Flag flak

Chico High School officials contend there was an essential element missing from the CN&R’s coverage of a Jan. 26 series of events, which began with a racially charged midday confrontation between students and neighbors and led to the late-night planting of a Confederate flag on the lawn of a multiracial Chico family (see “Hijinks or Hate?” Newslines, Feb. 12).

Since the story’s publication, CHS Principal Jim Hanlon and a parent of one of the students involved have provided more details of an assault that happened shortly after the initial confrontation between neighbor Kelly Butler-McGriff and a group of teenagers flying a Confederate flag attached to a vehicle.

In an interview Monday (Feb. 23), Hanlon said police and a campus supervisor arrived on the scene during the initial confrontation—during which Butler-McGriff contends one of the students directed a racial slur at her and her 3-year-old daughter—and determined that no crime had been committed. Shortly afterward, Hanlon said—and Chico Police confirmed—two of the students were assaulted by two black adults, with one of the teenagers beaten so badly he was hospitalized with a concussion.

“I don’t defend in any way the students driving around the streets of Chico with a Confederate flag sticking out of their truck,” Hanlon said. “You’re going to offend people, and you’re asking for trouble. But in the end, some students were assaulted because of it, and I don’t condone that either. I think there were mistakes made by more than a few people.”

Hanlon said there are other parts of Butler-McGriff’s narrative that don’t fit with the testimony of a half-dozen students and one adult witness school officials have interviewed as part of an ongoing investigation, including where the argument began and who instigated the confrontation.

In follow-up interviews, Butler-McGriff and other members of the family stood by their description of the incident. They expressed compassion for the assault victims, but said they are in no way involved. Furthermore, Butler-McGriff said the insinuation that her family was involved in the assault is an attempt to “blame the victim” and divert attention from their situation. What Butler-McGriff said that situation boils down to, and a fact nobody is disputing, is that a Confederate flag was planted in her front yard hours after the confrontation and assault.

“Due to the circumstances of the assault and the flag-planting, we believe the events are clearly related, and they are both parts of an ongoing investigation,” CPD Capt. Michael O’Brien said Monday, adding that there are no suspects yet in either crime. O’Brien also said the flag-planting may qualify as a hate crime.

“There’s a section of the law that reads if you deface or damage property with the intent to intimidate, then it could be a hate crime,” O’Brien said. “Defacing and damaging property is generally a misdemeanor, but it could be elevated to a felony charge if shown it was done as an attempt to intimidate.”

Hanlon said he’s focused on moving past the incident. For starters, the boys involved will no longer fly the Stars and Bars during school hours, and must park on campus: “We met, handled that internally, and the parents and students agreed to that.”

Additionally, Hanlon said he’s encouraged staff to use the incident as a teaching opportunity: “I’ve asked teachers to talk with students about confusing the right to do something with whether or not it’s the right thing to do,” he said, noting some speech classes have been debating what constitutes free speech and offensive behavior.

“We don’t want to just react,” he said, “we want to be proactive, to have these conversations so students will consider them before conflict even happens.”

The principal characterized Chico High as a diverse campus that hasn’t experienced many racial issues during his 12-year tenure. He offered as evidence annual student surveys he said “overwhelmingly” demonstrate that students feel safe on campus.

Regarding the rebel flag flap specifically, Hanlon said, “Even if there’s one or two or three people here that are willing to do this, whether it’s purposeful or out of ignorance, we need to have these conversations and educate our kids so they understand how their actions affect other people.”

At least one other educator outside of the CHS campus has used the situation as a launching point for student discussion. Steve Hitchko, a history teacher at Children’s Community Charter School in Paradise, shared the McGriffs’ story with his junior high students, who wrote dozens of emails offering their support to the family.

“I was amazed at how they took to it and wanted to help,” Hitchko said by phone. “I didn’t need to prompt them at all, we just read the story together and they ran with it.”

The McGriffs also found an early ally in Chico State political science professor Michael Coyle, who said he remains stalwart in his support of the family despite there being a “questionably related” assault.

“I’m not justifying an assault by anyone, and don’t believe violence has any place in this situation,” he said. “I’m inclined to take Mrs. McGriff’s word that her family is not involved, and the fact an assault happened in no way implies connection to the McGriff family.

“There could be a thousand reasons why that interaction took place between two students and two African-American men,” Coyle continued. “I imagine anyone driving around with a humongous Confederate flag on their car would gather the ire of many non-white people, and plenty of white people as well.”

Coyle has helped the McGriffs arrange a public forum to meet supporters, give them an opportunity to share their story, answer questions and devise strategies to help deal with future issues. The meeting is scheduled for tonight (Thursday, Feb. 26) at 6:30 p.m. in room 102 of Chico State’s Plumas Hall.

“We need to stay focused on this entirely unacceptable act of racism in a town that is not free from consistently displaying such activity,” said Coyle. “Just look at the story ‘Growing up black in Chico’ [CN&R Cover Story, June 17, 2010], the stabbing of the Associated Students president [Joseph Igbineweka] a few years ago, and the mysterious murder and burning of sociology student Marc Thompson just months ago.

“We are a community that’s typical of America, which has deep-rooted, horrible racism problems. The only way to address them is to face them head on and not get distracted by new conversations and victim-blaming.”

Belda Newson, Butler-McGriff’s mother-in-law and the matriarch of the McGriff family, offered what may have been the best summation of the entire incident: “I can’t believe this is all happening in the year 2015!” she said. “I feel sorry for those children who got hurt because they didn’t need a beating, they needed some education.

“They’re welcome to sit on our porch anytime and talk it out. We’re not hate-mongering fools, and we wouldn’t wish hurt on anybody’s child.”