White Devil
Registered
16
Memo to 'redneck' boy: Quit being a coward and reveal yourself as a RACIST. Be proud of that Label! I know I am. Evedentally your nuts haven't dropped.
Memo to Swartz Creek, MI: You want diversity.. just wait until the Zulus, Spics, and J*ws flood your small quiet town. Cowards.
SWARTZ CREEK - Outsiders. They're everywhere, even at Swartz Creek High School.
The preps wearing Abercrombie. The skaters in long hair and beanies. The goths in piercings and black. The rednecks in work boots and pickup trucks.
Every group has a label, a uniform, a style. It's part of growing up.
And sometimes, it's part of something worse.
On Wednesday morning, Logan, a 17-year-old Swartz Creek senior, sat at a conference table with his mother and his attorney in the school administration building, facing members of the media and the Flint Chapter of the
NAACP.
"I'm proud to be a redneck. That's who I am," said L
ogan, whose last name The Flint Journal has agreed not to disclose.
Two weeks ago, Logan printed a flier on a school computer: a call to "take back Creek" and "keep outsiders away from our town and preserve our way of life."
Now, he has a new set of labels he's desperately trying to remove: Outcast. Troublemaker.
Racist.
Logan insists he was referring not specifically to blacks, but to new kids moving into the district, causing problems for him and his friends.
"A lot of people have the wrong idea about me now," said Logan, clad in a sweatshirt and clutching a camouflage cap, his Confederate belt buckle replaced by one with a hunting emblem.
Logan has been permanently suspended for a weapons policy violation separate from the flier incident.
"I admit I messed up," he said. "I just want to clear my name."
But it doesn&#
39;t matter what group is targeted, said Frances Gilcreast, president of the local NAACP.
"You have no right to take back Creek," Gilcreast told him. "It doesn't b
elong to you."
It doesn't take a full-fledged racist to touch off fear and misunderstanding in the area's diversifying suburban school districts. Bad judgment, mixed messages or youthful naivete can be enough - especially when racially charged symbols are involved.
Last May, Grand Blanc School District officials disciplined two students in a case that centered on displaying Confederate flags on vehicles in the high school parking lot. Another Grand Blanc student was suspended in December 2003 for bringing a rebel flag to school.
Flushing, too, has seen student conflicts divided along racial lines in the past year.
In the Swartz Creek incident, "if you call yourself a redneck, promote a Confederate flag known by everyone as a racist symbol, and then write a flier like this, it so
unds like a racist rally," said Jim Ananich of the NAACP's legal redress committee.
"We've received calls from parents afraid for their kids' lives," said Brenda Purifoy, NAACP secretary. "If even one parent came
to the principal with those fears and you say it's being blown out of proportion, that's part of the problem."
Said Gilcreast: "You might not understand what that flag means to me. You don't know the fear these parents can have when they see it."
Swartz Creek bans from school property any vulgar pictures or writing and clothing with "inappropriate messages" on sex, drugs or alcohol. It also bans written forms of intimidation, indecency and disrespect.
But the district has no blanket policy on the Confederate flag. Logan was disciplined last year for displaying a full-size flag on his truck at a football game, but the emblem appears every day on belt buckles and window decals and license plates along "
;Truck Row," where the "rednecks" park at the back of the school lot.
"To me, the Confederate flag is not a symbol of anything. It just means you're a rebel and you're against conforming to everyone else," Logan said.
Superintendent Roy Pearson cautions against a knee-jerk reaction.
"
We need to talk about symbolism and what it means when we bring these things into a school," Pearson said. "We might very well end up down the road saying we're not going to tolerate certain things because they've been proven to cause a problem. That could be an outcome of this.
"But first you have to show it has caused a problem."
It's a slippery slope in the community, too.
"There's supposed to be freedom of speech even if you don't like the speech. And I know not everybody with a rebel flag is racist. But I look at it as a way of promoting ideas that could contribute to violence," said parent Kim Ma
ncillas.
