Posted on 06/22/2006 10:46:58 AM PDT by UnklGene
High School Valedictorian Refuses to Bow Down; Has Speech Censored
June 21, 2006
Brittany McComb was the valedictorian at Foothill High School recently. She graduated with a 4.7 GPA. She earned the right to address the other graduates at Foothill, located in Henderson, Nevada.
She gave a copy of her graduating speech to the school administrators. It contained some Biblical references and even mentioned (one time) the name Christ. The school administrators censored some of the Biblical references. They also censored the single reference to Christ.
Then the school officials handed the speech over to the ACLU for approval and/or more censoring. After getting the OK from the ACLU, Brittanys speech (minus the censored references to the Bible and Christ) was approved. Brittany was warned that if she deviated from the ACLU approved language, her mike would be cut off.
Then came the moment for the big decision. She would not bow down, she decided. She would go with her original version. She stepped to the mike and began her speech. But just before she could utter the name Christ, her mike went dead. School officials silenced her. The crowd of 400 jeered for several minutes, angry at the action of the school officials. The ACLU was happy. They had silenced another Christian.
I went through four years of school at Foothill and they taught me logic and they taught me freedom of speech. Gods the biggest part of my life. Just like other valedictorians thank their parents, I wanted to thank my lord and savior, Brittany said.
Because she refused to bow down to the ACLUs idol of gold, she did not get her wish. She was censored.
This young heroine deserves praise and a thank you from those who believe in free speech.
The speech isn't about her, or didn't you know that?
You are flogging this girl who you don't even know with personal insults and assigning assumed motives to her choices. It's obnoxious and illogical.
And it could be wrong, I don't know what exactly happened. That's the facts as I am aware of them. If shown otherwise, I'll adapt my position. Fair is fair.
And for the record, reneges means "To fail to carry out a promise or commitment." It doesn't necessarily mean someone lied or was dishonest at all.
> She will never speak as Valedictorian in front of her class and their relatives again.
Hey! Neither will I! Blatant sexism, if you ask me...
It's truly a shame that you were unable to understand what "silenced" means, and how using it as hyperbole damages whatever case was being made.
And the ACLU would have likely defended anyone else in court to say "I'd like to thank the prince of darkness....." calling it freedom of speech.
I agree, and that's the way I try to conduct myself here. So, if you can find a reputable source I can access, I could accept it.
It still wouldn't change my opinion of the 1st Amendment, though. If Congress passes a law that is found to establish religion, then that law is null and void.
In the case of publicly funded schools, the laws involved are federal school funding laws. Those should be declared null and void if it is found that they establish religion.
But that would not remove students' right to speak freely and to freely exercise religion. (That means all students not only Christians.)
IOW, the federal government should (Constitutionally) not be funding public schools at all, or have any control over them in any way, if the 1st Amendment is violated as a result.
Well, IMHO, respect is an earned thing; even respect for certain institutions. I believe that speech is generally is far, far too highly censored these days. Mentioning Christ? this is wrong? Come on, I think there are many here who would even go so far as to say that her right to mention God (Christ) supersedes man's attempt at editing.
This goes way beyond a broken promise.
Apparently not. The ACLU should be glad I wasn't the one giving the speech. I have one of those voices that carries. :)
I missed where in the article it says she agreed to anything.
There was nothing wrong with the speech this girl wanted to give. She wasn't advocating violence or sexual perversion. She was quoting some bible verses and mentioned 'Christ.' The school was totally out of line on this one, particularly in that they involved the ACLU in 'editing' the speech.
Funny, this girl could have given a speech advocating partial birth abortion and the school probably wouldn't have cared. But quote the bible and say the word 'Christ', and they totally freak out.
I consider telling your school's administration "Okay, I'll fix my speech to fit within the guidelines for commencement" and then not doing that and giving the original speech to be a lie.
Where does it say she agreed to anything? She was intimidated into not saying anything back to the school authorities, but that's about it.
When she took the stage, she didn't honor the edits.
Wrong. When she took the stage, she realized she no longer had anything to fear from those who had intimidated her.
she promised to give one speech
Again, show me in the article where she FREELY promised to give the edited speech.
The reality is, the school authorities acted totally outside the boundaries of that which is allowed by law. They should all be fired.
A simple solution ...start a petition drive to recall all the members of the school board and seriously clean house with a new board by starting with termionating the contracts of the top school administrators. The people pay for the schools and school employees work for the people.
On the TODAY show yesterday, she and her parents were on and she said that she had agreed to give the edited speech.
There wasn't really anything offensive in what she wanted to say, AFAIC, but that's not the point.
She gave her word to the administrators, then broke it. And they told her what would happen if she broke it.
But we all know that free speech is only for liberal thoughts and ideas; like inserting a Crucifix in urine.
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