Two Hickman High School students disrupted a multicultural assembly yesterday in the school’s auditorium by unfurling a Confederate flag from the balcony.

Ryan Lanman, 17, who is white, and a friend enacted their plan while another student was singing "The Yellow Rose of Texas" to commemorate the Spanish-American War and honor Texas.

After the disruption, the students involved were told to leave, and the assembly continued, Principal Mike Jeffers said, adding that he couldn’t talk about whether the students would be disciplined.

Lanman, reached by phone after the assembly yesterday afternoon, said he and fellow student Kevin Meyers meant to "show Southern pride" and didn’t intend the flag to be racist.

"Me and Kevin, we don’t believe in slavery or anything else that goes along with the symbol," Lanman said.

The assembly included celebrations of Irish, Spanish, Bosnian, Indian, Middle Eastern, black, American, Japanese and Chinese cultures, among others, Jeffers said.

Lanman said he and his friend waited until "The Yellow Rose of Texas" to unfurl the flag out of respect for the other cultures being celebrated at the assembly.

Jeffers said he questions Lanman’s argument that his actions were about cultural support for the South.

"Ryan’s interpretation of things well, there’s information I can’t share with you," Jeffers said. "Ryan is not telling you the whole story."

Collin Kemble, 16, who is white, said he is sure the unfurling of the flag was intended as a racist action. He and a group of football players sitting outside Hickman yesterday discussed what Lanman and his friend did.

None of the students said he believes there will be any retaliation against Lanman or anyone else.

"No, there ain’t going to be no riot," Vaughan said.

One thing that bothered those in the group was something they saw as a double standard. "Students wear Confederate stuff all the time," said Michael Tufts, 16, a sophomore. The school "doesn’t do anything about it."

"If I came to school in a ‘I hate crackers’ T-shirt, I’d be sent home," said Xavier Bagby, 16, who is black.

Jeffers said Confederate flag clothes are not prohibited unless they cause disruptions, adding that Lanman’s use of the flag did cause a disruption.

"It’s one thing to wear something and another to stand up in a multicultural assembly with a Confederate flag," Jeffers said. "You don’t have the right to run into a movie theater and yell, ‘Fire,’ and you don’t have the right to do something disruptive in school."

Jeffers said school officials planned to meet with students’ parents today or Monday.

"I think if you see kids this age who are racist, you have to look at their parents," said Evan Conrad, 14, a white student at West Junior High School. "They’re not going to just develop racism. They learn it from somewhere."

Tom Lanman, Ryan Lanman’s father, said he disagrees with his son’s behavior and actions.

"However, a lot of students have grumbled about how the multicultural assemblies don’t represent" the Southern point of view, said Tom Lanman, adding that nobody in his family is a racist. "Ryan is a student that steps up to the plate and makes a statement. He’s a leader in that sense."

SECOND THOUGHTS:  Saturday, February 4, 2006

A story yesterday about a Confederate flag at a Hickman High School assembly should have said Quinton Vaughan, 15, who is black, said, "No, there ain’t going to be no riot." The story also should have said the incident occurred during recognition of the Mexican War.