East Ridge High School, The New Black Panthers & The Zimmerman Trial ~ UPDATED

Back in February, East Ridge High School honored Bobby Seale and Huey Newton and The Black Panther Party during a school-wide announcement.  When ERHS parents cried foul over the honoring of a socialist militant cop-killing group like the Black Panthers, the district "leaders" brushed their concerns aside, opting instead to cave under the pressure by certain groups who insisted that the concerned parents were racist in their objection to the announcement.  The issue caused so many problems for some of the concerned parents that they have opted to remove their children - prior to their Senior year - from ERHS and place them in private schools rather than deal with an administration that refuses to listen to parents' concerns and adequately address the question that it seems that violent groups are being promoted by the ERHS administration and staff under the guise that the announcement was "student led."

A photo circulating (which apparently has since been scrubbed from the web) on Twitter about the George Zimmerman trial that is wrapping up in Florida sheds light on one of the many reasons why the concerned parents objected to the honoring of the Black Panthers.  Gee, Principal Harper and Superintendent Jacobus, do you still think that the commemoration of the Black Panthers was appropriate for ERHS? Will you continue to rationalize the announcement if the Black Panthers follow through with their threat to "burn down whitey's" neighborhoods? Or will you finally understand the reasons why parents objected to the announcement?

UPDATED 7/11/13 8:35a.m.
Updated 8/14/13 12:24pm

Sent to me by one of the concerned parents:

This is exactly why we had concerns about honoring ANY militant, violent, race baiting groups.
Despite some in the black community noisy objections, this was NEVER about race. This was, and is, about violence and hatred.

Why hatred is being excused because it is black on white is offensive to all Americans, but it is being excused by a segment of the black community, and much of the liberal community.

It would be interesting to hear if those same people, who objected to the ERHS parents concern, have the same elevated opinion of the Black Panthers today?

Do they condone this rhetoric? Do they stand side by side with a group that is obviously racist?
Racism comes in all colors and is not exclusive against the black community.

A country that elects a black man as president....TWICE....does not have a cultural problem with racism.
Does racism exist? Yes, and it will until the end of time, because humans are flawed and sinful. But is there mass racism being perpetrated on the black community? No.

As someone who is a governmental classified 'minority', I take offense to those who continue to divide this country along racial and sexual lines. I have always seen myself as an AMERICAN first, gender second, cultural heritage last.

Maybe if people started seeing themselves as Americans first- a delicious and harmonious melting pot, we might all come together; instead of being constantly pitted against each other, in a 'salad' bowl of warring ingredients, where someone gets to pick and choose what goes in the bowl.

Along with this letter, written to Al Sharpton  by Dr. Ken Hutcherson:

I was born in Anniston, Alabama, in the 50s and had to fight for my equality most of my life. You see, there were many who thought I should be treated like a second class citizen, drink from a different water fountain, sit in the back of the bus, be counted as three-quarters of a person, go to a different school, eat and sit in the black section of restaurants, use a different bathroom; you know, be separate but equal. Then came Dr. Martin Luther King and all that started to change and praise God! I became a Christian in 1969. Today, I find myself again being put in that same category as a second class citizen, and I am not going to have that same fight.

I did not become a Christian to live the 50s and 60s all over a second time. Muslims have more rights and freedom of religion than I do as a Christian. Tell a Muslim he can’t pray at school or at the airport or downtown when prayer time is called for, and see what happens. Tell a Muslim cleric serving as a chaplain in our brilliant military that he has to marry a same-sex couple, and see what happens. Some of you are saying “what is that about?” Well hold on to your hat, there is more to come.

But as a Christian, let me say Merry Christmas on a national holiday called Christmas and you’d think Satan incarnate himself just showed up. I’m sorry that is a bad example because if Satan did show up, he would get more respect than Christians, Jews, Tea Partiers, patriots and conservatives. Thus all the forenamed groups, and any like them, must stand and fight for their equal rights that are disappearing faster than San Antonio fans after game seven of the NBA championship in Miami. This brings me to the point of Al Sharpton’s recent comments about our movement of taking back our civil rights as conservatives.

You mocked Glenn Beck, thus all of us, with your insult on the tea party fighting for their equal rights. Do you think we are going to go find a hole and hide somewhere? Mr. Sharpton that is not going to happen anymore. We refuse to sit by and let you or anyone else mock, attack, demean or laugh at our beliefs, and think it is okay to push us to the back of the Capitol in DC assuming we will just shut up.

