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 High School Honors Black Panther Party

This story has been picked up by KSTP Channel 5 (Twin Cities); they will be broadcasting an interview with one of the concerned parents tonight on their 6pm program.

East Ridge High School in Woodbury, Minnesota decided to use Valentine's Day as a day to commemorate the Black Panther Party in a school-wide presentation.  Apparently, the day set aside for all things love is the perfect day on which to roll out information about one of the most violent and militant groups in the USA's recent history.

According to the transcript obtained by a concerned parent (after the principal refused to honor her request for a written copy of the announcement that her son had heard that morning. A few hours later a district representative contacted her and gave her the transcript) the presentation, led by Social Studies teacher, Tishanna Brown, began with a reading of A Black Child's Pledge, by Shirley Williams, which was originally published in The Black Panther Newsletter on October 28, 1968:

I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO MY BLACK PEOPLE.

I PLEDGE TO DEVELOP MY MIND AND BODY TO THE GREATEST EXTENT POSSIBLE.

I WILL LEARN ALL THAT I CAN IN ORDER TO GIVE MY BEST TO MY PEOPLE IN THEIR STRUGGLE FOR LIBERATION.

I WILL KEEP MYSELF PHYSICALLY FIT, BUILDING A STRONG BODY FREE FROM DRUGS AND OTHER SUBSTANCES WHICH WEAKEN ME AND MAKE ME LESS CAPABLE OF PROTECTING MYSELF, MY FAMILY AND MY BLACK BROTHERS AND SISTERS.

I WILL UNSELFISHLY SHARE MY KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING WITH THEM IN ORDER TO BRING ABOUT CHANGE MORE QUICKLY.

I WILL DISCIPLINE MYSELF TO DIRECT MY ENERGIES THOUGHTFULLY AND CONSTRUCTIVELY RATHER THAN WASTING THEM IN IDLE HATRED.

I WILL TRAIN MYSELF NEVER TO HURT OR ALLOW OTHERS TO HARM MY BLACK BROTHERS AND SISTERS FOR I RECOGNIZE THAT WE NEED EVERY BLACK MAN, WOMAN, AND CHILD TO BE PHYSICALLY, MENTALLY AND PSYCHOLOGICALLY STRONG.

THESE PRINCIPLES I PLEDGE TO PRACTICE DAILY AND TO TEACH THEM TO OTHERS IN ORDER TO UNITE MY PEOPLE.

The presentation went on:

"Good Morning, East Ridge! I'm _____________. 'Power to the People' and 'Black is Beautiful' are two of the slogans associated with todays "Black History Month" person, or should I say, "People" of the day.  Today we commemorate Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, co-Founders of The Black Panther Party for Self Defense.

In October of 1966, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. In the most part to address the rampant police brutality faced by many black communities around the country.  The Panthers practiced militant self-defense of minority communities against the U.S. Government, and fought to establish revolutionary socialism through mass organizing and community based programs such as free lunch and medical programs. The party, consisting mostly of men and women under the age of 25, was one of the first organizations in U.S. history to militantly struggle for ethnic minority and working class emancipation" (SIC)

Page 1 of Original Transcript

Page 2 of Original Transcript; note the change in
font and lack of punctuation; evidence of the
teacher "cutting and pasting" info from
www.marxist.org

According to an East Ridge parent, the principal told her that this presentation was one of many the school was doing for Black History Month and meant to draw attention to the historical significance of the Panther's movement.  So, basically, folks, there is no reason to freak out because this was just an educational exercise.  There were no other groups that are historically significant in Black American History that should be given the same level of honor and significance.  There aren't any other positive historical Black Americans from which to choose, nope, we must choose the ones that somehow manage to mix "revolutionary socialism" and "militant self-defense" with "organizing and community based programs such as free lunch and medical programs..." (Which, by the way, how did the teacher say that sentence with a straight face?)

It is no wonder that with the glorification of such groups as the Black Panthers that there are people who are excusing and adoring another cop-killer this week, Christopher Dorner.  It is no wonder that our kids have no real concept of American history when they are fed sound-bytes like the one above.

It is offensive to me and should be to any American that out of the many people and groups who could be honored for Black History month that East Ridge would choose The Black Panther Party as one that they chose to honor. I wonder if I were to go to the school, enter American History classes and ask random students who Hiram Revels was, if they'd know he was the first Black American elected to the Senate in 1870? Or what about CORE (Congress of Racial Equality) a group of which MLK was part, which focused on non-violent actions to gain racial equality?  Google or Bing "Black Americans in History" and hundreds of links pop up - even a lazy teacher could do that and come up with better examples of Black Americans in History than the Black Panthers.  Either the East Ridge Principal, Aaron Harper and his cohort Tishanna Brown are ignorant of the great tapestry of Black American History and too lazy to research examples of people worthy of honoring or they have an agenda that they are following to further some perverse purpose of encouraging children to believe that "militant self defense" against the US Government and police is ok as long as one is combining that with "free lunch and medical programs."

Another point: say a student's interest in the Black Panther Party was piqued during this presentation, so s/he goes online to check out the group.  What will that student find? The following is an example of what a brief search would give that student:

In October of 1966, in Oakland California, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. The Panthers practiced militant self-defense of minority communities against the U.S. government, and fought to establish revolutionary socialism through mass organizing and community based programs. The party was one of the first organizations in U.S. history to militantly struggle for ethnic minority and working class emancipation — a party whose agenda was the revolutionary establishment of real economic, social, and political equality across gender and color lines.

Oh, but wait, isn't that the EXACT language used by the teacher in the presentation? Why, yes, it is.  Funny, but isn't that called PLAGIARISM? Which website did Ms. Brown steal this from? That's right, www.marxist.org.    It looks like Ms. Brown cleaned it up and made it a bit nicer by adding "like free lunch and medical programs," but otherwise, she seems to have been at a loss as how to write an original statement about the Black Panthers herself.

But, never mind that, parents, there is no agenda here. This was an educational opportunity used to enlighten and educate the students on Black American History.