Seattle schools PC Thanksgiving

[enzfan]

All this political correctness is insane. Soon an African American group will be suing Crayola to remove the color black from the boxes, because it is racially insensitive. Just another example of the tail wagging the dog.




Local News
Seattle School District Wants To Mourn On Thanksgiving
Live 5 News
The Seattle School District wants teachers and parents to be a little more sensitive on Turkey Day.

It started three years ago, when some Native American parents voiced concerns about how Thanksgiving was being observed in Seattle schools.

"In terms of what they were seeing in some of the use of the feathers and those things, because those are of spiritual and ceremonial significance to us," says concerned parents D.D. Boutwell.

For the past three years, the Seattle School District has sent a letter to teachers and staff, telling them "Thanksgiving can be a difficult time for many native students."

This year's letter references a Native American historical website that
outlines what it calls myths about Thanksgiving.

Myth number 11 - Thanksgiving is a happy time.

The letter also asks teachers to understand that Thanksgiving is a "time of mourning" for many Indian people, and a "reminder of 500 years of betrayal."

Some parents say it's political correctness gone too far.

School officials are quick to say that this letter does not signify a first
shot fired in a war on Thanksgiving, and they say teachers are not being told to do anything different in the classroom.

Local Native American leaders add that not everyone in their community sees Thanksgiving negatively, but there is still plenty of hurt that can only be healed by a deeper understanding of our history

[hexicon]

Seattle School District has a history of nutty diversity policies. They had to post this http://www.seattleschools.org/area/equi ... ofrace.xml after backing off from a policy that said things like:
"A cached webpage of the Seattle District's page regarding "Equity & Race," had defined racism as: "The systematic subordination of members of targeted racial groups who have relatively little social power in the United States (Blacks, Latino/as, Native Americans, and Asians), by the members of the agent racial group who have relatively more social power (Whites). The subordination is supported by the actions of individuals, cultural norms and values, and the institutional structures and practices of society." "

and The school also defined "cultural racism" to include "those aspects of society that overtly and covertly attribute value and normality to white people and Whiteness, and devalue, stereotype, and label people of color as 'other', different, less than, or render them invisible. Examples of these norms include defining white skin tones as nude or flesh colored, having a future time orientation, emphasizing individualism as opposed to a more collective ideology, defining one form of English as standard, and identifying only Whites as great writers or composers."

If you don't adopt a "collective ideology," you're racist?

[enzfan]

Must be something in the coffee.[:)]

[birdmadgirl]

I have to admit, as someone who has a lot of Native American blood compared to most people (Choctaw, not that you can tell by looking at me), Thanksgiving is a holiday I'm not so wild about. I don't act like a big PC-weenie, and we do make a big, traditional meal, but in the back of my mind, I'm thinking that, yeah, my ancestors got screwed. To me, it's a just a day off from work to hang out with my family.

[shovelbum]

I'm with you BMG. The true meaning of Thanksgiving has been revamped over the centuries. It's true and telling that history is written by the victors. It's nice to celebrate thankfulness, but to be honest I do that everyday. I have to admit I'm like this with most holidays, though. I'd rather do something romantic for my hubby on some random, spontaneous day than on Valentine's Day. Performing those gestures on VD is just that: a(n obligatory) performance.

"Man is not a rational animal, he is a rationalizing animal." ~Robert Heinlein

[enzfan]

BMG my fellow Choctaw. All my relatives are from Mississippi. My great great grandmother on my fathers side was Choctaw. Not sure if she was one hundred percent or part. As you said you could not tell it by looking at me either, although my father certainly has a darker skin tone than I.