Punished for Patriotism

When Donald Miller of Lancaster, Pa. wore a patriotic t-shirt to school last year to support his uncle’s mission in Iraq, school officials told him to turn it inside out. When he refused, he received two days of detention, according to Yahoo.com.

The reason? There was an image of a gun on the shirt, along with the words, “Volunteer Homeland Security.” On the back were the words “Special Issue – Resident – Lifetime license – United States Terrorist Hunting Permit.”

Now Donald’s parents have filed a lawsuit, accusing the school district of violating Donald’s First Amendment Rights.

Lawyers for the school district said their reaction clearly fell within the parameters of the rule that “students may not wear anything to school that advocates the use of force or urges the violation of law or school regulations.”

But the lawyer for Donald’s parents said that he considers Penn Manor’s position unconstitutional. He is seeking a permanent injunction forcing Penn Manor to allow young Donald to wear the shirt.

To be continued . . .

Deborah Lambert writes the Squeaky Chalk column for Accuracy in Academia.