A North Carolina highschool graduate was reportedly denied his diploma for sporting a Mexican flag in violation of the varsity’s costume code.
Ever Lopez, who’s Mexican American, draped a Mexican flag over his robe at Asheboro Excessive Faculty’s commencement ceremony in Could, prompting the principal to ask him to take the flag off, video of the ceremony exhibits.
The coed tried however was unable to take the flag off — after which was denied his diploma after the ceremonial stroll down the stage, in response to ABC.
“After I received up there I went for the handshake and I wasn’t pondering nothing of it and I heard her say, ‘You possibly can’t put on that,’” Lopez, who’s first individual in his instant household to graduate from highschool, instructed the outlet. And I used to be in shock and confused. I used to be like, ‘What?’ She was like, ‘The flag. You possibly can’t put on that.’”
“It means every part to me,” he stated, in response to ABC.
“My mother and father, my entire household, is from over there. I did it for them as a result of that they had a tough childhood; they didn’t get the scholarship that I received, or they didn’t get to go to highschool like I did. So … representing my flag and getting a diploma was actually vital to me, as a result of I used to be principally doing it for my household.”
Lopez has not but obtained his diploma, ABC reported. He stated the varsity has requested him to apologize so as to obtain it.
“I don’t know why I ought to apologize, when it ought to be heard, as a result of I did nothing mistaken,” Lopez instructed the outlet.
The incident sparked protest outdoors a college, and 73,000 individuals signed a petition in assist of Lopez.
“Properly, it’s loopy. I didn’t anticipate it, all of the neighborhood to come back collectively like that,” Lopez stated, in response to ABC.
“I used to be simply walked out of college. I used to be sort of like down. I used to be like, ‘Dang man I didn’t get my diploma and stuff.’ … It’s loopy as a result of the following day I awakened and I had individuals calling me, saying, ‘Oh man, you bought interviews, you bought interviews, you bought interviews.’ And I’m like, ‘What?’ After which what shocked me essentially the most, apart from the interviews, was the protest at my faculty as a result of I didn’t learn about that.”
In the meantime, the varsity district stated that it helps college students’ “expressions of their heritage within the acceptable time and place” — however insisted donning the Mexican flag “violated the ceremony’s costume code.”
“We proceed working to resolve this situation with the coed and his household in order that he’ll obtain his diploma from Asheboro Excessive Faculty,” in a press release. “He has labored very exhausting and we commend him on this nice achievement. We’re assured in his skills and we all know he has a vibrant future forward of him.”
“This incident will not be in regards to the Mexican flag,” the varsity district added in one other assertion. “College students have been inspired to precise their identification by adorning their mortar boards. Numerous college students adopted the protocol and had the Mexican flag and different representations appropriately displayed through the ceremony.”
