A Texas mom is demanding answers from a high school after her 21-year-old autistic son came home wearing a Confederate flag cap.
Amelia Mornes-Njoka says her son, Austen, played with the Special Olympics flag football team at Lewisville High School. But when he came home earlier this month wearing a Confederate flag hat, she had to rethink her trust of the district, per yahoo.com.
“You trust these people with your kid who has a disability,” Amelia, told CBS. “You know and as far as I knew, I knew them well enough for my son to be around them without my supervision.
Mornes said the coach told him to put on the hat and show it to his mother. When he asked what the flag meant, coach reportedly replied: “I don’t have no clue. Freedom.”
“He told me, like, put it on, keep it on, show it to your mom and stuff,” Mornes told CBS-DFW. “I said, ‘What does the flag stand for?’ I said, ‘I don’t have no clue,’ and he says, ‘Freedom.’”
His mother wants to know why three white coaches thought it was appropriate to give this hat to her son and mislead him about its meaning.
“My worst feeling was they were sitting there watching him and probably snickering or laughing under their breath,” she told the station.
In a statement released by Lewisville ISD, the district said the coach was a volunteer and that Mornes “expressed interest” in the cap and took it home.
The Lewisville Independent School District reportedly acknowledged to CBS-DFW that the coach was wrong in giving the hat to the student.
“The adult volunteer, who is not an LISD employee, was wearing a cap the former student expressed interest in,” LISD said in a statement. “The student took the cap home. The volunteer coach contacted the parents to discuss what happened, and believed the situation had been resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.”
Mornes said going back to play on the team is “no good,” and his mother agrees.
