Colorado 7th Grader Kicked Out Of Class For ‘Don’t Tread On Me’ Patch

A middle school student in Colorado was allegedly expelled from a class due to multiple patches adorning his backpack. This included a patch displaying a Gadsden flag, leading to a significant outcry on social media. The 12-year-old student, attending the Vanguard School, was instructed to eliminate the flag patch, which exhibits a coiled rattlesnake and the words “Don’t tread on me” on a yellow backdrop. This requirement was disclosed in a video recording of a discussion between the student’s mother and a school administrator, which was shared on X, previously known as Twitter.

The school official at the publicly funded charter school informs the boy’s mother that the patch cannot be shown on the backpack because of its association with slavery and the slave trade, as seen in the video recording of the conversation.

Nevertheless, the mother responds by asserting that the Gadsden flag’s roots can be attributed to the Revolutionary War rather than slavery.

Additionally, the seventh-grade student had other patches on his backpack featuring semi-automatic firearms, which the school claimed went against its dress code regulations.

Even Colorado Governor Jared Polis, who is a member of the Democratic Party, entered the conversation to support and advocate for the young boy named Jaiden.

As per Britannica, the flag was initially employed by the inaugural commander-in-chief of the United States Navy as his personal ensign during the American Revolution.

In more contemporary times, the flag was embraced by the conservative Tea Party movement and has progressively become linked with right-wing political ideologies.

In 2016, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) determined that the flag in itself is not inherently racist; however, it can be construed to carry racially suggestive connotations under certain circumstances. This conclusion was reached during an investigation into a complaint lodged by a US Postal Service worker, who raised concerns about a colleague wearing a hat adorned with the flag.

Subsequent to a strong public outcry, the school’s board of directors convened an urgent meeting and retracted their earlier mandate for Jaiden to eliminate the patch. The Denver Gazette provided this information in its report.

According to the local newspaper, the school informed both the student and his family on Tuesday that he was allowed to resume attending classes with the flag emblem displayed on his backpack.