Saddened by the amount of hate and fear aimed towards Obama

Now I realize that "the black man" is a mighty terrifying thing to some white folk. But I really didn't think I would hear some of the people I consider friends refer to Obama as Hitler! I can appreciate not agreeing with policy, but to equate him to a mass-murdering-fuckhead is quite another level of "dislike".


Here is a letter that I had to write to our school district this morning:

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Disappointed on decision NOT to show the President's address


I received the automated phone call Monday night stating that Kimpton would not be airing "The President's Back-To-School Message To America's Students" on Tuesday. I was greatly disappointed by this.


The "controversy" surrounding this simple speech to try to motivate & inspire our school age children has saddened me greatly. I cannot fathom the hate and fear that a portion of our population has towards our President.


I understand it is not the school district's nor the individual school's place to further any particular political agenda. But I fear that NOT showing the speech is the MORE political choice of the two.


The President's message is one of "stay in school" & "education is what will allow you to succeed in life". Not very political nor controversial.


The message sent by caving into the pressure to not show the speech is to validate the fear that our highest ranking government official is not to be trusted to address our youth!


Which of these two choices sounds more "political" to you?


The rationalization that it is against policy to show any program that has not been pre-viewed by school officials is laughable. Not only is the text of the speech available online for anyone to read, but the idea that a Presidential speech, written specifically for school age children must be vetted in any way is repugnant. What possible higher authority is there in the United States than the President? Not to belittle anyone working for our school district but I would hold the President's opinion in higher regard on just about any topic.


In closing I would like to say that I do sympathize that you are put in this sort of predicament. Educating our children is a hard enough job without having to navigate the minefield of parental opinions. That is why I would ask you to look at this decision in a purely educational context: "Is validating the opinion that any sort of speech is dangerous and it is proper to quash the expression of it a lesson that you as an educator really want to teach?"