What happens when bigoted morons run schools? Well, for one thing, they ban constitutionally protected speech -- like wearing rosary beads as a symbol of Christian devotion -- calling it "gang related."ON DAYS LIKE THIS, I really, really wish I had gone to law school. Because I would take Tabitha Ruiz's case pro bono, and the Dallas Independent School District would pay, and pay dearly.
KXAS television has the details:
A Dallas County high school student said she was forced to remove her rosary before going to classes because the school considers it is a gang symbol.IT'S AMAZING -- isn't it? -- what fools, tyrants and mediocrities we oftentimes manage to put in charge of our children's education. Young minds deserve better.
Tabitha Ruiz, 16, said she was stopped at Seagoville High School after she went through a metal detector and told to take off her rosary.
"I was going through the metal detectors, and they looked at me and they saw the rosary and told me to take it off because it's gang-related," she said.
The Dallas Independent School District said in a statement that items that represent a gang are prohibited.
"Students are not allowed to wear logos or symbols that represent a gang," DISD said.
"Dallas police identified a rosary as a gang symbol."
But Dallas police said a rosary is not considered a gang symbol.
"Rosaries are not considered gang symbols unless the person is (a) known gang member or he/she is wearing a red or blue rosary in conjunction with other red things like shoe laces, belt or bandana," police said in a statement.
Ruiz's mother, Taire Ferguson, said she was stunned to hear a rosary was considered a gang symbol.
"My first reaction was, 'Gang people don't have Jesus. Maybe they need Jesus,'" she said.
Ferguson said it was "unacceptable" for the school to ask her daughter to take off the rosary. She said item is just a symbol of her daughter's Christianity.
"She's never been in trouble. She's a good kid," Ferguson said.
She said she is ready to take the case to court.
And the powers that be at Seagoville High School and the DISD deserve to be made into a powerful example of the terrible things that can befall bureaucrats' when their minds get "stuck on stupid."
1 comment:
Rosaries are not meant to be worn, anyway, so I don't see how this rule is a problem. She can have the Rosary with her, yes? Just not around her neck?
It's disrespectful to wear the Rosary as a necklace (like it's disrespectful to wear the American flag as a cape.) Those orders of nuns and monks who carry a Rosary as part of their habit tuck it into their belts. Perhaps that's a better idea for those faithful Catholics who want to have their Rosaries with them all the time.
Really, I think we ought to direct our indignation against those gang members who are desecrating their Rosaries by making them into symbols of violence and fear.
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