Lakeland,FL -- An 11-year-old boy was arrested at school following his refusal to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, and allegedly threatening his teacher. An 11-year-old boy was arrested at school following his refusal to recite the Pledge of Allegiance,
and allegedly threatening his teacher.
On February 4th, the 11-year-old student at Lawton Chiles Middle Academy in Lakeland, Fla., was asked, along with his classmates, to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, according to Bay News 9. Instead, the boy told his substitute teacher that the American flag is racist against black people.
The teacher recapped everything in a handwritten statement to the district. “Why if it was so bad here he did not go to another place to live,” she reportedly told him, and the boy responded, “They brought me here.”
She said, “Well you can always go back, because I came here from Cuba and the day I feel I’m not welcome here anymore I would find another place to live.” She added, “Then I had to call the office because I did not want to continue dealing with him.”
The Lakeland Police Department tells Yahoo Lifestyle it cannot release public records on a juvenile misdemeanor arrest. Bay News 9 reports the boy was apprehended by a school resource officer because he wouldn’t follow directions, threatened the teacher with violence, and said the officer and the principal should be fired.
“I’m upset, I’m angry. I’m hurt. More so for my son,” mom Dhakira Talbot told Bay News 9. “My son has never been through anything like this. I feel like this should’ve been handled differently. If any disciplinary action should’ve been taken, it should’ve been with the school. He shouldn’t have been arrested.” The boy told Bay News 9 that he never threatened the teacher.