Let me see if I can explain something to you, Al, that it seems you have forgotten. When you and Dr. King fought for our civil rights, was it because no one else had their equal rights? Black people were the first to get their equal rights, right? I presume you think that is correct the way you are talking. We both know that the reason why Dr. King and thousands of others fought during the Civil rights movement was because someone else had their rights and liberties, and blacks didn’t. My question to you Mr. Sharpton is who had those rights when we as a black people didn’t? It is true then that equal rights existed first for us to want them. Seems to me it was the white race that enjoyed that freedom. We saw it, said we wanted some of that, and fought and died until we got it. So why is it that you think Judeo-Christian believers, the religious right, tea partiers, patriots and white people in general who are starting to feel like second class citizens and separate but equal; are being scrutinized by the IRS and spied on by the NSA. Why should they not stand up and demand equal treatment under the law and the Constitution of these United States of America? The greatest nation ever founded under the banner of freedom, one nation under God, gives its citizens certain inalienable rights and the promise that they have the right to pursue their happiness. I believe we are endowed with those rights Mr. Sharpton, and deep down you know we are too.

As a black man Al, who went through the Civil rights fight in the 60s just like you did, and saw the first freedom bus burn in my home town of Anniston, Alabama, on May 14, 1961; I hated Dr. King for his non-violent philosophy. That did not change until I became a Christian later in life. Then I understood God’s biblical truth of love your enemy and do good to those who hate and persecute you. I think I have the right to tell you this sir; I think the likes of you and Jesse Jackson have done more damage to the black race than any white man will ever accomplish. You see as long as you can produce an ethnicity with a victim mentality to keep them in poverty, as the two of you get richer – you know like poverty pimps – and convince them that it is the white man’s fault because he has his boot on their necks, and as long as you teach our beautiful black women that there is a government out there to be their baby’s daddy, the two of you win. You are the self-proclaimed, appointed leaders of the black people. How we as black people have swallowed the lie that we have to have certain black leaders to get on the government teat escapes me.

Superintendent Claims Black Panther Case Closed, Calls Blog "Threatening"

I have been so busy with my family and working with the folks opposing the move of Woodbury Elementary to Crosswinds (if the district acquires it) that I've not had time to post the latest on East Ridge High School's commemoration of the Black Panthers.

At the last school board meeting, the Superintendent, Keith Jacobus, made a point to alert the (maybe) twelve people in attendance that the Black Panther issue is closed.  He went on to say that the blog (yep, this lil ol' blog) is "threatening" and that Principal Aaron Harper is under "personal attack."

Imagine my surprise when I watched the meeting video and heard that they are calling this blog "threatening," and that they had also taken care to remind us that our "children are watching." Curious as to what they thought was threatening about reporting on a controversial incident in a local high school, I decided to read over all the previous posts on the matter to determine what, if anything, could be construed as such.

Here are my conclusions:

1. There is NOTHING threatening about the posts in question.  Unless one reads the comments where I am personally attacked and called names by people who apparently believe that one cannot stand up to a school  administration, and say "Hey, are the Black Panthers really a group that should be commemorated in a school-wide PA broadcast? Isn't this something that should be taught in something like, oh I don't know, maybe an American History class where the full context of the group, its origins and what it meant to America in the 1960s can be fully explored?"  Those comments are threatening, but to me, not to anyone named in the posts.

2. If the children are watching and/or reading this blog, which a) I doubt (my own kids don't even read this blog) and b) if they have, then at least we know that they have received a more rounded education on who the Black Panthers really were rather than the sanitized "The Black Panthers were militant socialist revolutionaries who also started free lunch and medical programs (huzzah!)" as was heard on February 14, 2013 at the school.  Perhaps if the children (who are watching, doncha know?) have read the blog, they've learned some American history of which they didn't previously know.  Which makes this truly the educational opportunity Mr. Harper kept saying it was in the first place.

