'The new Confederate flag': Teacher slams boy, 13, for Thin Blue Line mask in honor of cop dad
A California substitute teacher was caught on video provoking a verbal altercation over a "Thin Blue Line" face mask the eighth-grader was wearing. The 13-year-old student told that he was wearing the Thin Blue Line mask to honor his police officer father.
The unnamed substitute teacher got into an intense altercation with Lucas Lillar over the mask during a math class. The incident took place on Monday, January 31 at Lyman Gilmore Middle School in Grass Valley, California. Students present in the class recorded a video of the teacher harassing the teen over the face mask.
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According to Lillar, he was attending his math class when the substitute teacher sat at an empty desk behind him and began to harass and provoke an argument over the image on his mask. The teacher is seen in the video shouting at the student that his Thin Blue Line mask that pays homage to law enforcement is "not American”. The teacher compares the flag to the Confederate Flag. At a point, the teacher even said, “That’s not the American flag that’s the new confederacy flag.”
The “Thin Blue Line” flag matches the American flag but has a blue stripe, which is a sign of showing support to law enforcement.
In an interview with the Lillar and his mother Amanda McCallum, the mom talks about how theytalk about how they feel "angry" and "heartbroken" over the incident:
“I was extremely angry and heartbroken, that this…that he had to deal with it,” said Amanda McCallum, Lucas’s mother.
McCallum said that she has talked with the school administrators when she learned about the incident and has been assured by Lyman Gilmore’s Principal that the substitute teacher will not be able to teach at the school in the future.
“I never had someone talk to me like that, yell at me in my face, especially a teacher,” said Lillar.
Lucas Lillar, father, and his stepmother are members of law enforcement and he wears the mask to show support for his family.
When asked about what it is like in a family of law enforcement members, he said, “It just makes me feel worried.” Lillar feels "worried" that his father could be shot during a routine traffic stop.
The incident is currently under investigation, and The California Education Code §44953 has allowed for immediate dismissal of a substitute teacher.
