CHRISTIANSBURG, Va. – More than 20 Christiansburg High School students were suspended this week for protesting the school’s ban on the Confederate flag by wearing clothes emblazoned with the divisive symbol.

About two dozen students arrived at school Thursday with clothing featuring the Confederate battle flag after school officials threatened students with suspension or lost parking privileges last month for displaying the image on their vehicles in the parking lot.

“We’re not trying to go into school and raise Cain or anything,” junior Zach Comer told The Washington Post. “We’re doing it to raise a point that the flag is not racist. Everyone else can wear whatever shirts they want but we’re not. We just said ‘It’s time to put a stop to it.’”

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The students held the peaceful demonstration in the school’s parking lot, and 23 were suspended for wearing clothes the violates the school dress code that explicitly prohibits clothes that “reflect adversely on persons due to race” including “clothing with Confederate flag symbols,” according to the site.

School officials told the News Messenger the protest started with 24 students, and three agreed to change their clothes and were not suspended. The rest were issued in-school suspension for refusing, and district officials contend 15 of those students became disruptive and were sent home for “threatening/abusive language.”

Montgomery County Public Schools spokeswoman Brenda Drake told National Public Radio the school banned the Confederate flag in 2002 following several incidents of racial tension surrounding the symbol, though most other high schools in the district don’t have the same policy.

“It was an entire school year of significant racial tension,” Drake said. “I think certainly we value First Amendment rights, but we have to maintain an orderly and safe environment for all students.”

“We’re not issuing a judgement on the flag, but know that not allowing it at CHS supports a peaceful educational environment in the building,” she said.

Comer and his fellow protesters, however, think the school’s reasoning is discriminatory.

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“Live life like you want to live life,” Comer said. “But people are trying to stop me for living mine. I’m just tired of it.”

Dalton Reedy, member of the Sons of the Confederacy, told the Post he wore a Confederate flag t-shirt, belt buckle, bandanna and necklace to school because it represents who he is, and he doesn’t believe school officials should try to change that.

“We said no” to removing the Confederate clothing, Reedy said. “It’s my heritage. I grew up on it. It has nothing to do with racism.”

“Most people look at me like I’m racist. What I really find offensive is we have a black student awareness club but we don’t have a Mexican awareness or Russian or white club,” he said.

Angie Craiger, Reedy’s mother, is proud that her son is “standing up for what he believes in.”

“He’s not one of these people to sit back and complain about it at home and do nothing to make a difference,” she said. “Why are they trying to begrudge him for his beliefs?”

Other parents are on the same page.

“I don’t understand why they’re taking away their rights,” Mark McGhee, whose freshman daughter Hazel was among the suspended, told the News Messenger. “It’s got nothing to do with the Confederate flag. … Specifically, why is it just Christiansburg High Schools? This is not a school board issue. It’s a school staff issue.”

A Change.org petition seeks to force the school district to reconsider its ban on Confederate symbols at Christiansburg, and it had garnered about 1,500 supporters as of Friday.

The suspended students, meanwhile, vowed to return to school today wearing the Confederate flag to continue their protest.

“We definitely got a point through,” Comer told the Post yesterday. “We set out to accomplish something today and we way overachieved it.”