Teen Suspended from N.J. School for Wearing Confederate Flag Shirt
CBS New York, November 14, 2011
A 14-year-old New Jersey girl has been suspended for wearing a sweatshirt with a Confederate flag on it.
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Torri Albrecht said Monday when she showed up to her middle school wearing a sweatshirt with the confederate flag. She said her vice principal gave her a choice:
“He said I had to take off the sweatshirt or flip it inside out or face the consequences,” Albrecht said.
But the eighth grader, who was born in Virginia and lived there just a year, said she refused to take it off.
“It shows I am from the South. I am proud of where I came from and it shows my heritage,” Albrecht said.
The teenager’s mother, who took a picture at the Kreps Middle School, said her daughter was suspended for not changing into something else–a violation, she said, of her First Amendment rights.
“The Indian kids get to wear turbans. The Jewish children can wear yarmulkes. That’s their birth right, their heritage. It’s my daughter’s heritage,” said Jane West, Albrecht’s mother.
An assistant superintendent said Albrecht was not suspended for the sweatshirt but for a confidentiality policy they can’t discuss.
“When I got the suspension slip it said she was disrespectful when asked to remove her sweatshirt,” West said.
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However, the teenager, who said she’s receiving death threats, insisted, “Everyone who wears it isn’t racist.”
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Albrecht said she wants to be transferred to a new school district and want to wear her sweatshirt there. Albrecht’s mother said she plans on suing her current school district.