3. Obviously, Alinsky tactics are alive and well even in our local governments.  Calling a person who is spreading light on the truth of actions/behaviors/etc. "threatening" is tantamount to telling them to "Sit down and shut up!" It is a favorite tactic of Progressives when they are upset that their actions have been called out to the public.  As long as their actions can remain unknown and unreported, they can continue to do what they want without public scrutiny.  The problem is that they forget that they work for us.  We pay their salaries and their pensions and their benefits, so if they really believe that they won't be held accountable, it truly is time for people to stand up and let them know that WE THE PEOPLE ARE WATCHING.

Suburban School Superintendent Brushes Parents' Concerns re The Black Panthers Aside

UPDATE: The South Washington County School District 833 has removed all information regarding last night's meeting sometime this morning.  Please contact the School District at 651-458-6300 for more information. (Updated 10:36a.m. 2/22/2013)
Another Update: According to the District's Communication director, there was an "issue" with the video, so they took it off the website while they update it.  Look for it after 2pm today. (Updated 11:28am)
The video is back up from the School Board now. (updated 2/22/2013 5:50)

As has been reported over the last week on this blog, East Ridge High School in Woodbury, Minnesota held a school-wide presentation honoring the violent, militantly socialist group, The Black Panthers on February 14, 2013.  Parents were appalled by the idea that a group so unabashedly Marxist and founded by convicted felons, Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton, would be "commemorated" by the school for Black History Month.  The story has been reported on by several news outlets from local TV, radio, newspapers to national online and radio (2/14/13) media outlets.

Last night, at the South Washington County District 833 School Board meeting (video Item 2.0), the concerned parents were allowed to voice their objections to the presentation.  Two parents, Steve Ellenwood and Lelani Holstad, spoke about the nature of the Black Panther Party and why it was objectionable to have the group honored in the way it was on Feb. 14: Mr. Ellenwood said it was "paramount to indoctrination" and Ms. Holstad ripped the Board for allowing the school to go against its own bullying policies by endorsing the violent Black Panthers.  She also discussed the more recent incidents involving the New Black Panther Party, including the voter intimidation in the last two elections, the "hit" the group put on Zimmerman (in the Trayvon Martin case), and more.  Both presentations were well done, heart felt and seemed to have swayed at least one Board Member because following the parent presentations, Board Member Ron Kath told the audience that the Board and the Superintendent were aware of the issue and that they would be investigating it.  Then, just prior to the next agenda item, Superintendent Keith Jacobus broke in saying that he had spoken to Principal Harper about the issue and that the issue was closed (among other things, including justifying the commemoration of The Black Panthers by students).  Effectively putting the blame not on the teacher, Ms. Tishanna Brown nor on Mr. Harper, but on the students for the presentation.

Did not the SWC 833 hire Dr. Jacobus? Are they not his boss?  Do Jacobus and Harper believe that their lame excuses will just make this issue go away?  East Ridge High School has many issues, this is just one of them.  A perusal of tweets from ERHS kids (some of whom definitely seem to have been involved with the commemoration of the Black Panthers), shows that not only did Mr. Harper directly "protect" Ms. Brown and the involved students but also that there is a disconnect between the students (mostly minority) and the school community: it is obvious that all the emphasis on diversity has done nothing more than cause the children to see themselves as a separate group from the rest of the ERHS student body (language warning):

The School Board has been given the Twitter information as well as the much of the information about the Black Panther Party that has been presented on this blog over the past week and the lesson plans from Ms. Brown's ClassJump website (see link above).  I would hope that the information would pique their interest and cause them to step up and behave like the so-called District leaders they are supposed to be before they allow the new Superintendent to just sweep this issue under the rug.

THE BLACK PANTHERS WERE UNABASHEDLY MARXIST

There seems to be confusion about why parents are upset about the fact that East Ridge High School chose to honor the Black Panther Party during a Black History Month presentation on February 14, 2013.  Accusations of elitist racism are being bandied about like shuttlecocks on the comments sections of previous blogs.  To quote our current President: LET ME BE CLEAR, this has NOTHING to do with racism.  As was stated in a previous blog, the objections stem from the nature of the group that was the Black Panthers in that it was a fundamentally MARXIST, VIOLENT, ANTI-CAPITALIST, ANTI-AMERICAN organization, that, while important to American history (and not just "Black American History"), is not a group that should be COMMEMORATED - definition: "Honored" - by a school regardless of what month it is.  Furthermore, there are MANY other examples of great Americans who would have been better choices to honor, had the teacher and principal done their job and tried to find better examples.

