Posted on 11/18/2008 2:01:20 PM PST by pissant
When second- and third-graders chanted “Assassinate Obama” on a Madison School District bus recently, district spokeswoman Janet Goodliffe explained that most of the children didn’t understand what the words mean. According to The Associated Press, she attributed the chant to the community’s being “highly conservative” and overwhelmingly for John McCain.
I admire Janet Goodliffe as a preschool education leader. But as a teacher, she offered tortured excuses instead of capitalizing on a great teaching opportunity.
This is not an isolated incident. As a former teacher and Idaho Falls school volunteer, Luella Hendrickson, wrote on this page Thursday, after the election, children in her daughter’s elementary class condemned Obama for being a Muslim, not being a U.S. citizen, selling out to the Arabs, taking away our guns, etc.
Anyone with ears to hear know these children were parroting their parents. Children get the drift from home: The new president is radical, dangerous and not to be trusted.
How terribly sad.
Elsewhere, Obama’s election loosened a joy and celebration unknown for decades, including unprecedented acclaim from abroad. It was the greatest imaginable affirmation of America’s capacity to renew itself. It could only have happened in the U.S.A. Whether you voted for him or not, you could be proud of your country in this hour.
Predisposed by their parents, many Idaho children will miss the marvelous message that, with character and ability, anyone can succeed here. They may go on muttering, complaining and passing on adult myths instead of joining in the renewal we so badly need.
Goodliffe did say School Superintendent Geoffrey Thomas, another admirable educator, had reminded district employees that words like “assassinate” are taken seriously by law enforcement and stressed tolerance of different political viewpoints.
All well and good but he, too, misses what’s been going on.
Rumors about Obama’s religion and loyalty—which have persisted for a year in the face of contrary evidence—are not “political views” to be “tolerated.” They are lies. They should be denounced explicitly. They should be used to teach not mere tolerance but the difference between truth and falsehood.
Chanting “Assassinate Obama” is not some kids’ cutup but signals a serious underlying malady.
Lies, innuendos and slurs have become commonplace in close Idaho elections in the form of ugly last minute “robo calls” and leaflets. Yet the next day they’re dismissed by most Idahoans with a wink and a sigh, as if politics is a realm divorced from honesty and accountability. All’s fair if it’s done by my side.
That’s what kids are learning and from this comes the chant.
But forget politics and consider their education alone.
We live in a world so interconnected our food is harvested mostly by black and brown hands, without which we’d starve. When today’s elementary children reach 40, the majority of Americans will be people of color. Will our children understand this new world?
Ignorance and prejudice cripple education, stunt economies and corrode culture. Success comes not just to the nimble of mind but to the open of heart.
People who professed to be Christian have been maligning an honorable man continually. Were Christ to return, how would he judge liars and rumormongers? Are we not one people of God, striving for justice, mercy and truth?
A principled, intelligent, and deserving man is our new president. John McCain said it best: In a time of terrible challenge, let us unite and move forward together.
Adults may wallow in resentment and delusion if they wish but not, I pray, the children. From altars and pulpits, from classrooms and dinner tables, let children learn that the days of racial hatred are passing and that truth is sacrosanct. Grab those words from the school bus and teach our children well: Never again.
Jerry Brady is president of the Post Co. and co-chairman of Idaho for Obama. This column appeared first on Nov. 16. Reprinted with permission from the Post Co.
Close enough for a government contract.
Yes, it is terribly sad. But, we're stuck with him for 4 years.
Rumors about Obama’s religion and loyalty—which have persisted for a year in the face of contrary evidence—are not “political views” to be “tolerated.” They are lies.
Seems the author was channeling a “baddie” from a Harry Potter novel.
You hope. The Russians got stuck with FDR's favourite Uncle Joe for 25 years, and the Cubans have been stuck with Obambi's favourite revolutionary for nearly 50 years.
At the moment I am going to assume (yeah, I know the danger there) that we will get to have a real election in 4 years...
This is just so damn sad. Obama, like it or not, is gonna be the Prez for the next four years. Why are they turning him into some scarey, horrible Boogey-man, for their kids no less?
We will get a election in 4 years. In a changed country. You can bet on that.
Now the adults are seeking to find some sort meaning in the rants of a rabble of Halflings some of which can’t even tie their shoes. Good Grief
Well, we have elected a Kenyan, an Indonesian, a Muslim, a Goddamn America black liberationist, an admirer of Chavez and Castro, so what do you want, to stuck our heads in the sand? “La, La, La, I can’t hear you” for the next 4, 8 years?
the children didn’t understand what the words mean
LOL - the Children are smarter than Janet Goodliffe.
ACORN is probably already working on the states that McCain carried.
Wait three years and see what side of their faces the smirk is on then for most of the fooks that voted for him.
I pray every day for Obama’s safety. Although, I wouldn’t mind another holiday.
Seriously, Kennedy was a womanizing, drug addicted liberal but for years you wouldn’t dare say that out loud. Can you imagine what it would be like if something happened to the second black President?
No, IT was the 'greatest imaginable affirmation' of America’s capacity to commit hari kari because of white guilt, political correctness, general stupidity, and a whole lot of 'help' from the MSM.
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Funny, we remember a lot of similar things being said about George Bush and Republicans generally. Did this guy protest?
“let children learn that the days of racial hatred are passing and that truth is sacrosanct.”
Maybe they could learn it by attending the same church Obama’s family attended for 20 years, where — listening to the sermons of his avowed mentor, reverend Wright — Obama, his wife, and his CHILDREN, imbibed the racist and genocidal teachings of ‘black liberation theology.’
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1990117/posts
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