A New York high school football team saw some backlash for its 9/11 memorial service a month after the fact.
The Irvington High School team took the field Sept. 11, the 21st anniversary of the terrorist attack in their state, while waving a regular American flag and a black-and-white version with a blue stripe, meant to symbolize the Blue Lives Matter movement. Players also sported American flag stickers on their helmets.
On Wednesday, a letter obtained by the New York Post from the Irvington Union Free School District’s Superintendent Kristopher Harrison brought attention to the gesture yet again, claiming the presence of the Blue Lives Matter flag “caused concern and harm to some members of our community.”
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“Controversial, politicized messages are not representative of the inclusive, welcoming community that we seek to be,” the letter read. It went on to explain that “for community members of color, seeing the blue line flag on school grounds conjured up frightening emotions of events such as those that occurred in Charlottesville.”
Harrison was referring to the white nationalist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2019. One woman died at the rally as a result of being hit by a car driven by a man who would go on to plead guilty to 29 federal charges against him.
This letter was sent throughout the school district that, as of 2020, included 1,776 students.
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Harrison did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment.
