04:43 PM CST on Wednesday, January 11, 2006

By JIM DOUGLAS / WFAA-TV

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The banned purses are now covered with a word of protest.

BURLESON — A battle over two rebel flag purses banned from Burleson High School has led to new protests and hurt feelings.

Aubrie McAllum and Ashley Thomas said they carried the stars and bars on their handbags to show Southern heritage—not racism.

Last week, school officials told the teens it is inappropriate to wear the Confederate flag in school, so they left.

The girls are back after draping their purses in black with the word CENSORED in bold white lettering.

"All my friends are like, 'We know what's under that,'" Ashley said.

But the small minority of African-American students at the school said they have new reasons to be alarmed.

Someone distributed hundreds of flyers at BHS with the headline, "The Confederate Flag and a History Lesson."

The flyer compares the Confederate flag with the British Union Jack—both of which, it says, have symbolic links to racist policies of the past.

"But we're still allowed to wear the Union Jack, right?" the flyer says.

Black student Keandria Nichols said she doesn't like what's happening. "They're putting them on their binders—everybody," she said. "They're just passing them out to everybody."

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Dorian McCoy and Keandria Nichols said they're upset by the flyers.

Keandria said the flyers have increased racial tension at Burleson High "a lot." Dorian McCoy, another black student, agrees.

Both are friends of Ashley Thomas. "Was she racist by having it? Personally, I don't think so," Dorian said.

But Dorian and Keandria—who are among about a dozen African-Americans among the 2,200 students at Burleson High—said they wish Ashley and Aubrie had never brought their flag purses to school.

That's why Burleson ISD officials maintain they have the discretion to ban any clothing or accessories that could be potentially offensive or disruptive. School officials in Dallas, Fort Worth and Arlington said they have similar policies.

But there is some support in Burleson for the girls' right to carry the rebel flag purses to school as a free speech issue that could eventually wind up in court.

E-mail jdouglas@wfaa.com