"It's the history attached that bothers me," agreed parent Terri Youngs. "At the same time, it's a very fine line with freedom of speech, and I don't know where you should draw it."
"Just because someone's got a Confederate flag doesn't automatically mean they're racist," said Michael Drudge, 16. "I don't wear it, but I like the flag. To me, it just stands for stuff like the
South, like rednecks and cowboys."
Meanwhile, the flier case is now in the NAACP's national files, Gilcreast said. Eyes far beyond the county will be watching what comes next, she said.
That will fall to the incoming superintendent, Jeff Pratt, when Pearson retires in July.
As assistant superintendent in the Howell School District, Pratt has dealt head-on with diversity in an area steeped in cross-burnings and Ku Klux Klan rallies, where former KKK Grand Dragon Robert Miles lived until his death in 1992.
"It'
s one of the reasons we hired (Pratt). We're hoping he can bring that wealth of experience and background with him," said Board of Education member Brian Sepanak.
In the past few years, Howell's diversity programs have earned accolades and controversy, including hate mail over a multicolored diversity flag that critics say promotes homosexuality.
"I'd be lying or naive to say we've solved these problems and they don't exist anymore. No matter how far you come, there are always
going to be people who say 'we support diversity but we didn't mean them,' " Pratt said.
Local NAACP political action chair Aonie Gilcreast, Frances' husband, said the group is satisfied the district is addressing the issue.
"It could've escalated into something major," he said. "We're blessed to get ahead of this bullet before it goes off."
Logan may indeed have opened a Pandora's box in Swartz Creek, said his attorney,
Jay Clothier. But an open door can also bring light and fresh air.
"The reality is Swartz Creek is a middle-class white community that's slowly changing as more minorities are moving in, and that's going to cause friction, and we have to deal with it," Pearson said.
"This is what's happening all over, but it's not easily talked about unless something gets it out there on the table in front of you. Maybe that's the one good thing that will come of this."
http://www.mlive.com/n
ews/fljournal/index....51834110420.xml
Memo to 'redneck' boy: Quit being a coward and reveal yourself as a RACIST. Be proud of that Label! I know I am. Evedentally your nuts haven't dropped.
Memo to Swartz Creek, MI: You want diversity.. just wait until the Zulus, Spics, and J*ws flood your small quiet town. Cowards.
SWARTZ CREEK - Outsiders. They're everywhere, even at Swartz Creek High School.
The preps wearing Abercrombie. The skaters in long hair and beanies. The goths in piercings and black. The rednecks in work boots and pickup trucks.
Every group has a label, a uniform, a style. It's part of growing up.
And sometimes, it's part of something worse.
On Wednesday morning, Logan, a 17-year-old Swartz Creek senior, sat at a conference table with his mother and his attorney in the school administration building, facing members of the media and the Flint Chapter of the
NAACP.
"I'm proud to be a redneck. That's who I am," said L
ogan, whose last name The Flint Journal has agreed not to disclose.
Two weeks ago, Logan printed a flier on a school computer: a call to "take back Creek" and "keep outsiders away from our town and preserve our way of life."
Now, he has a new set of labels he's desperately trying to remove: Outcast. Troublemaker.
Racist.
Logan insists he was referring not specifically to blacks, but to new kids moving into the district, causing problems for him and his friends.
"A lot of people have the wrong idea about me now," said Logan, clad in a sweatshirt and clutching a camouflage cap, his Confederate belt buckle replaced by one with a hunting emblem.
Logan has been permanently suspended for a weapons policy violation separate from the flier incident.
"I admit I messed up," he said. "I just want to clear my name."
But it doesn&#
39;t matter what group is targeted, said Frances Gilcreast, president of the local NAACP.
"You have no right to take back Creek," Gilcreast told him. "It doesn't b
elong to you."
It doesn't take a full-fledged racist to touch off fear and misunderstanding in the area's diversifying suburban school districts. Bad judgment, mixed messages or youthful naivete can be enough - especially when racially charged symbols are involved.
