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(Valentino Jimenez Screenshot 3TV)

Four Arizona teenagers were arrested at school because one of them refused to take off a blue bandana.

According to AZ Central, the school says that the bandana violated school dress code, although that same code they’re trying to reference doesn’t specifically mention bandanas. Some students are now calling the incident racially motivated…because why else would a student of color be arrested over an item of clothing?

Students posted video of the altercation on social media that shows the teen, Valentino Jimenez,  walking away from an Apache Junction police officer who demands that he remove the blue bandana he is wearing.

As a crowd begins to form, the officer addresses students and insists, “It has nothing to do with the color of his skin. It’s not me harassing him. All he’s doing is wearing a bandana, which you’re not allowed to do on campus, OK? Don’t wear a bandana, that’s it.”

Jimenez, a senior at Apache Junction High School, said that he wears a bandana almost every day and has never had a problem.

“The officer came up to me and wanted to have a talk with me, he asked me about the bandana and I said, ‘what’s wrong with it?’ He said, ‘the color.’ I said, ‘what do you mean? That kid’s wearing a bandana.’ He says, ‘that’s the American flag.’ I said, ‘what’s the difference?’ She told me we can’t wear bandannas at all,” Jimenez explained to AZ Family. 

Three students  were arrested on suspicion of disrupting an educational institution, disorderly conduct and drug paraphernalia, reports AZ Family. All four students are expected to be referred to the Pinal County Juvenile Court system.

Jimenez admits that he could have avoided this situation by obeying orders, but decided instead to stand up for himself.

“I could’ve took off the bandana, I really could’ve. But at the end of the day, they tried to tell me I couldn’t be me, knowing damn well I wear that bandana all the time,” he told AZ Family. “It was kind of humiliating if you think about it, in front of everybody, me getting arrested and they try to make it look like I did something so bad, you know?”

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High School Student Arrested For Refusing To Take Off Bandana  was originally published on blackamericaweb.com