According to a Newsweek report, two teenage brothers of Pacific Island heritage were upset by a school aide wearing one of President Donald Trump’s signature Make America Great Again hats on school grounds.
Jennifer Zapien, who Newsweek reported is from Guam, said her twin 13-year-old boys were offended by the MAGA hat the yard duty aide had worn Tuesday to Anderson Middle School in Anderson, California.
Zapien, whose husband is Hispanic, says the family identifies as Pacific Islanders. She had first complained to the district and then to the media, as well as posting on Facebook about how uneasy she felt about the hat being worn, which her sons believed violated the school’s dress code.
"It's like a Trump rally in a classroom. If a student is not allowed to wear a Confederate shirt to school, (the aide) should not be allowed to wear a MAGA hat to school," Zapien said.
Those observing the hats at heated Trump rallies have often suggested that they are a symbol of racism.
Not surprisingly, conservative commentators such as Fox News host Laura Ingraham, dispute the link between the hats and racism.
The superintendent of the Cascade Union Elementary School District said the aide in question had been on staff for more than three years and did not mean to cause offense.
Meanwhile, Zapien posted an informal poll on her FaceBook page, finding that most supported wearing the hat on First Amendment free speech grounds. One wrote: “There is no issue to ignore, and no apology necessary.” Another: "Unless there’s a policy against wearing hats etc, then there’s absolutely nothing wrong...if that’s their choice."