Katie Sierra Suspension Controversy - Background and Suspension

Background and Suspension

Katie Sierra was born in Panama into a military family; her father served in the U.S. Army and was later a contractor employee of the military, in which two of her uncles also served. During Sierra's childhood, her family moved around frequently; prior to attending Sissonville High School in Pocatalico, West Virginia (a community near Charleston), she had attended eleven schools and lived in Panama, New Mexico, Ohio and Kentucky.

Sierra identified as an anarchist-pacifist opposed to all violence and advocating "a peaceful revolution". In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks, she was taken aback by the wave of "flag-waving", increasing patriotism and "blind, unthinking" advocacy of war on the part of her fellow students, who she believed ignored existing problems such as racism and homophobia. Although described as a "good student with no history of behavioral problems", she soon became embroiled in a controversy at the Charleston-area high school. On October 23, 2001 Sierra asked the school's principal, Forrest Mann, if she could start an anarchist club at the school, after reading about the subject on Infoshop.org. Among the possible club activities she mentioned were reading and discussion groups and community service, while flyers for the club also proposed starting a zine (called the Anny) and a chapter of Food Not Bombs. The club's manifesto declared "his anarchist club will not tolerate hate or violence…It is our final goal to dispel myths about anarchism, especially the belief that anarchy is chaos and destruction". Without reading Sierra's literature, Mann refused to grant permission for such a club in the school, and according to Sierra had to ask her several times to return to class when he would not explain his decision.

To my students…the concept of anarchy is something that is evil and bad. —Headmaster Forrest Mann, quoted in The Guardian

Sierra attended class wearing T-shirts with handwritten political slogans, a practice she claimed to have adopted long before the September 11, 2001 attacks: among the messages written on the T-shirts were "Against Bush, Against Bin Laden" and "When I saw the dead and dying Afghani children on TV, I felt a newly recovered sense of national security. God bless America." Classmates of Sierra informed reporters of their intention to give her a taste of "West Virginia justice". After reading the back of Sierra's T-shirt, fellow student and aspirant U.S. Marine Jacob Reed allegedly told her, "If you don't like this country, then fucking leave", and was subsequently detained. The day of the incident, Mann summoned Sierra to his office and told her she would no longer be allowed to wear the shirts, and claimed that Sierra had violated his prior orders by making flyers for the club available to other students. Mann suspended her for three days, on the charge of disrupting the education of her fellow students.