Consider this:

To advocate for the banning of the keffiyeh is political.

In the context where some people demonize the keffiyeh and push for it to be banned, wearing the keffiyeh is political.

In a context where the decision to wear a keffiyeh is a political, the decision not to wear a keffiyeh is also political.

Everyone in that school is making a political statement with their dress. and everyone on this blog arguing about whether or not the school policy is o.k. is political.

The question is if wearing a keffiyeh is a discriminatory or hateful statement. The boys statements in the article did not imply so. I don’t see how a reasonable person could argue that the keffiyeh is intrinsically a hateful symbol.

For people into the gang analogy, will banning the keffiyehs reduce violence in schools? Videos from half-way across the country are irrelevant. If gangs use blue in LA, should blue be banned in Cleveland? If this the argument for banning keffiyehs, consider the following questions:
Is there a problem of violence in a particular school?
Is there evidence that banning keffiyehs will reduce violence in said school?
If the keffiyeh was banned, how would one measure if this was a successful program?

maybe you and the rest of the world should start reading more.
-c
February 21, 2009 6:36:00 PM PST

Red and blue bandanas have been around for a long time, cowboys wore them, hippies wore them… but when gangs took them as a symbol, red and blue bandanas had to be forbidden in many school districts.

The Swastika has been around for centuries. The design appears on many ancient articles. Hitler chose that symbol for his Nazi party, and now it is a Nazi symbol.

In some of the beheading videos (the worst things I have ever seen) some of the terrorists cover their faces with those keffiyeh rags while they scream “Allahu Akbar” and do the unthinkable.

Terrorist fighters from Afghanistan to Iraq and many other places wear those keffiyeh rags. Mulitudes of pictures exist showing them. It is no secret.

Yes, some non-terrorists wear those rags too. But what is the purpose of wearing something so obviously associated with terrorists in an American school, in a country that was attacked by terrorists and is currently at war with them?

Now the real question is why do you feel the need to defend and encourage the wearing of such a thing, while insinuating insults of peoples intelligence, saying, “maybe you and the rest of the world should start reading more”

Maybe you should examine your motivations, and become more informed yourself.

Watch for yourself how acts the Palestinian government of Gaza.

Arayus, that’s not true. The black keffiyeh is not a cultural symbol. Old Palestinians and secular Arab nationalist/communists will still wear a red keffiyeh. It’s not a cultural issue, it’s political.

This is what I meant by “out of your depth”. You are just not educated about these issues, and you’ve adopted uneducated perspectives. You are obviously not Palestinian, or we wouldn’t be having this convo.

I don’t even know what your trying to say here =P

“It was THE political symbol of the First Intifada, a way to demonstrate support for the boycott of Israeli products in the West Bank, and for Palestinian men to cover their faces during clashes with the IDF, so that they could not be identified.”

No… rather it became synonymous with the first Intifada because the Keffiyeh is an expression of the indigenous Palestinian culture; something the Israeli’s are trying to destroy.

“For you to say it’s just a head covering does not take into account the different colors of kefiyeh.”

Thank you for pointing that out. The Palestinians have a distinct black and white checkered Keffiyeh which represents “THEIR” unique culture that Israel has been unsuccessful in destroying through ethnic cleansing, or by spreading the lie that the Palestinians are just like all the other Arabs and are thus undeserving of living in Palestine.

Once again the Keffiyeh is a part of the Palestinian cultural expression. For you to feel offended by a piece of clothing that goes back hundreds of years is pathetic, rather it is an expression of racism on your part.

For you to say it’s just a head covering does not take into account the different colors of kefiyeh. A black Kefiyeh is a political Palestinian symbol, versus a red Kefiyeh, which is more Jordanian/Iraqi/Gulf and is more in tune with Arab nationalism.

A Keffiyeh is a piece of clothing you wear around your head. Thats all it is. To say its “political symbol” or as David Horowitz calls it “terrorist headgear” is unfounded.

Based on your logic, Yamika wearing settlers who machine gun Palestinian school girls should have their Yamika’s considered to be “offensive political statements” as well, since many people wearing Yamikas have committed disgusting crimes as well.

Well, the rural America statement was perhaps a bit much, but I don’t take back any bad words against the United States military.