<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>For those flying the Confederate flag "heritage" is an excuse not a reason.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">During my twenty-year Army career, I served eleven of those years in Germany. The German people are very, VERY proud of their heritage. During those entire eleven years that I was stationed in Germany (Nurnberg, Bamberg, Stuttgart, and Kitzingen) . . . NEVER . . . NOT ONCE . . . did I see the Nazi flag.<br><br><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares" (the most fun you can have with your pants on)</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"There's room at the top they are telling you still.</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">But first you must learn how to smile as you kill,</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you want to be like the folks on the hill."</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">- John Lennon</span></div></div><div><br>On May 27, 2016, at 3:06 AM, Tom Hansen <<a href="mailto:thansen@moscow.com">thansen@moscow.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><blockquote type="cite"><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>Courtesy of the opinion section of today's (May 27, 2016) Moscow-Pullman Daily News with thanks and appreciation to Anna Larsen.</div><div><br></div><div>---------------------------------</div><div><br></div><div><h1 id="blox-asset-title" style="font-size: 30px; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-weight: 400; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 34px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;"><span class="blox-headline entry-title" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(204, 0, 0); line-height: 38px; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Letter: Confederate flag at high school</span></h1></div><div><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 24px; background-image: none; float: none !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Last week at the annual Moscow High School Show and Shine, two Confederate flags were flown on two vehicles, and one was painted on the bed of a flatbed truck. The school moved the flags to a less-central location. However, they remained on school grounds. Many students were offended by this display, but many did not see an issue with it.</span></p><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 24px; background-image: none; float: none !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Throughout the day we heard arguments in favor of the flag citing Southern heritage, freedom of speech and a separation from the racist history of the flag. On behalf of the Moscow High School Human Rights and International Club, I'm writing to say while we recognize the arguments stem from ignorance, they are inexcusable. Regardless of intent or individual beliefs, the historical context and negative symbolism of the flag cannot be separated. The implications behind the Confederate flag include promotion of slavery and white supremacy.</span></p><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none !important;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 24px; background-image: none; float: none !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There is a gray area in terms of the school's ability to oversee students' behavior and First Amendment rights, but because of precedents set in past court cases, the school has authority to remove the flag from the grounds, especially during school-sponsored activities.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none !important;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 24px; background-image: none; float: none !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Our policy defines violence as "any look, word, act or gesture that is offensive or hurts a person's body, feelings, or possessions."</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none !important;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 24px; background-image: none; float: none !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">By this definition, both the placement and display of the Confederate flags were acts of violence, intentional or not.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none !important;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 24px; background-image: none; float: none !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Perhaps most alarming of all was the lack of concern and action taken by Moscow High School students. If our fellow students would like to represent their Southern heritage, the club requests they find a new symbol without a history of racism.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none !important;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 24px; background-image: none; float: none !important;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">When students walk into a school we lose certain rights, and ultimately it doesn't matter what the flag means to the individual, it matters what the flag means to those that it oppresses.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; float: none !important;"><p style="text-align: start; outline: 0px; margin: 10px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 24px; background-image: none; float: none !important;"><span style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-weight: 700; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Anna Daley Laursen, </span><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow</span></p></div></div><div><br></div><div>---------------------------------<br><br><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares"</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div> </div></div></div></div></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><div><span>=======================================================</span><br><span> List services made available by First Step Internet,</span><br><span> serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.</span><br><span> <a href="http://www.fsr.net">http://www.fsr.net</a></span><br><span> <a href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com">mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com</a></span><br><span>=======================================================</span></div></blockquote></body></html>