An elementary school teacher has kicked a boy out of school in Colorado for having a Gadsden Flag patch on his backpack. And he had to come back with his mother.
The teacher had claimed that the patch was ‘disruptive to the classroom environment,’ as she claimed it has ‘origins with slavery.’
Jaiden was told that the patch, which has ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ emblazoned on it along with a rattlesnake, was against the district’s policy and he was not allowed to go back to class without removing it.
But his mother did not agree. She claimed that the flag originally came from the American Revolution as a symbol of the 13 colonies’ fight against the British Crown and did not promote slavery.
Footage from the school shows her saying: ‘It has nothing to do with slavery, that’s like the revolutionary war patch that was displayed when they were fighting the British.’
She also asked if the school teacher was mistaking it for the Confederate Flag.
The staffer responded, ‘I am here to enforce the policy that was provided by the district and definitely, you have every right not to agree with it.’
The Gadsden flag was designed by South Carolina soldier Christopher Gadsden in the mid-1770s during the American Revolution.
Colonel Gadsden had seen a yellow banner with a hissing, coiled rattlesnake rising in the center, and beneath the serpent the words: ‘Don’t Tread On Me’.
He made a copy and submitted the design to the Provincial Congress in South Carolina.
