The Peace Shirt Controversy

The Peace Shirt Coalition members: (back row from left) Michael Varde, Connor Barth, Cheyenne Riley, Lauren Runde, Kirra Scudder, (bottom from left) Siobhan Keenan and Skylar Stains. Photo: Meagan Happel/The Verge

Skylar Stains, a sophomore at the Cocoa Beach Junior / Senior High School recruited friends to wear homemade shirts emblazoned with the peace symbol and words. Little did she know that the "Peace Shirt Coalition" soon sparked a fierce controversy:

It all started when sophomore Skylar Stains decided to have Peace Shirt Thursdays. Skylar and her friend, Lauren Lorraine, started wearing peace shirts and soon recruited more friends to wear them. Now, the "Peace Shirt Coalition" as they call themselves, has close to 30 students from all grades.
"We've worn handmade peace shirts every Thursday since the first week of school, without fail," Skylar said. [...]
Soon, a second group started to wear Confederate flag shirts to oppose the peace group, Skylar said. She saw shirts with sayings such as "This is America, get used to it," and "If peace is the answer; it must be a stupid question."
"Now there are even 'support our troops' kids who don't like us because I guess they think you can't say peace and support the troops at the same time," Lauren said.

Here's an article, written by Meagan Happel, a senior at the school: http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007311210003

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i know every single one of the people in that picture...... they are not aginst america they are aginst violence...aginst hate.... i also know every one of those kids that wear the confederate flag shirts.... they think its cool to say that they are for america.... when in fact the south was aginst everything america stands for.... like i said i know them all i joined the army at the age of 17 because of people like that..... for every one of those hate mongering fucks that are all talk and dont join the army.... there has to be one of the people who used to be just like them till they decided to stop wallowing in their own ignorence and steps up to raise his hand to defend what we already have...... do i like war??? not at all... i know quite a few people who have died in iraq and afghanistan.... will i sit at home and yell at kids who dont want us there because they know people are dying.... absolutely not... im glad to go for them so they can continue to have the right to try and stop others who arnt prepared to go from goin.... anyone who says they are for the war will not join the army... they have no idea what it is like to see one of the people that trusts you with their life die.... not more than 10 feet from them... they will never know because they will continue to watch the news then go to school and yell at the other kids for wearing shirts that stand for peace because they are "hippies"... for those ignorant few... say what you want aginst peace... when the draft starts back up ill see you down range.....