Student hurt after taking anti-illegal sign to school.

Immigration: Some people are having a problem with the teacher giving out such an assignment but it is actually a great one. It teaches kids they have a civic right to protest what they see as an injustice or crime. Now if she had brought in an abortion rights for all, she would have had no problems.

If she was a minority advocating a Yes we can open border stance and got harassed by white kids, all hell would have broken loose. The professional race groups would be calling for sensitivity training and jailing the attackers under hate crime laws. As of now, only three people got in-school suspension. Big deal.

A teenager who took a sign reading "If you love our nation, stop illegal immigration" to school said she was hurt after being swarmed by angry classmates, and administrators said Tuesday they have suspended three students involved in the scuffle. "It's disappointing that it happened," Athens school district superintendent Fred Hayes said. "It does not surprise me with the political nature of this issue." Melanie Bowers, 13, brought the sign to Athens Middle School on Friday as part of a class project on political activism. Each child was assigned to pick an issue and prepare a poster supporting a position. Hayes said she was showing the sign in the hallway when a group of students tried wresting it away. J.R. Bowers, the girl's father, said Melanie suffered scratch marks along her neck, face and arms. He said she also had a swollen jaw. Bowers said as many as 20 students surrounded his daughter in the hallway, and Hayes said others may have hurled verbal insults. The poster was ultimately destroyed by other students. "She was like a zebra on her arm," Bowers said of the bruises. "She believes they were intentionally trying to hurt her." The three students given in-school suspension are Hispanic, Hayes said. Bowers is white. Although the school has video surveillance, Hayes said the incident occurred in a blind spot out of camera range but no punches were thrown. The Athens Daily Review and Tyler television station KLTV reported the story Monday.