With a population of just over 5,000, the small town of Polson is nestled in Northern Montana near the beautiful Flathead Lake. It was this past Thursday, September 29, 2016, where a relatively uneventful and peaceful town, got put in the nationwide spotlight; and not in a good way.
It was homecoming week for Polson High School students, which included five fun days, full of competition. On Thursday, every grade chose a different color to wear to school, as a competition between graduating classes. The class with the most worn colors wins the competition. The junior class chose to wear white, which seemed fine until a group of students took the meaning of the word quite literally by wearing white clothing which racial statements drew on them. One student even wore a confederate flag on his white shirt. By the time the school learned about the students’ dress, social media had already been engaged. Pictures were shared, and opinions were formed, bringing much attention to this small school. The school officials made the the students change out of the racially insensitive clothing, and issued a statement saying:
"The Polson School District does not and will not tolerate harassment or discrimination in any form toward any person. As a District, we are disappointed in the actions of those few students and will take appropriate action based on our policies and procedures, which may include discipline for the individual students." -Polson Schools Superintendent Rex Weltz
Some media outlets are calling out the school for naming the competition, “color wars,” while some are focused on the fact that they wore these shirts to a school that is literally sitting on an Indian reservation. Many took to Twitter to denounce the students and share their frustrations. There were stories on Teen Vogue, Fox News, Washington Post, and many more.
Do I agree with what the students did? Absolutely not. I think the act was distasteful and ignorant. Do I think they had a right to do it? Definitely. The reason why is because of our right to practice free speech. This is a natural right that The Constitution protects.
However, when one uses this free speech, it is of utmost importance that the speech directed back at these students actions must also be protected. There is no picking and choosing with this right, all opinions and thoughts spoken and written must be assured.
When photos were taken and shared with social media, people from all over the nation practiced their free speech by sharing their opinions on the controversial act. Many were disgusted and called out the students for wearing the shirts. The students are now exposed, and people can say what they like about them and the incident as a whole. This is an example of a social repercussion that will likely follow if one says or does something controversial in today's society. Between the Twitter rants, and the news articles, which are all forms of protected speech, it is clear that the nation takes racial issues seriously, and that they have decided that this particular action is not accepted in our society.
We have determined this by forms of discussion, reporting, and writing on the event. We have exposed people for possibly having racist mindsets, and we have shown them that as a society, we do not value these racially motivated statements. All of this was accomplished through free speech, and this is why preservation of the right is so important.
