Get your high school band evolution T-shirts!
Administrators at Smith-Cotton High School banned members of the school’s marching band from wearing the T-shirt pictured above after a few parents complained about its nod to the iconography showing man evolving from primates. The image fit the band’s theme for the year, “Brass Evolutions,” and each figure on the chart holds a brass instrument.
The parent making the most noise: Sherry Melby, a teacher at Smith-Cotton and the mother of a band member.
“I was disappointed with the image on the shirt,” Melby told the Sedalia Democrat. “I don’t think evolution should be associated with our school.”
The shirts were made by Main Street Logo in Sedalia, Missouri, and they’re really, really popular.
“We’re just getting too many requests,” says Jack Lewis, who co-owns Main Street with Mike Ingram. “We’re getting them from foreign countries, about all the states.”
Lewis says Main Street isn’t taking sides. But it is taking orders for the shirts.
“We own the artwork, so we can do whatever we want,” Lewis says. But he’s also cautious. “We want to be friendly [to the school], and we don’t want to create any problems for the school.”
Nobody ever considered making a political statement about evolution
when the idea for the shirts was conceived, Lewis says.
“It was a just
a play on words. Who knew this was going to blow up like this?”
If you’re interested in getting one of the shirts, e-mail Main Street at mainstreet@sedaliamissouri.com. It’s also on Facebook.
