John Konopak wrote:
>
> Hola--Here's a part of a conversation I collected out on the web a while
> back. What do you make of it???
>
> > Ken Winters <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> >>Andrew Lazarus wrote:
> >>>
> >>> On Sat, 24 Jan 1998 05:11:05 -0600, [log in to unmask] wrote:
> >>>
> >>> >A school superintendent in a southern city hired civilian
> >>> >monitors to patrol the high school halls to be sure the
> >>> >students were not praying between classes. Not only did
> >>> >this rule violate students' rights, but it violated their
> >>> >civil and religious rights.
> >>>
> >>> In three words, I doubt it.
> >>>
> >>> I see you left out the TRUE example from Alabama where a teacher
> >>> pushed down a Jewish boy's head when he wouldn't bow down to Jesus.
> >>> Betcha don't care about it, either!
> >
> >>I wouldn't believe either account, given they both neglected any sort of
> >>verifiable reference. Come on people, there are plenty of searchable
> >>news sources on the net. How about backing things with a reference vs.
> >>hearsay?
> >
> >Actually the one with the Jewish kid being forced to bow before Jesus
> >is true, at least according to the ACLU filing in court. See
> >http://www.aclu.org/news/n081497b.html
> >
> >Here are some more elements from the court brief.
> >
> > The Willis children were forbidden to wear Star of David
> >lapel pins. The teacher claimed the Star of David was a gang symbol.
> >Other children in class were wearing crosses.
> > The Willis children were forbidden to participate in
> >physical education class while wearing their yarmulkes.
> > Two of the Willis children have been physically assaulted by
> >their classmates because of their religion. On one occasion one of the
> >children was beaten by five or six other students.
> > Swastikas have been drawn on their lockers, bookbags and
> >jackets. Their yarmulkes, worn on High Holy Days, have been ripped off
> >their heads and used to play "keep away."
> > The children are constantly taunted with jeers such as "Jew
> >boys" and "Jewish jokers." These verbal assaults are particularly
> >venomous after blatantly Christian assemblies. Teachers and
> >administrators have done nothing meaningful to stop these acts of
> >cruelty and threats to physically safety, although they have
> >repeatedly been made aware of them.
> > The Willis children were ordered by teachers to bow their
> >heads during Christian prayers, even though the teachers knew the
> >children were Jewish. On at least one occasion a teacher physically
> >forced one of the children to bow his head during the delivery of a
> >prayer in an assembly. The prayer was explicitly Christian. The
> >teacher knew the child was Jewish.
> > A vice principal disciplined one Willis child for disrupting
> >class by requring him to compose an essay on the subject "Why Jesus
> >Loves Me."
> > One Willis child was sent to wait in the hall during the
> >distribution of Gideon bibles. Classmates called the child names as
> >she left the room. A Gideon representative tried to force the child to
> >take a copy of the Gideon bible and held a cross in front of her face
> >when she explained she did not want one because she was Jewish. The
> >child ran screaming back into the classroom, asking her teacher for
> >help. The teacher did nothing.
> > Religious, overtly Christian, classroom activities and
> >assembly presentations are common in the Pike County system. Events
> >like "Birth of Jesus" plays at assembly and "Happy Birthday Jesus"
> >parties in classrooms make the Willis children feel like second-class
> >citizens.
> > One local minister, brought in to make a presentation at a
> >school assembly, told the students that anyone who had not accepted
> >Jesus as his or her Savior was doomed to hell. The Willis child in the
> >audience left to jeers from her classmates. She suffered nightmares
> >for weeks.
> >
> >This shows some of the problems of mandating school prayer. The only
> >way to protect the rights of minorities is to have religious
> >neutrality. If people want to pray they have time to do it at home or
> >church. No one claims that the right to free speech requires that the
> >principal let kids speak out at any time during the day. Prayer
> >should be treated the same way.
> >
> >I too, would LOVE to see a source for the superintendent hiring
> >security to stop prayer. I find that one VERY difficult to believe.
> >
> >Remove NOTSPAM in email address to email.
> >Find good books at the Science Fiction and Fantasy Reviews website
> >http://www.serve.com/sfreview
> >
> >
> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
> "Man may smile and smile but he is not an investigating animal.
> He loves the obvious. He shrinks from explanations." --Jos. Conrad
> ___ _ _
> | | \ | / John Konopak, Ph.D. +----------------------+
> | | ) | / EDUC/ILAC | You can lead a horse |
> | |___/ |_/ University of Oklahoma | to water; but you |
> | | | \ Norman OK 73019 | can't make him surf! |
> / | | \ [log in to unmask] +----------------------+
> (__/ * ! * | \* Ph: 405-325-1498||FX: 405-325-4061
>
> "People know what they do; and sometimes they know why they do it.
> But what they don't know is what what they do does." -- M. Foucault
> +-----------------------------------------------------------+
> | [Standard Disclaimer: Irremediable intertextuality, |
> | and/or consequent and/or collateral intersubjectivity |
> | notwithstanding, opinions here are as much "my own" |
> | as I can make them. Still, I wish I'd said: |
> | "Those who can, do; those who know, teach."] |
> +-----------------------------------------------------------+
> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
While there is capitalism there will be religious as well as racial
bigotry.Overthrowing the capitalism system is the only way to get rid of
racial and religious bigotry.
|
