Gresham, Oregon-
Dexter
McCarty Middle School student Alan Holmes has a brother who joined the marines
at the age of 19 and served a tour in Iraq. Alan recently wore a shirt to school that exhibited a
traditional soldier memorial and read, “Standing For Those Who Stood For Us.”
The shirt depicted a military rifle, barrel
first into the ground, partially covered by a helmet on top and a pair of
boots below.
This
image is meant to honor buried American soldiers. The ‘weapon’ is used to hold
the helmet of the slain soldier when buried in the field, the firearm also
taking the place of a cross or other grave marker.
School
officials, however, took umbrage at the visage and told Holmes that the shirt
was ‘inappropriate’ because it contained a weapon. They asked him to don a
‘school shirt’ instead. He refused. They told him he must either change shirts or face in-school suspension. He chose the latter…and he got it.
Alan
explained, “I was just upset. I was heartbroken. My brother, he means
everything to me. Just being able to help and give back to the people who
fought and died for us, it just makes me feel good.”
If you
are a Muslim youth- post 9/11 yet- who brings a briefcase trailing wires into
your school and avers that it is, in fact, a “clock,” you will be celebrated.
Sure, your “time piece” may be briefly confiscated by ‘bigoted’ school
officials, but soon the enraged cries of a world citizenry inflamed by
mass-media accounts of this ‘miscarriage of justice’ will come to your defense
and you will be hailed as a genius and a victim. You will even receive a
congratulatory call from the president of the United States of America!
There are no major news networks
outraged at the injustice perpetrated against Alan Holmes, his brother, common sense, or America.
My guess is that, inexplicably, Alan
Holmes won’t receive a phone call from the president.
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