Michigan school forces student to cover up suicide prevention T-shirt

A student at one Michigan high school said that she was told that she would have to take off her T-shirt or cover up its suicide prevention message.


Kelly Miller explained to WJBK this week that she started making the T-shirts after her son, Noah, took his own life in 2012.

The front of the shirt reads "Noah's Angels," and the back of the shirt has a message about suicide awareness.

"Suicide is NOT Selfish, Cowardly, The easy way out," the shirt says. "Be part of raising awareness and get rid of the stigma!"

A friend of Noah's, who is a sophomore at Belleville High School, said that the school informed her that she could remove the shirt or cover up the words on the back with tape.

"Here I have someone telling me I can't express and educate people with this one simple shirt," Miller observed.

She said that that school officials have refused to give her a straight answer about why the shirt had been censored at Belleville. One school board member would only point to the school's policy regarding "unacceptable attire."

But the school has yet to provide Miller with a copy of the policy.

"If it does stop one person, just one person, I've done probably what Noah would want me to do," she said.

Watch the video below from WJBK, broadcast March 12, 2013.