A young man entered a Colorado Springs charter school, with a backpack that had a variety of patches on it. Including the iconic Gadsen flag. His parents were called, and this is where the situation went viral. According to the history teacher, yes HISTORY, the flag is a symbol of racism and hate.

A Colorado middle schooler was reportedly kicked out of class for having several patches on his backpack, including one of a Gadsden flag — sparking a social media uproar.

The 12-year-old student at the Vanguard School was ordered to remove the patch of the flag — which features a coiled rattlesnake and the phrase “Don’t tread on me” on a yellow background — before he was allowed to return to class, according to footage of a meeting between the child’s mother and an administrator posted to X, formerly Twitter.

The administrator at the public charter school tells the boy’s mom that he cannot display the patch due to the flag’s “origins with slavery and the slave trade,” the video of the meeting shows.

Yes, you read that correctly. The Gadsen flag was a symbol of slavery and the slave trade. That is according to the history teacher who took issue with the patch on the young man’s backpack. 

Unreal. @HarrisonSD2, why did you kick a kid out of class for wearing a freedom flag? Why weren’t other kids kicked out for wearing other types of flags? https://t.co/IAMvG7CyEk

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 29, 2023

And where did she get that supposed historical fact? From an EEOC issue involving a disgruntled postal employee. Also from the fact that many people in the Tea Party flew that flag during the Obamacare protests.  

Jaiden’s mother pushed back and asked if she was confusing the Gadsen flag with the Confederate flag. Nope, not at all. 

Jaiden was supposed to be learning about American history in that class. So you’d think the teacher would know just enough of the history of the thirteen colonies and the American Revolution to know the actual origins of where “Don’t Tread On Me” came from. 

We don’t know for certain where, when, or by whom the familiar coiled rattlesnake was first used with the warning “Don’t Tread on Me.”

We do know when it first entered the history books.

In the fall of 1775, the British were occupying Boston and the young Continental Army was holed up in Cambridge, woefully short on arms and ammunition. At the Battle of Bunker Hill, Washington’s troops had been so low on gunpowder that they were ordered “not to fire until you see the whites of their eyes.”

~Snip

To accompany the Navy on their first mission, Congress also authorized the mustering of five companies of Marines. The Alfred and its sailors and marines went on to achieve some of the most notable victories of the American Revolution. But that’s not the story we’re interested in here.

What’s particularly interesting for us is that some of the Marines that enlisted that month in Philadelphia were carrying drums painted yellow, emblazoned with a fierce rattlesnake, coiled and ready to strike, with thirteen rattles, and sporting the motto “Don’t Tread on Me.”

There are multiple historical examples of how the Gadsen flag came into being. And none of that historical fact is associated with slavery or the slave trade. However, given the insidiousness of the 1619 Project, it wouldn’t surprise me if that Vanguard teacher has read up on Nikole Hannah-Jone’s excrement and believes it to be fact. 

The situation went so viral that even Governor Jared Polis weighed in on the matter. 

“Obviously the Gadsden flag is a proud symbol of the American revolution and a iconic warning to Britain or any government not to violate the liberties of Americans. It appears on popular American medallions and challenge coins through today and Ben Franklin also adopted it to symbolize the union of the 13 colonies.”

The governor added, “It’s a great teaching moment for a history lesson!”

Exactly. Now some wanted Polis to jump into the fray and essentially order the school to back down. However, that might’ve made the situation worse. 

That said, it didn’t take Polis’ intervention. The school, realizing the scope of the whirlwind they found themselves in, called an emergency board meeting. The end result being, they reversed their course and Jaiden will be able to attend school WITH his “Don’t Tread On Me” patch still attached to his backpack. 

Vanguard sent out this notice to parents. 

BREAKING: Colorado school who kicked a kid out of class for having a Gadsden flag patch on his backpack has decided to allow him to keep wearing the patch to school! pic.twitter.com/vEUDpnFgJs

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 30, 2023

Click on the tweet/X and read Vanguard’s letter carefully. Notice something? Supposedly this was about all the OTHER patches that depicted guns on them?? REALLY? Then how come the entire session videoed by Jaiden’s mother discussed only one thing, the Gadsen Flag? That doesn’t pass the smell test. 

This was never going to end well for The Vanguard School. The First Amendment is a thing. Libs lament that it applies even to (gasp) conservatives. https://t.co/1WNw93Ce6N

— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) August 30, 2023

Hopefully Vanguard learned a valuable lesson.

Feature Photo Credit: Gadsen Flag via iStock, cropped and modified