Dhakira Talbot- 11 year old son at Florida’s Lawton Chiles Middle Academy student arrested after telling substitute teacher the pledge of allegiance is racist and the national anthem offensive to black people.
An 11-year-old Florida student has been arrested after refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance and allegedly telling a teacher that ‘the flag is racist and the national anthem is offensive to black people’.
The boy, a student at Lawton Chiles Middle Academy in Lakeland was charged with disrupting a school function and resisting arrest without violence in relation to the Feb. 4 incident according to Bay News 9.
The child was also issued a three-day suspension.
His mother, Dhakira Talbot, said officials took things too far by arresting her son, who she said is in gifted classes and has been bullied in the past.
‘My son has never been through anything like this. I feel like this should’ve been handled differently,’ she said. ‘If any disciplinary action should’ve been taken, it should’ve been with the school. He shouldn’t have been arrested.’
The discipline against Talbot’s son occurred when a substitute teacher, Ana Alvarez, ordered the boy to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.
When he told her he believed the flag was racist and the anthem was offensive, Alvarez asked him ‘why if it was so bad here he did not go to another place to live,’ the teacher said in a statement to the school district.
The teacher said the boy replied, ‘they brought me here.’
Alvarez then told him, ‘Well you can always go back, because I came here from Cuba and the day I feel I’m not welcome here anymore I would find another place to live.’
She said she resorted to calling the main office ‘because I did not want to continue dealing with him.’
But it gets grimmer.
Understanding how school’s administer the pledge of allegiance:
The student also allegedly called school leaders racist, threatened to get the school resource officer and principal fired and beat up Alvarez, according to an arrest affidavit.
He denied threatening to beat the teacher in an interview with Bay News 9 with his mother.
Polk County Public Schools spokesman Kyle Kennedy insisted that the boy was not arrested for failing to stand for the pledge.
‘Students are not required to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance,’ he told The Ledger.
The sixth-grader was collared ‘after becoming disruptive and refusing to follow repeated instructions by school staff and law enforcement,’ he added.
Kennedy said he couldn’t discuss the boy’s discipline. Kennedy added Alvarez not being aware of district policy regarding the pledge as voluntary.
Alvarez will no longer work as a substitute teacher in Polk County, he said.
And then there were these sample reactions on social media too….
‘Our HR department will contact Kelly Services, which provides our substitutes, to further refine how our substitutes are trained,’ Kennedy said.
“District officials said the teacher’s name is Ana Alvarez. Kennedy said she was not aware of district policy regarding the pledge as voluntary.”
Well, Ana. You see, WE DONT LIVE IN FUCKING NAZI GERMANY
— Grange Fieri (@GrangerHamilton) February 17, 2019
An 11-year-old at Lawton Chiles Middle Academy in Lakeland, Florida was arrested and removed from class after a substitute teacher demanded the student recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
NAZI GERMANY is alive and well in Florida !— Mark Riley (@mriley499) February 17, 2019
@ACLUFL Please help this child patriot. This incident is ripe for a violation of #1A lawsuit.
Shame on Lawton Chiles Middle Academy in Tampa, FL for protecting a bigoted teacher above the Constitution of the United States of America.
— I’m With Liz 2020 (@ZulillyGrrrl) February 17, 2019
