School Apologizes After Pro-Trump Students' Yearbook Picture Disgracefully Photoshopped
A Pennsylvania school district issued an apology after two students discovered that their pro-Trump hats were altered in their school’s yearbook.
Jeremy Gebhart, a 16-year-old student at Littlestown High School, and a friend wore MAGA hats to show support for President Donald Trump during the school’s “spirit week,” WPMT-TV reported.
The red hats were embroidered with “Trump: Make America Great Again” — but the words were edited out of the yearbook.
“We were like, ‘They blurred our hats out!” Gebhart said.
The student’s mother, Lorriane Gebhart, was “infuriated” by the school’s censorship.
“I was infuriated because he wears that hat because he supports our president,” the mother said. “He’s not doing anything illegal, he’s wearing a hat of support.”
A high school student wanted to show his support for President Trump so he and a friend wore red hats with the words: “Trump: Make America Great Again.” The caps were blurred out in a yearbook photo. https://t.co/OWqBqVg7dk
— CNN (@CNN) May 24, 2019
The Gebhart family says the school’s censorship violated Jeremey’s freedom of speech.
“Everybody has First Amendment rights, freedom of speech and they are allowed to think what they want and say what they want but they aren’t allowed to take that away from other people,” Gebhart said. “It’s OK to disagree with peoples views, but what’s not OK is taking your freedom of speech and using it to take away someone else’s.”
Littlestown School District Superintendent Christopher E. Bigger apologized for the “mistake” and said it wasn’t a “policy” to censor speech.
“I am aware of the yearbook situation and a mistake was made. The mistake was not noticed during the editorial preview process prior to print. We apologize on behalf of the yearbook club. It is not the policy or practice of the district to improperly censor speech,” Bigger said.
“Please understand we are working with young adults who are practicing to become citizens and what a better place to do so than in a school setting. We must find a way to have civil discourse around emotionally charged issues with students where the facts are understood and the opportunity to learn is available.”
An investigation is underway and the school district hasn’t determined who’s responsible for the censorship, but the Gebhart family assumes it was somebody with an anti-Trump bias.
“I just think that whoever did this doesn’t like Trump,” Gebhart said.
“It’s very upsetting,” the mother said. “Someone used this on purpose to blur out that Trump logo and make their own statement.”
The family has a strong message for the person responsible for the censorship: “You did not silence us.”
Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for liberals to go after high school students in Trump hats — remember the Covington Catholic High School students?
The left consistently resorts to intimidation and censorship in an attempt to silence conservatives, even if it means bullying children.
More young conservatives such as Jeremy Gebhart should stand up to the left’s tactics and refuse to be silenced.
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