He had been raised to stand up for what he believes in and stand strong, so when Cameron Blasek drove to school with his rejected American flag still flying on his truck, he parked in the school lot and walked to class not knowing what to expect.
The 17-year-old high school senior from St. Leon, Indiana, and his friend had flown their truck-mounted American flags since the summer—flags like those his dad and uncles had flown on their trucks way back when. As fall arrived, his friend had stopped flying his, but Cameron continued.
It’s unlikely that people at East Central High didn’t spot the flag when school started, he told the Epoch Times. His truck was among the largest in the lot and his Star Spangled Banner flew in proud and open display for students and staff to see.
“Ever since I was little, we’ve always had a flag in my front yard,” Cameron said, adding that old photos and videos of his dad’s and uncles’ flags inspired him. “I’ve had family that’s been in the military. I did it as a respect thing.”
For months, all seemed right with the school and his truck-mounted flag. First semester came and went without incident, and then second semester began. Just before the students got out for spring break, though, on March 7, something changed.
“I got pulled aside at lunch, and my vice principal and a counselor told me, ‘Hey, you got to take the flag down off the back of your truck,’” Cameron told the newspaper. “I didn’t really understand why; they wouldn’t give me a straight reason.
“They had told me that it was coming from the principal. And he’s like, ‘Well, if you don’t take it down, I’m writing you for insubordination.’”
The confrontation stirred a conflict in Cameron’s mind: On one hand, he had stood firmly and asserted his right to fly the flag—going so far as reading the school’s own flag codebook to the vice principal and counselor. On the other hand, he had to graduate; a possible expulsion could really hamstring his career plans.
“I was caught off guard, I was shocked too, I was scared,” Cameron said.
“This is my last year of high school,“ he said. ”You need a diploma to do almost anything nowadays. So, I felt a little bit threatened to be told that I was going to be written up for insubordination and that I could be possibly expelled or suspended for this.”
How did he respond? He thought about it and talked with his parents. He was in accordance with the rules, he said; the flag was mounted legally according to code.
And the Blaseks fully supported their son’s choice to drive to school the next day, American flag still flying proudly in the bed.
“Ever since I was little, I was raised and grew up to always stand for what you believe in,” he said, “and don’t back down.”
The imminent call to the principal’s office came, and Cameron marched in and read the codebook aloud to the principal as he had for the vice principal and counselor the previous day.
“They didn’t really have anything to hold against me,” Cameron told the newspaper.
“After careful consideration and in recognition of the importance of the U.S. flag as a symbol of unity and national identity, I am pleased to inform you that we are allowing the display of the U.S. flag in the East Central High School parking lot.”
Cameron doesn’t know why it came to that. The only explanation he got was the flag “can be seen as offensive to other students,” he said, and that “if I flew that flag, others could fly more offensive flags.”
As for why they found the flag offensive, he said he has “no clue” but is “glad” his rights were vindicated.
“I feel good,” he told the newspaper. “All I wanted from the beginning was just to be able to fly the flag on the back of my truck, and I’m glad I’m going to be able to do that now.”
The senior student—a self-described history buff and participant in the school’s welding program—is currently looking into different branches of the military as career options after graduation.
