HARRISBURG, Ill. - The 18-year-old who rose to recognition last week when he refused to turn a t-shirt inside-out in class and was ordered to leave is under fire today.
Trenton Byrd, 18, a Junior at Harrisburg High School, has been the subject of Facebook stalkers who have screencapped and are now asking for wide distribution of what they claim to be "racist" posts/memes on Byrd's page.
The memes being distributed are these as follows:
Naturally, the PeeCee crowd is jumping on this in an attempt to "prove" that the boy is a racist...but does it? We've posted this next one on OUR Facebook page with no racist intent, and with no one claiming we were such:
Byrd himself told us:
People are trying to make us look bad; yesterday there was a rumor we all had weapons or something so we volunteered for police Chief Johnson to search our trucks and cars and nothing was in them. Anyone has their right to speak their mind, I could care less. I stand behind my flag and my supporters do too. We will not stop till we win and that's a fact. Saturday night we are gonna have another rally or get together whatever you prefer to say but people want to talk trash for attention; I am clearly stating facts.
People in this town didn't care about us sporting the flag last year or the years before that so why's it racist now all of a sudden.
When asked what he would say to the people who are saying he's making HIMSELF look bad posting "racial" memes, Byrd said:
I haven't posted one in a long while and I think there was only one ever pointed towards African Americans. It's not that I wanted to be racist; it's just ironic. If someone wants to go dig up the past that's up to them. People change. I will admit I used to not like 'colored people' but I grew out of that a long time ago; my dad influenced me to change. I wasn't an extreme like most but they wasn't my favorite. I have changed since then and have multiple African American friends.
It appears that the evidence of this - the photo below, which was shown on television over the weekend throughout the area - just happens to have been one the TV stations "overlooked" when they ran their coverage of the rally Saturday.
Byrd being joined in his presentation by supporters
Whatever the case, the spin is on to demonize Byrd, and it's gaining steam. All over Facebook today, the trendies have jumped on these memes (a couple of which are quite accurate, all of which carry irony, and one is just in poor [juvenile] taste) and now the whining begins about the school dress code (which was not violated) and how horrid it was that someone "violated" the flagpole.
We'll let you decide. What's your opinion on the whole matter? More mainstream media hype, unperpetuated here and just handed to you straight...or does everybody have their agenda and are trying to push it on each other?