A child at The Vanguard School, a tuition-free charter school in Colorado Springs, reportedly was suspended from school for having a Gadsden flag patch on his backpack.
Many online noted that the school official was wrong about the flag’s origins.
“The rattlesnake symbol originated in the 1754 political cartoon ‘Join, or Die’ published in Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette. The cartoon, which depicted the colonies divided as segments of a cut-up snake, exhorted the colonists to unite in the face of the French and Indian War (1754–63).
“The symbol was later used to represent unity during the Revolutionary War. One observer, writing to the Pennsylvania Journal in December 1775, claimed that a drum of the newly created Marine Corps displayed a rattlesnake alongside the motto ‘Don’t tread on me!’”
In the video, Jaiden’s mother attempted to explain the Gadsden flag’s origins to a school official, to no avail.
“I’m here to enforce the policy that was provided by the district,” the official tells the mother.
Mr. Boyack shared an email written by Jeff Yocum, operations director at The Vanguard School, explaining why the historic symbol was deemed verboten by district officials.
How a ‘Non-Racial’ Symbol Became ‘Tinged With Racism’
I emailed Mr. Yocum to verify Mr. Boyack’s story and to see whether it was the district’s policy that the Gadsden flag is off-limits in school. (I didn’t hear back before publication but will include his response if I receive one.)Secondly, the flag’s origins are undisputable. It was a symbol adopted as a sign of freedom against British rule, one widely embraced in both government and the private sector.
Sure, it’s true that in the hundreds of years since its origin, the Gadsden flag has been adopted by some controversial groups. It was hoisted by Confederates during the Civil War and by Trump supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. But that’s the nature of symbols. They can be adopted by anyone.
And the fact is, the Gadsden flag is first and foremost a symbol of freedom, one libertarians in particular have long embraced. Indeed, it wasn’t until relatively recently that the Gadsden flag was even controversial. It was used by Major League Soccer in 2006 and also by Nike.
The symbolism of the flag began to shift years later for two primary reasons.
First, the Gadsden flag became a symbol embraced by the Tea Party, the political movement that launched in 2009 that called for lower taxes and reduced government spending during the early stages of Barack Obama’s presidency.
Second, in 2014, a federal employee filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging a “hostile work environment” because a co-worker wore to work a cap featuring the Gadsden flag. The worker claimed that the flag represented “white resentment against blacks stemming largely from the Tea Party” and also pointed out that Christopher Gadsden, the designer of the flag, was a “slave trader & owner of slaves.”
That the EEOC would even include this last point is rich, considering that half of the monuments in Washington, D.C., (and the city itself) commemorate people who once owned slaves. In any event, the EEOC concluded: “[After] a thorough review of the record, it is clear that the Gadsden Flag originated in the Revolutionary War in a non-racial context. Moreover, it is clear that the flag and its slogan have been used to express various non-racial sentiments, such as when it is used in the modern Tea Party political movement, gun rights activism, patriotic displays, and by the military.”
A Costly Mistake?
It’s not hard to see the mess the EEOC created.It’s clear that federal workplace harassment laws can come into conflict with constitutionally protected free speech, particularly in the gray areas. This is a problem, because most organizations aren’t well-equipped to navigate these gray areas, which requires balancing one person’s right of free speech with another person’s “right” to a harassment-free work environment.
A case in point is the Vanguard School. Officials didn’t bother trying to determine “the specific context” of Jaiden’s use of the Gadsden flag; they probably had no idea they even had to.
Instead, they simply told him he had to get rid of it.
“The Vanguard school recognizes the historical significance of the Gadsden flag and its place in history,“ the message stated. ”At this time, the Vanguard School Board and the District have informed the student that he may attend school with the Gadsden flag patch visible on his backpack.”
Still, Jaiden’s story reveals the problem with a sprawling government that thinks it gets to decide what symbols and speech are appropriate to share and what’s verboten.
I recently visited my daughter’s new middle school and was stunned to see social justice messages displayed all over the school. These weren’t messages of self-expression on backpacks, but secular dogmas being promoted by the school.
