As of a couple football seasons ago, highschools in the Capistrano Unified School District are restricted from using any American theme at their football games. This new mandate was recently put into place due to the fact that politics were being tied to the American theme, and these political views that were being expressed incited violence among the spectators. This rule is ridiculous. As students, we have the right to freedom of speech protected by the first amendment of the constitution as well as education code 48907. This code guarantees students the “right to exercise freedom of speech and of the press including, but not limited to, the use of bulletin boards, the distribution of printed materials or petitions, the wearing of buttons, badges, and other insignia”. This code is the last sliver of hope we have as students to express ourselves and our beliefs, and this rule is a direct violation of it. If the district truly did not want violence or politics involved in the football games, then they could simply remove anybody from the game who brought those topics up rather than removing the American theme altogether. Instead of targeting the problem itself, they got rid of a much broader subject that was positive for the school instead of negative. By taking away this football game theme, they are stripping us of much more than our national pride; they are taking away our freedom of speech. We have the legal right to wear what we want so long as it is not obscene or slanderous, and wearing red white and blue is neither of those things. Not only should the schools not be banning this patriotism, they should be encouraging it in order to create a more unified country that is one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
