A Tennessee mother is questioning the freedom students have to openly display the Confederate flag while on a high school campus, WKRN-TV reports.
The mother, who is black and wants to remain unidentified, contacted the news station because she was concerned about her son’s safety at Stewarts Creek High School in Smyrna, Tenn.
According to the report, the 14-year-old boy approached his mother and said that children were wearing battle flag T-shirts to class. Later in the week, the mother witnessed the open display herself as she dropped her son off at school. Students were flying the battle flag from the backs of their trucks.
“I felt sad and hurt when I saw that,” she told WKRN-TV. “I just don’t think it should be in schools.”
“I don’t think it is the appropriate place for my child to be subjected to this,” the mother added, saying that the flag is a symbol of hatred for her and that she fears for her son’s safety.
The mother contacted the school district, but officials said there was nothing to be done.
“As a school district, we can’t prohibit such items unless it is causing a disturbance at school,” Rutherford County Schools spokesman James Evans told WKRN-TV, adding that students have a right to express their beliefs under the First Amendment.
Read more at WKRN-TV.