Nine-year old Logan Autry isn’t allowed to wear his red “Make America Great Again Hat” at school because of “negative emotions” of his peers and safety concerns. That’s the logic of Powers-Ginsburg Elementary School in Fresno, California.
The young Donald Trump supporter recently attended a rally where he met Trump and shook the presumptive GOP nominee’s hand. He also got the hat and an autograph.
Autry told ABC 30 Action News that “the vice principal came up to me and told me to take my hat off because it brings negative attention from other students. And I said no a few times and then the principal told me again and I still said no and refused.” He left school early on Thursday as a result.
He wore the hat for three days, but was told to take it off after more students confronted him. “I still want to keep my hat. It’s not the hat that draws attention, it’s just my personality that the other children do not like,” Autry said.
In addition to showing his support with the hat, Autry tells other students about the First Amendment, which he says gives him a right to wear the hat, as well as about the policies of Trump, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders.
Autry’s guardian, Angela Hoffknecht, says “he wants to be a politician, that’s his goal.” His uncle, Zacc Autry, also shared his nephew’s love of politics and Trump with YourCentralValley.com. “They should be able to let kids freely express themselves without the fear of being beat up or harassed or bullied,” he also said.
The district released a statement applauding themselves for letting Autry wear the hat for as long as they did, since it is “our job as educators is to facilitate a safe learning environment where we encourage robust conversations of diverse and thoughts. We are proud that in this case, our school achieved that goal by allowing the student to wear his hat for several days,” it said in part, adding that “it is also our responsibility to take precautions when the discourse begins to impact our school climate and interrupt school operations.”
