"People just turned on us like that," said Lauren Lorraine. "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."
Peace Shirt Coalition members placed peace posters on lockers of supporters of the group. The posters were quickly valdalized. "People tore them down and drew swastikas and white power stuff on them," Lorraine 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.' "
A valid question is how many these war lovers are going to enlist? Military recruiters are more than happy to sign up these fine young men.
Racist graffiti has nothing to do with patriotism. The swastika symbol was used by the Nazi Army that murdered U.S. servicemen at Malmédy. Students Lydia Pace and Joseph Marianetti stated that wearing Confederate shirts is showing support for troops in Iraq. The Confederate States of America was forced to disband after losing the Civil war. There are no troops serving in Iraq that are members of the Confederacy. Pace's and Marianetti's rationale for wearing a racist symbol doesn't even pass the laugh test.
The school administration is showing hypocrisy by not allowing PSC members to place posters on their lockers. Cheerleaders and football players are allowed to hang posters. The policy favors the school's Alpha males and females. The school is sending out the message that it is okay to bully unpopular students. That is a horrible policy and enables intolerance. The school should be teaching teens to accept people that are different than them.
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