More than 20 students in were suspended from their Virginia high school Thursday for wearing the Confederate flag at a rally protesting the school’s banning of vehicles with the insignia from parking on school property.
The school, Christiansburg High School, previously had a ban on all Confederate flag apparel, which a spokeswoman for Montgomery County Schools told Fox News “supports a peaceful educational environment in the building.”
State data shows that the 1100-student school is 83 percent white and eight percent black.
Fox also reported comments from Christiansburg senior Morgan Willis, who attended the rally but removed the Confederate flag from her car after being told she would’ve been banned from representing the school at a weekend event.
“I understand some people take it as hate, but none of us out there were racist or anything,” Willis told Fox. “I don’t see it as hate. If I did, I wouldn’t own it. I see it as this is your Southern heritage, and if you can’t have that, then what can you have?”
The Confederate battle flag has been the subject of scrutiny since the shooting at Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C. The shooter Dylan Roof identified with the flag’s history. Protests of the flag led to the removal of the it from the grounds of the South Carolina state capitol.
According to Drake, 21 of the 24 protesters refused to comply with the dress code upon arriving at school, resulting in suspension. One of the students who refused to comply, Forrest Taylor, told NBC affiliate WSLS “they’re trying to get rid of it, and they’re not trying to get rid of any other flags. They say that it’s a racist thing even though it’s not.”