If anyone is confused about whether or not the Black Panther Party actually was a MARXIST organization, here is the Party's Platform from 1968 as it was published in The Black Panther. 23 Nov. 1967:3.:

THE TEN POINT PLAN
1. WE WANT FREEDOM. WE WANT POWER TO DETERMINE THE DESTINY OF OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES.
We believe that Black and oppressed people will not be free until we are able to determine our destinies in our own communities ourselves, by fully controlling all the institutions which exist in our communities.
2. WE WANT FULL EMPLOYMENT FOR OUR PEOPLE.
We believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every person employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the American businessmen will not give full employment, then the technology and means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living.
3. WE WANT AN END TO THE ROBBERY BY THE CAPITALISTS OF OUR BLACK AND OPPRESSED COMMUNITIES.
We believe that this racist government has robbed us and now we are demanding the overdue debt of forty acres and two mules. Forty acres and two mules were promised 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor and mass murder of Black people. We will accept the payment in currency which will be distributed to our many communities. The American racist has taken part in the slaughter of our fifty million Black people. Therefore, we feel this is a modest demand that we make.
4. WE WANT DECENT HOUSING, FIT FOR THE SHELTER OF HUMAN BEINGS.
We believe that if the landlords will not give decent housing to our Black and oppressed communities, then housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that the people in our communities, with government aid, can build and make decent housing for the people.
5. WE WANT DECENT EDUCATION FOR OUR PEOPLE THAT EXPOSES THE TRUE NATURE OF THIS DECADENT AMERICAN SOCIETY. WE WANT EDUCATION THAT TEACHES US OUR TRUE HISTORY AND OUR ROLE IN THE PRESENT-DAY SOCIETY.
We believe in an educational system that will give to our people a knowledge of the self. If you do not have knowledge of yourself and your position in the society and in the world, then you will have little chance to know anything else.
6. WE WANT COMPLETELY FREE HEALTH CARE FOR All BLACK AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE.
We believe that the government must provide, free of charge, for the people, health facilities which will not only treat our illnesses, most of which have come about as a result of our oppression, but which will also develop preventive medical programs to guarantee our future survival. We believe that mass health education and research programs must be developed to give all Black and oppressed people access to advanced scientific and medical information, so we may provide our selves with proper medical attention and care.
7. WE WANT AN IMMEDIATE END TO POLICE BRUTALITY AND MURDER OF BLACK PEOPLE, OTHER PEOPLE OF COLOR, All OPPRESSED PEOPLE INSIDE THE UNITED STATES.
We believe that the racist and fascist government of the United States uses its domestic enforcement agencies to carry out its program of oppression against black people, other people of color and poor people inside the united States. We believe it is our right, therefore, to defend ourselves against such armed forces and that all Black and oppressed people should be armed for self defense of our homes and communities against these fascist police forces.
8. WE WANT AN IMMEDIATE END TO ALL WARS OF AGGRESSION.
We believe that the various conflicts which exist around the world stem directly from the aggressive desire of the United States ruling circle and government to force its domination upon the oppressed people of the world. We believe that if the United States government or its lackeys do not cease these aggressive wars it is the right of the people to defend themselves by any means necessary against their aggressors.
9. WE WANT FREEDOM FOR ALL BLACK AND OPPRESSED PEOPLE NOW HELD IN U. S. FEDERAL, STATE, COUNTY, CITY AND MILITARY PRISONS AND JAILS. WE WANT TRIALS BY A JURY OF PEERS FOR All PERSONS CHARGED WITH SO-CALLED CRIMES UNDER THE LAWS OF THIS COUNTRY.
We believe that the many Black and poor oppressed people now held in United States prisons and jails have not received fair and impartial trials under a racist and fascist judicial system and should be free from incarceration. We believe in the ultimate elimination of all wretched, inhuman penal institutions, because the masses of men and women imprisoned inside the United States or by the United States military are the victims of oppressive conditions which are the real cause of their imprisonment. We believe that when persons are brought to trial they must be guaranteed, by the United States, juries of their peers, attorneys of their choice and freedom from imprisonment while awaiting trial.
10. WE WANT LAND, BREAD, HOUSING, EDUCATION, CLOTHING, JUSTICE, PEACE AND PEOPLE'S COMMUNITY CONTROL OF MODERN TECHNOLOGY.
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are most disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpation, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.