Put the most incendiary left-wing phrase imaginable on your mask and wear it to school, and you’ll likely hear nary a peep out of your teachers. Wear a “thin blue line” mask, however, and it’s another story.
According to KTXL-TV, a substitute teacher at a middle school in Grass Valley, California, has gone viral in a bad way after ranting at a student wearing a pro-police mask in support of his father, who is a cop. The teacher was caught on video calling it “the new Confederacy flag.”
Of course, the very fact we’re talking about this has to do with California’s onerous school mask mandate, something we’re vigorously opposed to here at The Western Journal. We’ll continue our fight — and you can help us by subscribing.
The student, 13-year-old Lucas Lillar, says he was approached by the teacher while working at his desk on Monday, KOVR-TV reported.
The teacher started arguing with him over the mask, which features the pro-police flag. It resembles an American flag, albeit with a blue line through the middle to represent that police are the “thin blue line” separating society from its criminal element.
KOVR, however, had an alternate interpretation: “Recently, it has come to represent opposition to the racial justice movement,” the CBS affiliate’s Madisen Keavy reported. With hot takes like that, and with any luck, she’ll have a show on MSNBC by next week.
In any event, Lillar’s substitute teacher had the same take on the “thin blue line” mask as KOVR did.
“That’s not the American flag,” he said. “That’s the new Confederacy flag.”
When Lillar said it was in fact American, the teacher responded, “No, it’s black, white with some blue line in it.”
“Yeah, ‘thin blue line,'” Lillar said.
“Yeah, but it’s not American,” the teacher said.
Lillar’s father and stepmother are both in law enforcement and he wears the mask to support them. A teacher who’s determined to pick a fight about politics with his students is one thing, but one who calls out a student for wearing a “thin blue line” mask on the basis that it’s in support of “the new Confederacy” is another level of awful.
“I was angry because these types of things should never be in the classroom,” Amanda McCallum, Lucas’ mother, told KTXL.
“These topics need to be left at the door. The school is meant to educate our children in a safe environment and I don’t feel like this was a safe environment, but it needs to be. We are entrusting these people of authority, these teachers with our children.”
“We are in a time where we are so divided that we need to learn to be kind and respect each other,” she added.
McCallum said she wanted to meet with the school superintendent next week and that she had been told the substitute teacher wouldn’t be back.
The district told KOVR the incident was being investigated and that it couldn’t comment on personnel matters, but added that California code “allows for the immediate dismissal of a substitute teacher. Our district expects all educators to perform their duties with utmost respect and professionalism.”
As for Lillar himself, he said being the child of a law enforcement officer “makes me feel worried” — and this isn’t going to help.
“I never had someone talk to me like that, yell at me in my face, especially a teacher,” he told KOVR.
Unfortunately, given the current political climate, it may not be the last time that mask gets a reaction like this.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
