Parents and community members are rallying behind Cody Pine, who recently stood up for a blind student who was being picked on and assaulted by another student. The school chose to suspend Pine and kick him off the school’s football team due to Pine having punched the blind student’s attacker and the school having a “zero tolerance” policy toward violence.

The community started a petition to have school administrators reconsider their decision:

A petition to get [Pine] reinstated on the team has now been launched online, which stands by the high school student’s actions.

The campaign’s website states: ‘We believe (the teenager) should be back on his football team and back in school where he belongs. While violence is never the best option what Cody did to defend his friend and classmate was justified.

The petition has accrued over 30,000 signatures already.

For more on this, read the post from the Daily Kos titled: “California teen stopped a bully from beating a blind student, ends up getting suspended.”

Richard Eskow is host and managing editor of The Zero Hour, a weekly radio program produced by We Act Radio. He was the senior writer and editor for the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign. Richard has written for a number of print and online publications, was a founding contributor to the Huffington Post, and is a longtime activist. He is also a Senior Fellow with the Campaign for America’s Future.