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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

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Anti-God T-shirt Won’t Make Yearbook

Arlington (Wash.) High School senior Justin Surber has studied the constitutional rights of free speech. Surber, 18, recently took a stand that will keep him from appearing in his club's yearbook photo. Once a week, Surber wears a black T-shirt featuring the 19th-century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's take on religion. In block letters, the shirt reads "GOD IS DEAD." Nobody has told him he can't wear the shirt to school. He wears it to provoke debate, he says, and that's why he wore the shirt the day the debate club photo was taken for the yearbook. Now Surber believes his T-shirt prompted the school's yearbook adviser to ask for a retake of the photo, without the T-shirt. "I feel I am a victim of censorship," Surber said/Gale Fiege, Everett Daily Herald. More here. (AP/The Herald photo of Justin Surber by Dan Bates)

Question: Was Arlington High senior Justin Surber a victim of censorship?

 



D.F. Oliveria
D.F. (Dave) Oliveria joined The Spokesman-Review in 1984. He currently is a columnist and compiles the Huckleberries Online blog and writes about North Idaho in his Huckleberries column.

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