But, I don't know what planet one would have to be on to not know that this is offensive to a lot of blacks.
Completely AGREED. I do not dispute that it is offensive to blacks, other minorities and white people. However, my point is, there are a ton of things that are 'offensive' to everyone, regardless of who you are or what background you come from. Where does it become a government (school district, state, and/or federal level) to dictate what items (because again we are talking about items, not actions) are offensive and therefore can be banned?
Can objects be used to insinuate violence, cause stress, cause a fear, or be used to intimidate others...of course they can. But how does
punishing (i.e. banning) the object used help the situation?
Let's not try to take this into conspiracy land or too far out there, but could you, in the future, see the government trying to ban other things because of what they have been used as...guns come to mind. Granted, completely different because we dont have the right to keep and bear a confederate flag, but same basic principle I think, you are banning an object because of how some use it improperly.
You can't tell me that the kids brandishing it didn't know that and were trying to make some kind of statement. Race relations are tough enough without purposely stirring the pot.
Maybe so, maybe not, I would tend to lean towards agreeing with you and high school kids just trying to be bad asses with it. However, given the policy, even the kid who legitimately believes in the South, his heritage, his family members who were involved, etc. he would have been punished the same way. Sure its "fair" to punish all alike, but he is not doing it to stir a pot, he would be doing it to show what he takes pride in, completely different intentions. Bottom line, kids were wrong, knowing there was a policy in place.