Racism

Not generally being the recipient of racism, I rarely think about it and the impact.  I am a white, suburban, stay at home mom, generally, I am treated the way you would expect.  I like to shock them with the fact that I am... wait for it... smart. 

So the fact that it is a big deal that the President is African American always catches me off guard.  I think it is great that he was elected, but I tend to forget that he is black.  He is a smart guy, seems to be doing a good job, and the majority of people in this country voted for him.  I seem to think that it was a fairly resounding victory.

Recently, I was shown a blog entry by Thomas Bowen, I don't know who he is, but the person that shared the commentary, is a pretty smart guy, so I read it.  (You can too at Blogging to the Choir, it is the open letter to the President.)  Generally, speaking, it is about the comment that Jimmy Carter made regarding Joe Wilson's comments.

I think it is interesting that the White House is distancing themselves from any sort of "race card" claims.  I wonder if their objective is to have people, do as I have, forget that the President happens to be a black man.  I wonder if it is because they are tired of having the conversation, and want to get down to the business of getting things done.  So that we can judge President Obama on the content of his character and the results of his office and NOT his color.

The whole situation around race is not something I understand or am even qualified to comment on.  I really thought what Mr. Bowen had to say was interesting.  It was well written and made me think about it, which I suppose was the goal.

Before I had kids, and I worked in retail, I believed it was ok to wish everyone a Merry Christmas.  Now that I have Jewish kids, I realize that it is not such a cool thing to do.  As such,  I do not believe I can understand what it is like to be a minority in this country.  I just wish we could all get along.  I wish that we could stop worrying about what a person looks like, and worry about what they do and how they do it.  I wish that we could focus on the issues surrounding health care and not the color of the person delivering the message.  I suppose until those of us who have forgotten what color Mr. Obama is start standing up and saying hey, the rest of you need to stop this insanity and look at what the man has done, it won't end.

Finally, please remember that this is my house, and I can say what ever I want here.  I realize that this is a touchy subject, these are my thoughts.  I am always open to a dialogue about the subject, but I am not interested in flaming comments.

I will leave you with this final though on the subject, because I used the word Obama in my blog, will I get blog hits from the government?  Probably.

Stupid is the new black

Stupid is the new black.  I love this.  It was a Facebook status post from a new found friend of mine.  I cracked up.  This is due to the fact that the Wheaton School District banned President Obama's speech.

He is the President of the United States, he wants to talk to my kid, I am good with that.  Heck, if G.W. wanted to talk to my kid I would be ok with that, and in my opinion he is the stupidest President in the history of the world.

I got a phone call yesterday, from Robert Rammer, the communications guy at CUSD 200.  He says that we aren't showing it because we can pre-screen it and don't know if it is appropriate.  If we think the message is appropriate, we will make copies available at a later date and we might show it to the kids if we feel like it.  I heard the message when the kids were screaming at me.   But, my politically active friend fired me up... I did something.

While I didn't get the response I wanted, I did get one.  I will still be pulling my kids from school to see the speech, but this response seems more reasoned to me... granted they still aren't showing the speech.

Ms. Parrett,

On behalf of the Board of Education, thank you for your comments. Please know that the Board has received your email as well as this response.

The District is not denying students the opportunity to hear the President's message. We will make it available at more convenient times when students can be engaged in a discussion about his message.

 

Although we certainly support and appreciate the President's encouragement of students to do well in school, broadcasting a 20 minute program at 11:00 to all our schools, on a live web stream, is somewhat problematic from a logistical perspective. At the high schools and middle schools, for example, many of our students are eating lunch. These students would not be in a classroom setting where a discussion could take place. From a practical perspective, delaying the lunch schedule for an extended period would be disruptive at best. Some students will be in physical education classes or settings unsuitable for viewing. Streaming this message to all venues and computers at one time would most likely disrupt our technology.

Providing schools with multiple copies of the presentation allows teachers to present the message in a thoughtful and instructive fashion.

While we certainly appreciate your comments, it is our intent to provide the President's message in a more measured way.

 

The review of the content is more a factor of grade level than substance. Preparing a group of kindergarten students for the President's message is quite different than preparing a group of high school seniors. Teachers deserve to see the message before they show it and conduct instructional discussion with children.

 Sincerely,

Robert A. Rammer, Ph.D.
Director of Communications
School District 200

I won't comment on the spelling of my name.  I also will not comment on the fact that Bob's letter was addressed to Mr. and Mrs. Lang, that is another blog post for another day.  It will be interesting to see if what happens.

The great thing is that, I can pull my kids from school and bring them home so that they can see the message.  I might DVR it for them, but in a grand show of political dissent, I might pull them out of school too.

So for now I have a headache and am tired, I am not up to full fighting the man speed.  I think I might need a nap.