shoes of those who have been hurt throughout their lives by prejudice and worse.
The only haters I see in the south are Black Liberal Democrats!
dont you like BLACK AMERICANS!?
I live in the south, and I see LOTS of white haters. Give me your email address and I'll forward you some of the "funny" emails I get from my own Texas redneck relatives about Obama and Michelle.
I'm sure you'll think they're great.
I live in the cotton states and I don't know anyone that uses this flag for hate! The fact is people dont read their history and just assume its a hate symbol. Using that judgement why dont we call all islamist terrorist but no that would be stereotyping see the irony?
If you DO READ YOUR HISTORY, you'll see that it IS a symbol of slavery. The civil war was fought over slavery period.
It is my humble opinion that, if the young lady was actually educated about the meaning of the Confederate flag and what it stood for, she would have probably elected not to wear it. Most young people these days connect this particular flag with "the south" not with the right to own slaves and all of the other legal ramifications. Has anyone heard whether she was a "hater" or not. Can't judge if we don't know. All we know is that she said, "I thought it was a cool dress." We always seem to want to judge others on what we think, instead of what that other person thinks and their true intentions...maybe we(and the school) (and the authorities) are being just a little harsh in our judgement. Thanks for letting me put in my two cents.
Blacks are the haters and the first ones to yell RACISM!
RACISM! hey comet55 you can yell it too... go on do it.. dont be scared! RACISM! its easy.
Comet
Gee, I wonder why that is?
Oh, Texas A&I.
Texas A & I been Texas A & M-- Kingsville for almost 20 years, you know, might as well move on and accept it.
And the Civil war was indeed fought over slavery. You have only to read Texas' declaration of secession to see that is true.
http://www.civil-war.net/pages/texas_declaration.asp
When i was there it was Texas A&I ..... And if you knew anyone from the A&I days you would know known of us refer to it as A&M ever
I'm guessing you went there for the "agricultural" part.
I am a Rancher.
I know that, Texas, I was just teasing, really.
Hook'em, Horns!
As with any symbol, the Confederate flag represents different things to different people. For some, it's a symbol of proud Southern heritage. For others, it represents a loathsome practice of slavery and the people who fought to keep that practice going. Whatever your take is on the symbol, if it stirs up such strong emotions and anger in so many people, maybe it is best not to display it. Clearly, enough people out there find it extremely offensive. I'm not saying your opinion on the flag should be disrespected, but it may be prudent to restrain from displaying it, not necessarily out of respect of other people's opinions, but out of the respect for those with differing opinions.
Why is the South proud over fighting a war to keep human beings in bondage?
You suppose their are some Germans who are proud of their Nazi heritage?
The school is WRONG! the school district is WRONG.
Little girl, it goes something like this: According to the article, you were previously advised that it would not be appropriate to wear this dress by a member of the faculty and should not go through with it. You went ahead anyway to either do "shock and awe" or "neener, neener, look what I'm doing". It's all about the rules that we all have to go through in life, which is why they are not only taught at home but at school and work. You made a choice and now there's consequences. Period. The other clap trap is incidental. You just wanted attention and now you have it.
I find anyone dressed as a muslim Offensive ... would a muslim of been sent home ..
I find it offensive how many blacks dress & what that stands for ... so what nobody going to send them home and thats ok
There is always someone who finds something offensive ... why is it only Whites & Christians have to give in.
excellent post
Texas-
If a Muslim were wearing a symbol of hate and racism, then they too would be sent home. If an African-American were wearing a symbol of hate and racism, they they too would be sent home. Thus, if a "white" person is wearing a symbol of hate and racism, they should be sent home.
In the U.S., we have this wonderful system, wherein multiple cultures live together. This only works when people who promote hate and racism are stood up to.
I find any muslim dress offensive ... so do i have the right to send home a person because they dress like the people who attacked on 911 when my brother in law was a FDNY
Texas-
I said nothing about taking offense. That is not what this is about. Additionally, the people who attacked on 911 dressed like Muslims, not Muslims dressing like them.
The people who attacked on 9/11 were in Western-style clothing, so no you don't. Not that you would anyway, since you can't judge a whole group of people by the actions of 19 men. We have freedom of religion in the USA -- it's in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution -- and that includes the freedom to wear the clothes you think your religion dictates. And that's true for everyone, not just nonChristians. That's why in Brownsville, TX, the ACLU defended the rights of kids who were banned from wearing crosses and rosaries under their local high school dress code. Also, a middle school in Colorado Springs, same thing.
http://www.aclutx.org/2011/11/18/aclu-of-texas-demands-brownsville-isd-disclose-policies-banning-rosaries-and-crosses-at-school/
http://aclu-co.org/news/aclu-supports-students-right-of-religious-freedom
I find starched wranglers offensive.
Just drop her off on the South Side of Chicago...
HAHA wow! I'm a white southerner and I find the "rebel flag" to be offensive when worn for attention and to show where you stand. I think she's lucky that was her only punishment.
Alternate Article Titles:
1. Hag in a Rag...
2. Racist Bytch Sports Racist Stitch....
3. My Big Fat Redneck Prom Dress....
What would all you "states rights" supporters say if the school had allowed her to wear this dress and then she ended up in the hospital beaten up? Or if it caused a riot at the prom? You all would be the first to blame the school, principal, and any minority person that attended this prom. None of you would blame this girl who incited it would you? While of course technically the above should not happen that is not the real world is it?
I attended public high school in the 60's in the "liberal" north. We were not allowed to wear blue jeans, shirts without collars, or shorts. Girls were not allowed to wear slacks. I was a championship wrestler when I grew my hair long in 12th grade and was kicked off the team for it. I argued but there was no recourse other than cut it or you were gone. I refused and I was gone. My next stop was the draft board.
These kids today have more freedom than anyone over 50 ever had in their day. The schools can not rule with an iron fist like they used to, but that does not negate them from making decisions that serve to protect the overall welfare of the kids. Some of course may be over the top but not in this case. The war was about being able to keep slaves always was and always will be. That was the "states rights" fight. They lost and so did nearly a million lives. You can not change these facts end of story!
Really becuase I dont know anyone who gets that pissed off over a flag but over trayvon martin several whites have been singled out and beaten thats racism!