Judge rules for boys' protest button
A U.S. federal judge ruled two New Jersey boys may wear a button depicting Hitler Youth as a protest against school uniforms.
U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway Jr. ruled Thursday the boys' button didn't “substantially disrupt the work and discipline of the school,” The New York Times reported Friday.
Michael DePinto, 11, said he never meant to offend anyone when he and a friend, Anthony LaRocco, wore their homemade buttons last year to make a point about conformity at Public School 14 in Bayonne, N.J., The New York Times reported Friday.
“It’s like forcing a swastika on someone,” DePinto said of his school uniform. “It’s what Hitler did to his youth.”
Greenaway based his decision in part on a 1969 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that let students in Des Moines wear black armbands in protest of the Vietnam War. He said he would have ruled differently if the boys' button had been "plainly offensive" in depicting swastikas, a Confederate flag or a burning cross, the Times report said.
Bayonne school officials told the Times they were disappointed with the ruling and planned to review their options. // Copyright 2007 by United Press International
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