These high school football players were flagged for patriotism.
Simple gestures by the Irvington High School football team to honor fallen 9/11 first responders during a varsity game on Sept. 10 thrust an affluent Westchester suburb and its educrats into a politically-correct frenzy.
Before kicking off their season opener against Cold Spring’s Haldane HS, the Bulldogs paid their respects by slapping American flag stickers to their helmets and running onto the field with two players holding large flags.
One carried Old Glory, while the other player carried an American flag with a blue stripe — the banner associated with the “Blues Lives Matter” movement that supports police. In a video, fans can be heard cheering the Irvington players, who ultimately lost 21-14.
A month later, Irvington Union Free School District superintendent Kristopher Harrison ripped the patriotic play in a letter to the school district.
While the Irvington coaches said they had no intention of “inject[ing] a politicized sentiment into our community,” Harrison wrote in an Oct. 12 letter to district families, the actions “caused concern and harm to some members of our community.”
“Controversial, politicized messages are not representative of the inclusive, welcoming community that we seek to be,” the letter said.
An email later sent by Harrison individually to people who responded to his letter clarified 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 [Va.].”
The lecture was not welcomed by all in a community that lost at least two residents in the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. The Hudson Valley as a whole lost 200 residents that day.
“I find it absolutely ridiculous that anyone would find our American flag and or the Blue line flag to be offensive and make them feel unsafe!” one IHS alum wrote in a private town Facebook group.
The flags sparked a letter from the superintendent decrying the team’s actions.
“Would you all be upset if a Black Lives Matter sign is proudly waved at every game in February?” one commenter retorted.
Parent Tara Fitzpatrick felt the superintendent is “focusing on the wrong thing” and noted the importance of “a healthy discourse of multiple points of view.”
“I think we’re a little trigger happy on being offended and being too sensitive,” Fitzpatrick griped. “Educators need to teach kids individual thoughts and to think for themselves.”
The football team also had American flag stickers affixed to their helmets.
The football players were not disciplined for the unsanctioned tribute, but nonetheless upset over the letter, according to one varsity player’s father, who was with the NYPD for 24 years, including at Ground Zero for three months.
He noted that a similar pre-game 9/11 memorial last year went off without any backlash.
“I don’t know why it became a big deal,” he said.
Harrison did not respond to a request for comment and head coach Jeff Michael declined to comment.
