Thank you to 7 wonderful teenagers at this high school in Cocoa Beach, Florida whom I've never met. They have far more courage and character than I did when I was in high school. Most of America supports them or would support them if they knew their story.
The 7 teenagers decided to form their own Peace Club at school. Anybody could choose to join or not join. That's America. But what happened next is unAmerican.
People just turned on us like that," she (Skylar, the leader of this group) said. "At least 10 boys stood up and yelled things at me at once, and we couldn't even walk through the halls without a harsh comment being made."
The heckling began early in the school year, according to group members. They say they were putting small posters promoting peace on friends' lockers with their permission. They thought it was OK, because the cheerleaders and football players had signs on theirs. Eventually, though, group members say they were told by the school's administration they could no longer hang up the posters.
The first problem is that the school administrators did not step in and suspend and possibly expel the right wing cretins who were harassing these teenagers. Second, if you are going to have a policy for cheerleaders and football players to have signs, then this policy should apply to everyone. If the Caitlin Upton Sinclair of Cocoa High wants to walks around with stickers saying "I'll never be loved, I'm a vacuous tool, I have no depth on her locker," then so be it. But the administrators here clearly are taking sides.
"People tore them down and drew swastikas and 'white power' stuff on them," Lauren said.
Skylar had similar things written on her posters.
"Someone taped an 'I Love Bush' sign over my 'Wage Peace' sign," she said. "So I tore it down, threw it away, and the whole commons starting booing. I walk by later and find that someone has completely tore my sign down and placed an 'I Love America, Because America Loves War' sign up.' "
So there you have it. Young Republicans = swastikas, white power, bullying, destruction of property, assault. Young Democrats = respect, cooperativeness, peace.
"Lori Masterson, assistant principal at Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High, says by law, the administration cannot discuss specific discipline dispositions for students, but that the school works with teachers and coaches to make sure all students on campus are safe and treated fairly.
She said all students have the opportunity to form clubs and organizations on campus, but those wishing to do so must identify a sponsor and bring their written proposal to the principal outlining what the proposed group's purpose and goals are.
As of this writing, to my knowledge, no one has submitted a written proposal with an identified sponsor for a peace club to Mr. Cool," Masterson said in an e-mailed statement.
But peace group members say they have submitted a written proposal and had a written sponsor, but they were recently turned down.
Skylar and Lauren said that despite the backlash, the T-shirts and posters originally had nothing to do with politics, but the outburst from opposing groups have turned it into a political issue.
It appears the AP is being dishonest. First, if students are safe and treated fairly on your campus, why are the right wing thugs who broke your school rules going unpunished? Second, this group of teens obviously has a club. They have a sponsor. Your stated criteria has been met.
And what is the young republican response?
Soon, a second group started to wear Confederate flag shirts to oppose the peace group, Skylar said. She saw shirts with sayings such as "This is America, get used to it," and "If peace is the answer; it must be a stupid question."
First, there is nothing more unAmerican and treasonous than a Confederate flag. The Confederacy's active mission was to destroy the United States of America and rip up its Constitution. Supporting the Confederate flag would be considered treason by the definitions right wingers use to define treason. But the good teens had a response.
"Now there are even 'support our troops' kids who don't like us because I guess they think you can't say peace and support the troops at the same time," Lauren said.
Skylar later passed out yellow ribbons for her group to wear to show they support the troops as well as peace.
Skylar gets it. Supporting the troops is not about sending them to die for lies.
However, Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High sophomores Lydia Pace and Joseph Marianetti say the Confederate shirts they wear express support for the troops in Iraq, and nothing more. Joseph said the shirts have nothing to do with racism.
"Someone took something that stood for peace and twisted it" in regards to the swastikas (drawn by a third group) and the Confederate flag, he said.
Hey punk. The swastika and Confederate Flag don't stand for peace.
Finally
The harassment at school seems to have died down a bit, but the war still rages on MySpace. According to Skylar, Lauren and Cocoa Beach Jr./Sr. High sophomore Cheyenne Riley, threats and harsh comments have been posted on their pages.
On John Lennon's birthday, the group held an honorary Peace Shirt day and was confronted even more than usual, eventually causing some group members, including Cheyenne, to break down in tears.
The peace group members say their shirts continue to draw negative comments from some students, but point out that other school groups don't receive similar treatment.
"Since peace is causing other problems, the peace kids are being punished," Skylar said.
These students need to know that most of us stand with them. There are probably dozens of other students at Cocoa High who agree with them but are not speaking out afraid that a few right wing local thugs will engage in criminal acts against them knowing that the high school administrators will turn their backs. These kids deserve our praise but also need our support. Depending on what happens next, this could include rallies, lawsuits against the school district, immediate calls for the high school administrators to resign if they don't punish the right wing thugs for their crimes on school grounds, etc...
UPDATE 1 - I left a phone message with Mr. Cool and gave him my cell phone number to contact me along with a reference to this story so he can check it out. My message was very cordial, simply stating that I am doing a story about what is going on in his school about these 7 kids and my resolve to get to the bottom of this. If he contacts me and has a response, I will post it. If he refuses to comment, let me know