美学生如厕后用国旗擦手被停学

美国弗吉尼亚州一名13岁的中学生因涉嫌在如厕后用国旗擦手而被校方勒令在期末考试期间停学，称其污损公共财产。这名学生对校方的指责表示否认，坚称自己从卫生间出来后在裤子上擦了手，上楼梯时因为没站稳，所以手才会碰到国旗。这名学生的家长则认为学校做出这一处罚是因为他是该校七年级资优课程班里唯一的非裔学生，并表示已委托律师采取法律手段维权。

A 13-year-old Virginia student was suspended from school during finals for allegedly wiping his hands on the American flag after using the bathroom, say reports.

Moses Hinton, a student at Plaza Middle School in Virginia Beach, denies wiping his hands on the stars and stripes, saying "I was coming up the stairs and I lost my balance and I touched the flag," reports WAVY-TV.

Hinton's family believes their son was suspended because he is the only African-American seventh grader in the school's gifted program - despite the school having an African-American principal - and has retained attorney Wayne Scriven to explore possible legal action, reports WTKR-TV.

"You have a bright, gifted, young black male; it seems to be an attempt to pour ice water on his motivation," Scriven told WTKR-TV.

"A teacher observed a student who recently returned from the restroom using the American flag as a hand towel," school spokesperson Eileen Cox told WAVY-TV. She added "the student indicated to the teacher that there were no paper towels in the restroom."

Hinton says he was coming from the bathroom, but that he wiped his hands on his pants because it was out of paper towels.

"It has had an emotional impact on my son's education," Hinton's mother, Victoria, said.

The school said it suspended Hinton for defacing school property in accordance with its code of conduct.

However, no visible damage to the flag was found.

Moses Hinton has had other issues with school staff in the past two years that she viewed as unfair. The family does not want to sue for discrimination, but she wants her son's record cleared.