A Buckeye, Arizona, 10th grader says she was unfairly targeted because of a shirt she wore to picture day Tuesday.
KSAZ reported that Mariah Havard, 15, said Buckeye Union High School administrators made her change out of her Black Lives Matter shirt.
Mariah said that another student has worn a shirt with a Confederate flag on it to class before, but that student was not asked to change.
"I wasn't able to wear the shirt anymore because somebody made a complaint," Mariah told KPNX. "I was a little bit confused as to why I wouldn't be able to wear something so meaningful to me."
"She was asked to change and she didn't question them -- she was being respectful," Roxanne Havard, Mariah's mother, told KPNX. "She went in the bathroom and was thinking about why she had to change."
Mariah said her school's principal cited the school dress code for why she was asked to change her shirt, which prohibits clothing that would "disrupt the education process."
"I've seen gay pride shirts, I've seen confederate flags," student Genesis Santoyo told KXTV. "I've actually seen a white power shirt once."
"I felt as though I was being punished for being proud and proud of my culture, which in the principal's office, my dad kept on asking him why they're suppressing me and why it's not okay for me to be proud of who I am," Genesis told KSAZ.
Mariah said there was an announcement after class thursday that said no student may wear a Confederate flag shirt or a Black Lives Matter Shirt. If they do, there will be consequences.
About the Author
