PHILADELPHIA, PA (PIX11)—
What was the fashion statement that got 16-year-old Samantha Pawlucy kicked out of her sixth period high school geometry class? A pink Romney-Ryan 2012 t-shirt.
"My teacher told me, she said, 'Are you wearing your Romney-Ryan t-shirt?' and I said yes I am. She told me to 'Get out of the classroom' and I said no," Pawlucy said to a PIX 11 News crew on Thursday morning in the shadows of Independence Hall in downtown Philadelphia.
Last friday at Charles Carrol High School, a school named after a well known Democrat but doesn't have an American flag flying anywhere around it, Pawlucy says that her teacher made a racial analogy in the hallway after kicking her out of class.
"The teacher asked me if my parents are republicans and I said I don't know," said the teen who then added that her teacher, who is black, compared the wearing of the shirt to her wearing a KKK shirt.
Samantha told her parents that night. They immediately took it up with the school. A meeting was called and the teacher tried to cover herself, "We got a meeting and then she said she apologized and that I should have known that she was joking around, but then we all got into an argument and then she cried and walked out of the meeting," said Pawlucy. Ultimately the teacher apologized, but said it was a misunderstanding, "She said I'm sorry but you should have known I was just kidding."
The teacher is still at the school but has been reassigned. She no longer teaches Samantha's class.
Since this story blew up on Wednesday afternoon Samantha has been on the radio in Philly, she has been a trending topic on twitter and even featured on Drudge. Nonetheless, the viral impact has also made her into another victim of sorts, "People are writing on facebook that I shouldn't come back to school."
Even the midst of additional intimidation, a lesson has been learned. When asked to clarify, Pawlucy kept it simple but poignant statement from a 16-year-old, "To stand up for myself and do what is right."
