School apologizes after telling student to cover up anti-discrimination shirt

A middle school in North Carolina has apologized to a seventh-grader and her parents after telling the student to cover up a T-shirt that condemns prejudicial behavior.

Katie Smith posted about the incident involving her daughter Emery on Facebook, saying that Emery wore the shirt earlier this month after earning a “dress-down” day for her academic achievements.

The shirt in question reads: “Why be racist, sexist, homophobic or transphobic when you could just be quiet?” 

{mosads}The school released a statement saying that after “further review” they found the shirt did not violate any dress code policies, Raleigh-area television station ABC11 News reported Thursday. 

“Students are at the heart of everything we do,” said public affairs officer Jade Fulce. “After further review of our dress code policies, we realized that the shirt did not violate our policies. The school reached out to the parents and apologized that same day.”

Katie Smith wrote that her husband received a call from the school saying that some of Emery’s teachers found the shirt “offensive.” She said that she met with the assistant principal, who told her he personally did not.

“I told him that we were really proud of Emery because chances are there is a kid in that school that identifies with each of those marginalized categories and she will be the one that has their backs even when those teachers and [administrators] don’t,” Smith wrote.

A similar shirt was worn by singer Frank Ocean at a music festival in 2017.