Last May, Grand Blanc School District officials disciplined two students in a case that centered on displaying Confederate flags on vehicles in the high school parking lot. Another Grand Blanc student was suspended in December 2003 for bringing a rebel flag to school.
Flushing, too, has seen student conflicts divided along racial lines in the past year.
In the Swartz Creek incident, "if you call yourself a redneck, promote a Confederate flag known by everyone as a racist symbol, and then write a flier like this, it so
unds like a racist rally," said Jim Ananich of the NAACP's legal redress committee.
"We've received calls from parents afraid for their kids' lives," said Brenda Purifoy, NAACP secretary. "If even one parent came
to the principal with those fears and you say it's being blown out of proportion, that's part of the problem."
Said Gilcreast: "You might not understand what that flag means to me. You don't know the fear these parents can have when they see it."
Swartz Creek bans from school property any vulgar pictures or writing and clothing with "inappropriate messages" on sex, drugs or alcohol. It also bans written forms of intimidation, indecency and disrespect.
But the district has no blanket policy on the Confederate flag. Logan was disciplined last year for displaying a full-size flag on his truck at a football game, but the emblem appears every day on belt buckles and window decals and license plates along "
;Truck Row," where the "rednecks" park at the back of the school lot.
"To me, the Confederate flag is not a symbol of anything. It just means you're a rebel and you're against conforming to everyone else," Logan said.
Superintendent Roy Pearson cautions against a knee-jerk reaction.
"
We need to talk about symbolism and what it means when we bring these things into a school," Pearson said. "We might very well end up down the road saying we're not going to tolerate certain things because they've been proven to cause a problem. That could be an outcome of this.
"But first you have to show it has caused a problem."
It's a slippery slope in the community, too.
"There's supposed to be freedom of speech even if you don't like the speech. And I know not everybody with a rebel flag is racist. But I look at it as a way of promoting ideas that could contribute to violence," said parent Kim Ma
ncillas.
"It's the history attached that bothers me," agreed parent Terri Youngs. "At the same time, it's a very fine line with freedom of speech, and I don't know where you should draw it."
"Just because someone's got a Confederate flag doesn't automatically mean they're racist," said Michael Drudge, 16. "I don't wear it, but I like the flag. To me, it just stands for stuff like the
South, like rednecks and cowboys."
Meanwhile, the flier case is now in the NAACP's national files, Gilcreast said. Eyes far beyond the county will be watching what comes next, she said.
That will fall to the incoming superintendent, Jeff Pratt, when Pearson retires in July.
As assistant superintendent in the Howell School District, Pratt has dealt head-on with diversity in an area steeped in cross-burnings and Ku Klux Klan rallies, where former KKK Grand Dragon Robert Miles lived until his death in 1992.
"It'
s one of the reasons we hired (Pratt). We're hoping he can bring that wealth of experience and background with him," said Board of Education member Brian Sepanak.
In the past few years, Howell's diversity programs have earned accolades and controversy, including hate mail over a multicolored diversity flag that critics say promotes homosexuality.
"I'd be lying or naive to say we've solved these problems and they don't exist anymore. No matter how far you come, there are always
going to be people who say 'we support diversity but we didn't mean them,' " Pratt said.
Local NAACP political action chair Aonie Gilcreast, Frances' husband, said the group is satisfied the district is addressing the issue.
"It could've escalated into something major," he said. "We're blessed to get ahead of this bullet before it goes off."
Logan may indeed have opened a Pandora's box in Swartz Creek, said his attorney,
Jay Clothier. But an open door can also bring light and fresh air.
"The reality is Swartz Creek is a middle-class white community that's slowly changing as more minorities are moving in, and that's going to cause friction, and we have to deal with it," Pearson said.
"This is what's happening all over, but it's not easily talked about unless something gets it out there on the table in front of you. Maybe that's the one good thing that will come of this."
http://www.mlive.com/n
ews/fljournal/index....51834110420.xml
