Democratic Gov. Jared Polis of Colorado came to the defense of a tweener grade school boy who was kicked out of a classroom for having a Gasden Flag that says “Don’t Tread On Me” on his backpack after school officials decided it was a symbol of “slavery.”
Jaiden Rodriguez, a 12-year-old student, reportedly faced removal from his class at The Vanguard School, a charter school in Colorado Springs, Colorado over the flag, which is not linked to “slavery” but is directly related to the Revolutionary War.
Polis, a Democratic governor serving his second term, commented on the flag and called it a “proud symbol of the American Revolution,” according to a post on the X platform.\
The Gadsden flag is a proud symbol of the American revolution and a iconic warning to Britain or any government not to violate the liberties of Americans. It appears on popular American medallions and challenge coins through today and Ben Franklin also adopted it to symbolize the… pic.twitter.com/sroNXnlJsf
— Jared Polis (@jaredpolis) August 29, 2023
“The Gadsden flag is a proud symbol of the American Revolution and an iconic warning to Britain or any government not to violate the liberties of Americans,” Polis wrote. “It appears on popular American medallions and challenge coins through today and Ben Franklin also adopted it to symbolize the union of the 13 colonies.”
The Daily Caller added:
The flag depicts a coiled rattlesnake rampant on an azure field above the words “DON’T TREAD ON ME” and was designed by Christopher Gadsden in 1775. The snake was adopted from cartoon, “Join, Or Die,” by Benjamin Franklin, which depicted eight of the 13 American colonies at the time as components of a woodcut rattlesnake.
The states of Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia permit drivers to obtain Gadsden flag-themed license plates when registering their vehicles.
School officials claimed the flag had ties to “the Confederate flag and other white supremacy groups” as well as “hate groups” to prohibit it from being worn by the young student, according to an email from the school’s director to the boy’s mother. The email was shared by Connor Boyack, a conservative education expert on the X platform.
In a video of the conversation between school officials and the boy’s mother posted on the platform, the mother was told that “the reason we do not want the flag is due to its origins with slavery and slave trade.”
“It has nothing to do with slavery … maybe you’re thinking of the Confederate flag,” the mother explained, but the official simply waved her off.
Polis declared, however: “It’s a great teaching moment for a history lesson!”
