First Amendment controversies seem to be multiplying by the day. From the white nationalist marches in Charlottesville, Virginia, and the American Civil Liberties Union representing noted provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, to recent protests during the national anthem, the American right to express oneself is under fire — and many citizens aren’t even quite sure what rights the First Amendment affords them, according to a recent Annenberg survey. When the debate trickles down to schools, the rights of students become even more unclear.
“Outside of a school, the law of the First Amendment would be absolutely crystal-clear, and unfortunately, it’s murky in the school setting,” Frank LoMonte, director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information at the University of Florida, told The 74. “The problem is, there have been judges who are willing to look the other way on the First Amendment inside a school. Can a school legally deny you membership on a football team because they don’t like your speech? I doubt it, but I think there are some judges who would disagree with me.”
In the past few months, several students and athletes have been cautioned against taking a knee and following the lead of NFL players protesting during the anthem. Last month, a letter from a high school principal in Louisiana directing students to “stand in a respectful manner” during the anthem went viral, while two high school football players in Texas were stripped of their jerseys and kicked off the team immediately following their demonstration during the anthem.
Recently, a Texas teen filed a federal lawsuit against her high school after she was kicked out for refusing to stand during the Pledge of Allegiance. According to the New York Daily News, India Landry sat out the pledge hundreds of times since her freshman year at Windfern High School in Houston, Texas, but the senior was only recently reprimanded because school officials have "been whipped into a frenzy” over NFL players protesting injustice and police violence during the national anthem. Though other students across the country have also joined in the protests, the 17-year-old said she didn’t stand “because it goes against everything I believe in.”
“I don’t think that the flag is what it says it’s for, for liberty and justice and all that,” Landry told Houston’s KHOU. “It’s not obviously what's going on in America today.”
Though the Supreme Court ruled in 1943 that forcing students to stand for the pledge and anthem violates their constitutional rights, India said the principal, Martha Strother, threatened, “If your mom does not get here in five minutes, the police are coming.”
Given the recent spate of brutality and extrajudicial killings by police, India’s mother was worried about her daughter’s safety.
“I see what’s going on with the country,” India’s mother Kizzy Landry said. “I thought let me hurry up and get to my baby before something happens to her.”
India’s lawyer, Randall Kallinen, said the school had no cause to expel the teen. “Students cannot be instantly expelled except for being a danger,” he explained. “The only danger appeared to be that her sitting whipped principal Strother into a political frenzy.”
After the teen’s story made the press and her family filed a lawsuit against the Cypress Fairbanks ISD school district, the school walked back its expulsion decision. Nicole Ray, a district spokesperson said students “will not be removed from campus for refusing to stand for the pledge.”
India is scheduled to return to school this week. Despite the trouble it’s caused her, she said she will continue to sit out the pledge — and has every intention of going forward with the lawsuit.
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TikTok shocked by 15-year-old unhinged viral clip of kids performing Scarface in school play
Think about the most outrageous film that could be adapted to the stage. Now, imagine the cast of that theatrical production is entirely children, ranging in age from 7 to 10. Now, film it and let the world react.
That’s what director Marc Klasfeld had in mind when he held auditions with professional child actors for a shocking video, meant to look like an elementary school production of the cult film-favorite Scarface. In a now 15-year-old interview with Entertainment Weekly, when asked why he thought this was a good idea, Klasfeld admits, "I thought this would be a nice fit into the kind of YouTube arena of viral videos. And I was right."
The result? Kids yelling “mother-fudger,” piles of popcorn meant to look like cocaine, and outrageous, lengthy scenes of children pointing Super Soakers at one another.
Marc, mostly known as an accomplished commercial and music video director, later adds, "I enjoy making provocative art. I like stirring debate and causing conversation. You're going to get two sides of the coin no matter what you do. People are going to love and hate everything. People loved and hated Avatar. People loved and hated the Jennifer Aniston movie. And people love and hate this. I guess that's a part of having something that's successful out there. There’s got to be certain people that hate it for people to love it."
Once they got their perfect cast, it didn’t take long to put together. He shares, "It was a one-take, so it was pretty much just choosing the right take. About a month altogether."
People sure did react, as it acquired millions of views and comments from all over the Internet. Some were horrified, some were outraged, and many thought it was the funniest thing they'd ever seen. But Marc emphasizes that the kids in the video were not scandalized. "They’ve heard the f-word. They’ve seen more violence in their everyday lives for as long as they can remember. So for this, they’ve seen worse things than this all the time. So this wasn’t that big of a deal for them."
Enter TikTok. The clip (which just popped up again recently on Facebook) was reposted a few years back, and, once again, the comments continue to run the gamut from indignation to full praise. One TikTok user exclaimed, "Bro, I can’t even remember my grocery list, how the fudge did these kids memorize this whole scene lol?"
Others expressed confusion: "I'm not sure whether to be angry or amazed." Some chose anger: "Just imagine, you know these kids watched the movie to get the characters right. And the parents cheering? Yeah, yeah."
Many commenters believed it was a real school play and commended the production for "keepin' it real": "That school keeps it real. Nowadays, kids know so much about guns and drugs, might as well teach them that bad choices don’t end well."
Yet another enjoyed it but was concerned that the parents of the children would not. "Love the tray full of popcorn. But my God, I would hate to see the hell these parents probably raised."
For the most part, the reviews were glowing. Many complimented the acting, and one claimed they definitely would have "preferred this play over their own school production of Macbeth."
And perhaps the biggest compliment? "Al Pacino will be proud."