Posted on 11/22/2013 12:03:51 PM PST by rarestia
Some parents in Dupo, Ill. are not happy that a biography of President Barack Obama is required reading for fourth-graders. They say the book contains a host of controversial elements, not least of which is that it casts white Americans who disagree with Obama’s politics as racist.
Fourth-grade students at Bluffview Elementary School were instructed that they would be tested and graded on the book’s contents, reports EAGnews.org.
The book, called simply “Barack Obama,” is published by Lerner Publications. The author, Jane Sutcliffe, appears to specialize in these kinds of biographies. She has written similar titles about Jesse Owens, Ronald Reagan, Sacagawea and Milton Hershey.
The kerfuffle about the book originally bubbled up through a Facebook page called Moms Against Duncan (MAD). The group actively opposes implementation of the Common Core curriculum.
EAGNews notes that the Obama book is part of Scholastic’s “Reading Counts” program and an acceptable title under the Common Core State Standards Initiative, which attempts to standardize various K-12 curricula around the country.
You can view a sample of the bio on Google Books.
The book continually identifies Obama on a first-name basis. It bizarrely blames the evils of television for learning ways “to be black” that are hilariously caricatured, stereotypical and negative.
When Barry looked in the mirror, he saw a young black man. But he didn’t know how to be black. And no one was there to teach him.
He decided to act like the black characters he saw on TV. He started acting tough. He cursed. Was that what it meant to be black?
As he got older, he started smoking and drinking. He tried drugs. Was that what it meant to be black?
It’s not clear if Sutcliffe purposefully conflates being a black American with “acting tough,” cussing, “smoking and drinking” and doing drugs.
Sutcliffe is white, according to her Amazon.com author page.
The Obama biography goes on to charge that white Americans did not want to vote for Obama because of his skin color. However, it neatly explains, America’s 44th president was able to bring everybody together in blissful unity.
But some people said Americans weren’t ready for that much change. Sure Barack was a nice fellow, they said. But white voters would never vote for a black president. Other angry voices were raised. Barack’s former pastor called the country a failure. God would damn the United States for mistreating its black citizens, he said.
The book then recounts Obama’s March 2008 speech about race.
“Barack decided it was time to speak to Americans about race,” the next paragraph pedantically explains. “Black people and white people were too often angry with one another. All people were going to have to work together to solve the country’s problems. Only in that way could Americans make a more perfect United States.”
It’s not clear if the book’s author believes the United States is now “more perfect” some six years into the Obama presidency.
I didn’t see anything objectionable about this author’s treatment of Ronald Reagan in the Amazon preview of her Reagan book. The part I saw seemed to give him credit for his role in the fall of the Berlin Wall and his call for freedom. So she’s not a total far leftist because the true believers rate Reagan somewhat lower than Pol Pot.
The term "racist" is irrelevant today. People are stupid for falling for the ruse of letting down their guard lest they be called racist. I've been attacked numerous times in my youth by blacks, yet I count many blacks as my friends. I hate the feral type of black punks that attack others for no reason than they like to do so.
Never consider yourself racist, for being careful and trying to survive. If set upon, kill the sucka if you have too, but don't blame yourself.
Totalitarian group think.
“I cant decide if he wants to remain in the office, or if he would be satisfies with installing a one party government,”
Personally, I think the Dems are going to get their clocks cleaned in 2014. I think Barry might resign to take the helm of the UN. The mantra of the enlightened class will be that “The United States is too beneath a man of such genius”. In reality, the goal of Obama is to inflict a steady diet of Joe Biden on us for not giving him congress in 2014.
That’s my prediction and I am sticking to it :-)!
During Election 2000 (Bush v Gore), I had a 14 year old girl ask me if slavery would really come back if Bush was elected. Instead of doing what the Leftist teachers do, and telling her what to think, I tried my usual Socratic method to guide her to find the answer herself. I asked her, "Was there slavery 7 years ago when his father was still President? You were alive then." She said, "Yes, I think so."
THIS is what we are up against.
Why are they required to read an Obama biography? Do they read any other Presidential biographies? Why are the Department of Education and the Democratic leaning teacher’s unions allowed to do this?
“They’ll have to expand the vocabulary quite a bit!”
You’re a better person than I am ... mine will be a leaflet rated NC-17.
I’ll probably never actually be a racist. I’ve been too many places and seen too many diverse things to ever really become as hateful and intolerant as the lefties out there. I don’t tolerate intolerance very well. LOL!
(One of my favorites: he decried that the student body kept becoming "more diverse" while the faculty essentially stayed the same. I asked him if that meant there would be racial preferences used in hiring practices... after a long pause, he said "Of course there won't be. That would be illegal." My reply: "So why are you telling us this? Are you asking us to change? I'll claim to be Hispanic if you really need me to." (I have a nice Mediterranean tan going most of the time, thanks to some distant Cherokee in my bloodline.)
(Another: They were urging a NEW!! program... since the high-achievers had special classes, and the special needs kids had special classes, it was "unfair" that there were no special classes for the kids "that were lost in the middle". The genius solution? Hand-pick "middle" students we thought were most likely to succeed in the new program. When I pointed out that this would merely test our abilities to pick successful kids, rather than to see if the program worked on a random selection of those supposedly "lost" kids in the middle, I was rebuffed. Actually, I think that's when the ignoring began. LOL)
Homeschool or Die.
I don't remember TV showing black men as druggie hoodlams. On the contrary, they were portrayed as hilariously funny, intelligent, hard-working good citizens. Sanford and Son. Cosby. Flip Wilson. Lots of movies with Sidney Poitier showing the stupidity of racism and the dignity of black men.
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