School Tries to Cancel a Beloved Symbol of American Independence

Earlier this week, the story of a 12-year-old student named Jaiden Rodriguez went viral after he was kicked out of his Colorado Springs classroom for wearing a backpack adorned with a patch featuring the Gadsden flag, the iconic yellow banner from the American Revolution bearing the image of a rattlesnake and the famous words “Don’t Tread On Me.” The school claimed that Jaiden’s patch was “disruptive to the classroom environment,” has its “origins with slavery,” and is an “unacceptable symbol” linked to “white supremacy.”

This attack on the Gadsden flag quickly prompted widespread outrage over the school’s attempted cancellation of this beloved symbol of American independence. Even Colorado’s Democrat governor weighed in, saying that the Gadsden flag is a “proud symbol of the American Revolution” and that he “supports freedom of expression.”

Thankfully, on August 29, The Vanguard School reversed its decision and allowed Jaiden to return to the classroom, patch in place. Nonetheless, Americans see this attempt to smear the history of the Gadsden flag for what it is: just another attempt by the left to distort America’s history and traditions as irredeemably racist and worthy of scorn.

The Gadsden flag has from the beginning been a symbol of America’s rugged determination to fight for our liberty and independence. First used by Esek Hopkins, the first commander in chief of the U.S. Navy during the American Revolution, the flag became one of the finest expressions of American unity and resolve.

In 1776, Christopher Gadsden—the namesake of the flag today—presented the flag to the Provincial Congress of South Carolina, where it was subsequently displayed in the state’s congressional hall. Of course, there is nothing racially charged in the flag’s origins whatsoever.

Yet this incident in Colorado isn’t the first time the Gadsden flag has come under scrutiny. After the 9/11 attacks in 2001, fusion centers funded by the Department of Homeland Security referred to individuals or groups displaying the flag as “extremist,” and the FBI’s Domestic Terrorism Symbols Guide listed the Gadsden flag among the “commonly referenced historical images” used by extremists.

The Gadsden flag also became associated with the Tea Party movement after 2009, prompting plenty of liberal think pieces about how the banner is now a “problematic” symbol. Who knew opposing unchecked government spending could be so controversial?

In 2014, a U.S. Postal worker filed an Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint against a coworker for wearing a hat with the Gadsden symbol on it because he said it was a “historical indicator of white resentment against blacks.” Fortunately, the EEOC concluded that “it is clear” that the flag originated in a “non-racial context,” and the Postal Service ultimately dismissed the complaint.

As Americans see the failing test scores, activist administrators, hateful ideologies, and pornographic reading materials that have become commonplace in our schools, we have to wonder why some school administrators are more focused on policing the free speech of their students than on teaching students the skills and knowledge they need to succeed.

One likely reason is that activist-minded school officials have been empowered and encouraged by liberal bureaucrats in Washington. In October 2021, Attorney General Merrick Garland and his Department of Justice directed the FBI to investigate concerned parents who spoke up at local school board meetings and even went so far as to label them with domestic terrorist “threat tags.”

Now, under the Biden administration, if you are a concerned parent who doesn’t want biological males sharing restroom and locker room facilities with your daughter, or vice versa, or even if you want your kids to receive an education free from political indoctrination, you might find yourself under investigation by the FBI.

All the while, test scores continue to fall, and student outcomes get worse and worse. America’s school administrators and our government officials should be more concerned about the fact that American students are failing to learn the skills they need to succeed—not pushing woke ideologies and stifling the free speech of children in their classrooms.

Tom Doniphon is the pen name of a former official in the Trump Administration.