Dear Taft community,

On Wednesday for 45 minutes the entire school discussed "diversity" and inclusion at Taft. Groups shared a similar view and commonality on flags in main hall.

For those who are new at Taft, believe it or not Taft used to have flags in the main hall. It was amazing. Everyone loved it, until a controversial incident occured which immediately led to all of them being removed. 

But why haven't we done anything to resolve this issue? Is taking each flag down really a solution? 

We believe the flags that made the main hall colorful and vibrant represented each Taft student and their cultural background by displaying a true sense of "diversity". If the administration wants to repeatedly emphasize a diversified and inclusive environment at Taft, then SHOW it instead of making students read the same statement every month which seems to be counter-productive to help make Taft more "diverse". The main halls are now empty, dull, and lonely. The only way to beautify the interior at Taft is to fill the halls with different colored flags representing each Taft student. The school website says "Tafties come from all walks of life, each with a story that fascinates and inspires", so why not show where each of us come from? The conflict surrounding having flags put up because of how a "country" is defined shouldn't hinder the process of putting these flags back up. The entire point is to become more global. We apologize there is no photo that shows what Taft used to look like with the flags, and we hope this petition will show to the administration that students want the flags to be put up. Our goal is to have 400 students (2/3 of the student population at Taft) agree to this. 

Thank you for supporting us,

Sincerely,

Taft Students Who Are Naturally Diverse, Inclusive, and Love Flags.