Confederate flag sparks Black Lives Matter protest at high school; superintendent sends message to parents

Multiple Manatee County high schools came together in showings of protest Thursday after a Confederate flag was brought onto the Manatee High School campus on Wednesday as part of Spirit Week.

A crowd of Manatee High School students — mostly black — held a peaceful protest Thursday morning before school started, wearing all black and gathering in a school courtyard before the morning bell rang. Pictures on social media indicate students at other schools, including Palmetto High School, also wore black to show support.

Thursday’s gathering was a response to an incident Wednesday at Manatee High when a student displayed a Confederate flag — which also appeared to say “Trump 2016” on it — as part of the school’s “national pride” day during Spirit Week.

After complaints, the student with the Confederate flag voluntarily gave up the banner for the rest of the school day, according to district officials. Before that, a number of students had posed with the Confederate flag at the school and posted photos on social media.

In a robo-call sent home to parents at both Manatee High School and Palmetto High School on Thursday evening, Superintendent Diana Greene said rumors and falsehoods circulating on social media relating to the schools have been very trying and disruptive to the school environments. She urged parents and families to “step up as adults and stand together.”

“Please help me make this message clear to your children,” Greene said in the call. “Again, any incidents that prevent Manatee High or Palmetto High from having a productive school day tomorrow will be met with disciplinary measures, up to cancellation of homecoming activities. I appreciate your help and support in this matter.”

Those who protested Thursday indicated the issue was about more than just the flag being on campus, citing racial slurs and other inappropriate remarks students had made while holding the Confederate flag and other associated paraphernalia.

“This morning, I felt like I was sending my children onto a battlefield,” parent Tikisha Gobourne said.

Immediately after she saw the images on social media on Wednesday, Gobourne said she was at the school, trying to figure out how this could happen. She also joined her two children at Manatee High, 16-year-old Derrian and 17-year-old Derric, at the protest Thursday morning.

Derrian, a junior at the school, said she was proud to join in Thursday.

“We were standing up for ourselves,” she said.

Tikisha said she hopes the situation is resolved with everyone treating each other with more respect.

“I just think everybody wants a mutual respect,” she said.

Key Fitch, whose 15-year-old son Kai Fitch is a freshman at Manatee, agreed with Gobourne’s reasoning, saying the flag and the political messages are one thing. She said her son was hit on the head Wednesday with a Trump 2016 sign.

Fitch hopes the recent issues at Manatee High School can teach all the students that not everybody has the same background and experiences, but they all can respect each other.

“I think the majority of the kids have that down already,” she said.

Bayshore High School junior Anastasia Burrows said students at her school also wore all black in support Thursday. Burrows was waiting outside Manatee High Thursday afternoon to pick up her younger sister and a friend.

“Today, I think, was great,” she said. “We’re protesting silently.”

Burrows said her sister told her that in addition to the flag, students were using racial slurs and other chants Wednesday. Burrows said if students at Manatee wanted to celebrate, they still could have celebrated and been respectful. Burrows said she was encouraged by all the other schools and places showing support for the peaceful protest on social media.

Michele Dunnett, who has two freshmen at the school, said she was alerted to the issue when a robo-call came home Wednesday night from Principal Don Sauer talking about the incident. Neither of her children was affected Wednesday or Thursday, which Dunnett took as good work on behalf of the school leadership.

“It wasn’t that big a disturbance,” she said. “I think it was handled the way it was supposed to be.”

Spirit Week at Manatee leads into the weekend homecoming celebrations, and each day has a different theme for students.

The flier described Wednesday as representing “national pride” and encouraged students to wear a country’s flag, dress as an influential person from a country or wear traditional outfits from other countries like a Spanish bullfighter or an ancient Egyptian.

There was no reported violence at Manatee High School on Thursday, district spokesman Mike Barber said, even though there were rumors of violence on social media all day long.

“It was a peaceful day with no incidents,” he said.

The rumors and photos circulating on social media is one aspect the school district is paying particular attention to, Barber said.

“That’s something we can’t control,” he said.

Manatee reported more students absent from school Thursday than normal, which may include students who were dismissed early by their parents, but it wasn’t a sizable amount, Barber said. There were also no incidents reported at Palmetto High School, which is also celebrating homecoming this week. Thursday was Patriotic Day.

Both Palmetto and Manatee parents got robo-calls from their respective principals Thursday, and extra district support personnel will be on campus Friday. The added behavior technicians are both a physical presence and an outlet for students to talk about issues, Barber said.

This story was originally published September 29, 2016 at 11:03 AM with the headline "Confederate flag sparks Black Lives Matter protest at high school; superintendent sends message to parents."