Mother becomes livid after football coach allegedly gives her autistic son a Confederate flag hat

Austen Mornes, a young black autistic man who plays on Lewisville ISD’s Special Olympics flag football team, got home wearing a hat with the Confederate flag on it.

His mother, Amelia, was surprised when she saw him wearing it and asked for the reason. Austen revealed that one of the coaches told him to put it on and show it to his mother.

The young man even asked for the meaning of the flag as he “had no clue,” to what the coach responded “freedom.” Austen believed in his coach’s word, but when he came back home, Amelia told him the racist message behind the flag.

THE INCIDENT

In an interview the family had with CBSDFW, Amelia said that people “went into an uproar” because Austen was wearing that hat just as if it was any normal piece of clothing. She added that not only the person who gave him the hat but also those who didn’t tell Austen the racist message should get punishment.

After the incident, Austen, who had been playing with the team for eight years, said he felt uncomfortable about practicing again. Soon after the incident took place, Lewisville ISD released a statement addressing the situation.

THE SCHOOL’S STATEMENT

“The adult volunteer, who is not an LISD employee, was wearing a cap the former student expressed interest in. The student took the cap home. The volunteer coach contacted the parents to discuss what happened, and believed the situation had been resolved to everyone’s satisfaction,” read the statement.

Amelia is not satisfied as she pointed out that her worst feeling was that the coaches were probably watching him with the hat and “snickering or laughing under their breath.”

ANOTHER NEGATIVE SITUATION WITH THE CONFEDERATE FLAG

It is not the first time that a confederate flag brings a negative outcome as Sergeant Silvia Cotriss, who worked for 20 years at the Roswell Police Department, was fired after flying it in her yard and her neighbors complained about it.

Those neighbors said that they couldn’t trust Silvia’s integrity as a police officer after flying that flag. The woman, however, defended herself saying that she didn’t know the racist and hate-inducing symbolism it represents.

Silvia and her lawyer consider that it was an excuse for the police department to fire her, adding that if someone had asked her to remove the flag, she would have done it.