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Profanity has no place in schools, and school districts have a right to prohibit clothes or other materials bearing profane words from school classrooms and hallways.
But banning a shirt that hints toward profanity but isn't itself profane? We think that goes too far.
According to the Detroit Free Press, two students in West Michigan's Tri County Area Schools are suing their school after their principal told them to remove their sweatshirts bearing the viral phrase "Let's go, Brandon." The principal told one of the students the sweatshirt was "equivalent to the F-word," the Free Press reported.
The phrase comes from an October 2021 NASCAR race in which the crowd started chanting a curse against President Joe Biden while a reporter interviewed race winner Brandon Brown. Trying to handle the on-air curse, the TV interviewer said the crowd chanted "Let's go, Brandon." Since then, the phrase has gone viral as a code to curse Biden, appearing on clothing, flags, bumper stickers, and more.
So the phrase hints at a curse, but doesn't itself include a curse word.
Unless school officials can prove the students wearing the sweatshirt caused a disruption in class or a distraction to other students, students should be allowed to wear the slogan as First Amendment-protected free speech.
Regardless of how you feel about Joe Biden or his political opponents, schools shouldn't get to pick and choose which political slogans students can wear to school. They should have the right to express their support for particular candidates or their distaste for the sitting president. Young political activism is a good thing, and we shouldn't stifle that.
The First Amendment has its limits. The students' right to wear political clothing ends when it affects the rights of their classmates to be able to focus on learning. So, by all means, if the shirts become a distraction or cause in-class disruptions, tell the kids to take them off.
And true profanity should be banned by school dress codes.
But political speech should be protected.