Caleb Horst, a senior at Edmond North High School in Oklahoma, was suddenly ordered by by his school to stop flying an American flag on his pickup even though he had been “flying it for quite a while.” This provoked a flag-flying protest at the school by students who supported Horst (How could the school not see that coming?) as well as objections from parents. Then State Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters issued a statement on Twitter/X stating, “No school in Oklahoma should tell students they can’t wave an American flag.”
“We’ve had Americans die for that flag, die for students to have the right to carry the flag, to wave the flag, to be proud of that American flag,” Walters wrote. “My department right now is working on guidelines that we will be issuing to districts to ensure that no student is ever targeted for having an American flag and also that our schools will promote patriotism.”
What were the Edmond North High School administrators thinking? They weren’t thinking, clearly. They weren’t thinking clearly either. Bias, in this case Neanderthal level woke bias, had made them stupid. Their offensive justification: The school system said the prohibition of flags on student vehicles is “designed to prevent disruptions and distractions during the school day. It is also done in an effort to provide a safe school environment as flying flags on vehicles creates safety issues in the parking lot as well as can cause damage to other vehicles.”
Yeah, I’ve seen the carnage American flags can inflict on a Toyota.
If the flying of an American flag from a student’s truck threatens to disrupt a school, then that school has been teaching the wrong things. Moreover, the American flag is not just “a flag,” and this has been recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court. I see no way a school ban on U.S. flags being displayed on student vehicles could be ruled anything but a First Amendment violation if a school were foolish enough to insist on one and take it through the court system.
Walters is a Republican (of course) and this woke idiocy was low-hanging fruit that no aspiring politician could resist. This time he was right; his earlier edict that Oklahoma schools teach the Bible and the Ten Commandments will eventually be struck down because it is unconstitutional.
It would have also been preferable if Walters had just ended the U.S. flag ban and left it at that, but I suspect that he has higher political aspirations, and did not. Walters said that he wants Oklahoma schools to stand against the anti-Americanism pushed by the “Biden administration, by the teachers’ unions, by the radical left.”
“We’re not tolerating it in our schools. We want patriots. We want our students flying the American flag,” he declared. “We will promote patriotism in Oklahoma schools.”
And he went on: “We need more patriotism. We’ve seen our schools become leftist indoctrination mills pushing hatred for country. That’s not going to happen in Oklahoma.”
Translation: “Here in Oklahoma, we want conservative indoctrination mills.”
Great.
Ethics Alarms 
Ryan Walters is simply trying to balance things out. Much goes wrong when there is imbalance within an ecosystem, and the disturbing evidence is all around us. Let’s revisit this in another 15 years.
Rednecks get things done…🤠
In my opinion, Walters has just had it and doesn’t care anymore. When he ran for office, the choice was between him and a candidate who was chosen despite (or because) she was in a high-profile scandal involving her protection of a pedophile (she used her clout in the district to get rape charges dropped against a district employee on numerous occasions). When Walters entered the office, it was much like when Trump became president. The career employees at the Education Department undertook a concerted obstruction and smear campaign against him coordinated with the local media. Well, he has had it. He is currently demanding to be impeached so that he can make his case in court. I believe the Bible thing was a reaction against the LGBTQ+ porn being used in classrooms to support the official state religion. BTW, I view the Bible as a very valid educational tool to teach the basis of our system of laws, our morality, and the idea of reality that led to modern science and in that respect is not unconstitutional. You can ask Richard Dawkins how well Western Society goes when you don’t teach or deny that basis.
Now, if you go to North Edmond, you may be in a parking lot with a minority of Oklahoma license plates. New York and California plates may dominate. These plates are on the cars of people who have lived in Oklahoma perhaps for decades, but refuse to change their plates because they aren’t ‘Oklahomans’. The teachers and administrators want to emulate such people and don’t want to be seen a ‘stupid Oklahomans’. So, they will mimic the opinions of the coastal elites and say that the US flag ‘makes people feel unsafe’, but that no one should complain about the various LGBTQ+++ flags, the Mexican flag, the Palestinian flag, etc. Then there are people from more rural areas. See the conflict?
The school leadership is made of typical leftist Democrats that think that people will just do anything that they are told. They don’t understand people who won’t comply. I would bet they had no idea that this kid would go to all his buddies and get them to put flags on their trucks too. The district has stated that they will be punishing the students on a ‘case by case basis’. That means, poor kids that aren’t needed for athletics are going to get severely punished, while rich kids and essential athletes will get a slap on the wrist.
Oh, Ryan Walters is investigating a local superintendent for sexual abuse of the students. It is the third superintendent in a row at that district found to be involved in such activity (every superintendent for the last 15+ years). How can you have 3 in a row? Either the school board is a fan of this stuff, or most of the superintendent candidates do it.
Yes, I think there’s a significant “Okies” vs. their betters thing going on here. Guys in jacked up pickups with oversized tires are threatening to their superior and more enlightened fellow human beings who prefer their Prius and think everyone should buy one. Honestly, I’d say the trucks and big flags, of which I’ve seen a few around Phoenix (lots of Okies here in Arizona), can legitimately be perceived to be quite menacing. And clearly their owners are or can be aligned with the Make America Great Again ethos, which is another big mark decidedly NOT in their favor. The trucks are kind of a big “Fuck You” in and of themselves. Ironically, I think the administrators would have had a as good an argument the big-ass trucks themselves should be banned from around the school and in the parking lots as the no “Let’s Go Brandon” administrators had. But I guess you really can’t regulate testosterone in teenagers.
Anyway, just funny these two posts are next to each other and deserved a little context as Michael has hinted.
Fascinating out of staters refuse to register their cars in Oklahoma. Hilarious.
Uhh…those aren’t big trucks. Those are normal farm trucks.
Jacked up and oversized, knobby tires. More for show than function.
A good friend and developer client was from Oklahoma. Graduated from the University of Oklahoma school of architecture. He referred to Texas as “Baja Oklahoma.” This was back in the early to mid-1980s. He’d make the “Hook ’em Horns!” sign with his index and pinky and ask, “What’s this stand for?” Someone would say, “Hook ’em Horns?” He’d shake his head and say, “Chapter 11.”
Yes, but those trucks aren’t. The average ‘oily’ truck is higher and has larger tires than that. Those are for function because that is what is required to get back to the rigs on those oil roads.