Students at an Arkansas high school was suspended for a shirt and face paint depicting the Confederate flag, KARK reported.

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Students at Fayetteville High School said they were showing off the stars and bars to support the #History Not Hate, but school administrators were not buying that explanation, the television station reported.

The students were given a choice to remove the flags or be sent home. One student was given an out-of-school suspension, KARK reported.

"We're not trying to trample on their first amendment rights we're just trying to have a safe and orderly school environment," Principal Jay Dosal told the television station

School district rules note that "attire that disrupts the educational process or otherwise interferes with the rights or opportunities of others to learn or teach is considered improper and unacceptable," KARK reported.

"None of us are racist, none of us are doing it for hate it's Southern pride and we're not going to take it off for anyone, it's our flag, it's Arkansas,” one student told the television station. “This is the South.”