Cumberland teen suspended from school over Confederate flag shirt

HOPE MILLS, North Carolina (WTVD) -- A Cumberland County high school student is suspended for wearing a Confederate flag shirt to school. He's standing by his decision to wear it and claims he will wear it again.

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After only 30 minutes of being on school grounds, Maxwell Taylor was asked to leave. He's a sophomore at Grays Creek High School.

"They only call me out but there's plenty of other people around the school that just don't follow the dress code," Maxwell said. "It's all because I had my shirt on."

It's a shirt he said he's worn at least once a week since school started.

"It says stand for what you believe in," Maxwell said. "Even if it means standing alone."

Those are words Maxwell wholeheartedly stands by, especially now. School officials asked him to take off the shirt. An administrator even gave him the option of wearing a school shirt, but he refused.

"They made me feel like I was unequal from everybody else," Maxwell said. "They made me feel like I was racial when I wasn't."

Maxwell said he believes the flag represents his history. It's a sight he sees every day hanging from the windows of his home. Wearing the shirt to school got him suspended.

"I believe the school is wrong for suspending Maxwell over this shirt because it's not a racial statement," said Maxwell's dad, Joseph Lamadrid. "In fact, he has African-American friends."

Cumberland County Schools released a statement to ABC11, saying "clothing, jewelry, or other accessories depicting alcoholic beverages, controlled substances, Confederate flags or anything obscene or offensive in nature will not be worn. Students violating this policy will be asked to change clothes."