Truth is told

["Charles Brown" <cbrown@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

U.S. National - AP

Student May Wear Bush 'Terrorist' Shirt 
Wed Oct 1,11:06 PM 


DETROIT - A high school student has the right to wear a T-shirt to school
with the face of President Bush (news - web sites) and the words
"International Terrorist" on the front, a federal judge ruled. 
)

 
"There is no evidence that the T-shirt created any disturbance or
disruption," U.S. District Judge Patrick J. Duggan said in the ruling
released Wednesday by the American Civil Liberties Union (news - web sites)
of Michigan, which sued the Dearborn school district on behalf of Bretton
Barber. 
An assistant principal had ordered Barber in February to conceal the
anti-Bush message or go home. Dearborn High said it worried about inflaming
passions at the suburban Detroit school, where a majority of students are
Arab-American. 
But, the judge said, "The record does not reveal any basis for (the
assistant principal's) fear aside from his belief that the T-shirt conveyed
an unpopular political message." 
Attorneys for the school district declined to comment on the case. There was
no answer at the district offices Wednesday evening. 
"The court's decision reaffirms the principle that students don't give up
their right to express opinions on matters of public importance once they
enter school," Kary Moss, executive director of the state ACLU, said in a
news release Wednesday. 
Barber was 16 when he wore the shirt on a day he was scheduled to present a
"compare and contrast" essay in English class. Barber had chosen to compare
President Bush to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. 
At the time, Bretton said he wanted to express his anti-war position by
wearing the shirt, which he ordered on the Internet.



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