Multi-culturalism gone awry

I found this article in the Missourian newspaper of Columbia off the VDARE.com Blog (www.vdare.com) It appeared in the Feb. 5 edition (www.columbianmissourian.com).

It just goes to show that high school administrators better be careful the next time they have multi-cultural assemblies or fairs. You never know who might decide to celebrate their culutre too.
- Sean Scallon

Student: No racism in flag incident
A Confederate battle flag was unfurled at a Hickman assembly.
By RACHEL KELLY

A teenage boy who, with another student, unfurled a Confederate battle flag during a multicultural assembly at Hickman High School on Thursday said his actions were not racially motivated.

“I am not racist in any manner,” said Ryan Lanman. “There is nothing about me that is racist.”

Ryan, a 17-year-old senior at Hickman, and his friend, Kevin Meyers, were removed from the assembly after raising the flag during a presentation of “The Yellow Rose of Texas.”

Ryan said he unfurled the flag at the assembly to represent the South, which he considers a multicultural group that is under-represented and ignored.

He said that he became fascinated with the South, where his father was raised, after working on a Civil War project in elementary school. He said he was trying to give the region equal representation, like other cultures featured in the assembly.

“We may have gone about it the wrong way, but we did it the best way we saw to get our point across,” Ryan said.

Other students said they think Ryan had a different motive.

“It really hurt me, seriously hurt me,” said junior Taneka Jackson.

Jackson, who is black, said she thinks it was a racist action that hurt more than just black students. She said it was inappropriate at a multicultural assembly, which was meant to celebrate different cultures.

“It was a disrespect to everyone in there,” Taneka said.

Ryan’s father, Tom, is convinced that his son’s actions were not racially motivated and said the flag was not meant to symbolize white supremacy.

Tom Lanman said he grew up in the South and attended school in Tennessee, where he saw racial segregation firsthand. He said he was a member of the minority of white citizens who did not consider themselves superior to the town’s black residents. This is a quality he has worked to instill in his son, he said.

“He doesn’t see black and white,” Tom Lanman said. “He’s not prejudiced, and he’s certainly not a white supremacist.”

Ryan is scheduled to graduate in the spring and plans to enter the Marines in June, where he hopes to work as a welder.

Ryan said he and Kevin were not allowed to attend school on Friday. The two students and their parents are scheduled to meet with school officials Monday to determine when the young men can return, he said.

Lynn Barnett, a Columbia Public Schools assistant superintendent, said the situation would be addressed in meetings with the students and parents. Students can face suspension for disrupting school activities, she said.

“It’s been handled according to board policy and the law,” she said.