From reading your letters to the editor, I understand that we should teach tolerance and diversity and that if something offends us, we should just "look away." That is taken to mean that if a Christian is offended by gay people kissing in public or wearing the rainbow logo of the gay rights movement, the Christian should "look away" - that is showing tolerance and accepting diversity. So far so good.
However, if a person wants to wear a Confederate flag on his or her person, anyone offended is not encouraged to "look away" and be tolerant and accept diverse viewpoints. No, they are encouraged to make every effort to ban the offending article.
So what I understand is that we must be tolerant of the preferred groups and their symbols, but it is just fine to be intolerant of other groups.
This one-sided tolerance will never work. Let us have real understanding and acceptance of all cultures and points of view. We need not approve of them all, but if we are to have any hope of living together in peace, we must not use the law to ban free expression and thereby further divide our nation.
-- R.E. Driscoll, Clearwater
Student dress code stiff enough
There has been a flood of controversy recently over students' rights to display the Confederate flag on their clothing. Many of the letter writers are out of touch with the realities of the public school system. As a recent graduate of St. Petersburg High, I've had many years to get acquainted with the Pinellas County Schools' Code of Student Conduct available at http://www.pinellas.k12.fl.us/Planning)
This code claims that students have the right to freedom of expression. That is something of a joke; such rights are only valid to the extent that the student does not violate the stiff code. Section 4 of the code outlines 12 restrictions on student dress, including the rule that "no clothes or tattoos that show ... phrases or symbols deemed inappropriate by the administration are allowed."
The Confederate flag represents a period in which America was divided, and the truth is that it still offends many people. Regardless of one's personal feelings on the matter, identifying the flag as a divisive and offensive symbol and consequently banning it from student clothing is in no way inconsistent with current School Board policy.
-- John Laing, New York, N.Y.
Why punish campaign against bigotry?
Way up here in Washington state, our local news did a piece on the suspension of student Krista Abram from Tarpon Springs High School. Abram, rightly offended by another student's racist T-shirt and apparently unimpressed with explanations or lack of action by her teachers and Tarpon High's administrators, initiated her own campaign against in-school bigotry.
Abram wasn't cursing; she wasn't selling drugs, behaving promiscuously or spiking her Thermos with alcohol. When, in her view, adults told her, in effect, to get along, she took the initiative.
If anything, Ms. Abram should be publicly praised. She should be commended for her courage and the relevance of her protest. Instead, she experienced firsthand the means whereby the powerful (in this case, school administrators) suppress dissent: silencing the dissenters.
I assume the School Board's plan is to offer her an apology. If not, something is very wrong in your district.
-- John Guess, Bellingham, Wash.
Time for a history lesson
Re: Petition wrong, but so was suspension, letter, Feb. 3.
This letter was so distorted in fact that I feel I must respond.
First of all, the letter writer states that, "Truth be known there were just as many slaves in the North." This is a gross exaggeration of the facts. While there was certainly racial hatred in the North and a disdain for blacks, there was no slavery in the North. While blacks may have been discriminated against and forced to accept menial jobs, there was no slavery in the North. Slavery had died out in the New England and Middle Atlantic states, and was prohibited by law in the 1787 Northwest Ordinance. There were some 3.5-million slaves in the South. Were there then 3.5-million slaves in the North? I don't think so.
Second, the writer's statement that "The Civil War was fought over land and business, not slavery" is another distortion. While land and business may have been contributing factors, as well as several other factors, slavery was the first and last cause of the war.
If one examines all the major crises from 1787 to 1860, they all revolved around slavery. This included the Constitutional Convention, the Missouri Compromise, the Tariff of 1833, Texas annexation, the Mexican War, the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act and the election of 1860. If we examine the records of the secessionist conventions, all point to the fact that the South could not and would not exist without slavery.
The Confederate flag is a symbol of racism and slavery, and should be confined to the dustbin of history. If people want to display the Confederate flag, it should be placed in a museum.
-- Paul Farrier, Belleair Bluffs
[Last modified February 12, 2004, 01:00:30]
