I remember how it was -- JR
DC Public Schools Urge Parents to ‘Decolonize’ Their Thanksgiving
Did you need recommendations to get the colonizing out of your Thanksgiving? If so, Lewis Ferebee has come to the rescue.
Ferebee, the chancellor of Washington, D.C.’s school system, issued a public letter to parents and families Tuesday titled “Sharing My Gratitude.” It was originally sent to those in the D.C. Public Schools community the previous Thursday, but his gratitude was indeed too precious not to share with a wider audience.
There were two paragraphs of gratitude, it must be said. Some of it was even laudable.
“Every moment I spend in our schools, I am struck by joyful learning happening. I am inspired by the warmth of our educators and the curiosity of our students,” Ferebee wrote. “I am grateful for the hard work of all our staff, and the support of our families. Thank you to each of you.”
So much for all of that. After a few photos of students in the D.C. school system — none of which was particularly Thanksgiving-centric, for whatever it’s worth — we went on to the usual spiel about COVID safety, boosters and how “we can help keep our community safe by getting vaccinated, limiting our travel, and avoiding high risk environments.”
And then we got onto the section you’ll need if you’re for a colonizer-free Thanksgiving this year: “Recognizing the History of the Holiday.”
“Thanksgiving is a day that can be difficult for many to celebrate as we reflect on the history of the holiday and the horrors inflicted on our indigenous populations,” Ferebee wrote. “If you celebrate, our Equity team has shared resources for how you can consider decolonizing your Thanksgiving. ”
Make sure to write these down, people. He’s the Butterball Hotline for wokeness, I daresay.
First, Ferebee said that for those hosting Thanksgiving dinner, “consider doing a land acknowledgment.” A land acknowledgement, according to a linked page from the Native Governance Center, involves acknowledging things such as “[t]he Indigenous people to whom the land belongs,” “[t]he history of the land and any related treaties” and “[c]orrect pronunciation for the names of the Tribes, places, and individuals that you’re including.”
“Don’t sugarcoat the past. Use terms like genocide, ethnic cleansing, stolen land, and forced removal to reflect actions taken by colonizers,” the Native Governance Center says.
But it doesn’t have to be a bummer!
“Land acknowledgments shouldn’t be grim,” it stresses. “They should function as living celebrations of Indigenous communities. Ask yourself, ‘How am I leaving Indigenous people in a stronger, more empowered place because of this land acknowledgment?’ Focus on the positivity of who Indigenous people are today.”
Acknowledge genocide, focus on positivity. Got that?
Next thing, do your reading on decolonizing turkey day. Thankfully (pun unintended), Ferebee has linked two listicles and some book recommendations for both adults and children.
One listicle by Alexis Bunten at Bioneers only has three tips to decolonize your Thanksgiving, so we’ll go with that. (The other, with eight tips, includes an exhortation to “End Racist Native Mascots in Sports” — a heavy item to check off your decolonizing to-do list on just one Thursday in November, if you ask me.)
First: “Combat erasure by telling the real story of Thanksgiving around the table.”
Erasure is, for example, not telling how “Wampanoag peoples had already been decimated by disease introduced by European traders by the time of the first Thanksgiving, how they had been stolen and sold as slaves back in Europe, or how their graves were robbed of precious seeds to go with them to the afterlife by starving Pilgrims whose old world seeds would not grow in the new land.”
Second: “Re-center Thanksgiving by serving locally sourced food.”
We’ve de-centered Thanksgiving by only focusing on East Coast Native Americans, Bunten wrote (her family is from an Aleut and Yup’ik Eskimo town in Alaska, where European contact first happened in 1741) — so the key to de-colonization is buying foods grown locally for your Thanksgiving meal, for reasons never fully explained.
“Our Thanksgiving meal was comprised of organic foods, indigenous to North America! After a starter of squash soup, we feasted on roast duck with wild rice stuffing, cranberry sauce, chestnuts, and micro-greens salad,” Bunten wrote.
So essentially, an organic, locavore version of roughly the same meal everyone who chooses duck over turkey is going to have. Take that, colonizers!
Finally: “Address oppression by widening your circle. Ask someone outside your usual group of friends and family what Thanksgiving means to them.”
She describes a dinner where she was “joined by guests of different ages, ethnicities, religions and political views who grew up across the United States.” Unless I see a picture of someone in a MAGA hat or a Federalist Society T-shirt, I’m going to throw a challenge flag on there being a representative distribution of political views at that table.
And then there are the book lists Ferebee linked for adults and kids.
We’ve already digested enough wokeness to take in for one holiday, I feel, but if you want to buy a copy of “Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants” by Robin Wall Kimmerer ($29.99 at Barnes and Noble) or “Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story” for your preschooler ($12.68 at Amazon), I mean, they’re there.
Just so we’re clear, then, here’s the Lewis Ferebee primer for parents decolonizing your holiday, as assembled from the links he helpfully provided:
Acknowledge the land you’re currently sitting on was stolen.
Make sure to use appropriate terms, such as “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide.” But don’t be a downer about it!
Tell the real story about Thanksgiving during dinner, the one about genocide ‘n’ stuff — because, rest assured, your kids haven’t heard enough of it in D.C. Public Schools.
Re-center the holiday by eating a locally sourced meal. (I don’t know how this works to decolonize the holiday, but it does.)
Invite someone outside your circle to the dinner table — even those with different political views. Everyone on the political spectrum should be represented, from liberals on the right to progressives in the center and unreconstructed communists on the left.
Buy some stuff from one of America’s two largest book conglomerates. (Remember that “locally sourced” piffle? Yeah, forget it.)
There, in brief, is your guide on decolonizing your Thanksgiving and/or why D.C. Public Schools is such a hot mess.
You’re welcome, America.
https://flagandcross.com/dc-public-schools-urge-parents-to-decolonize-their-thanksgiving/
**********************************************Fairfax Schools Announce Reinstatement of Two Pornographic Books Despite Parental Pushback
Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia announced that two books that had been removed from the district's libraries for containing sexually explicit content will be reinstated after a two-month review process determined that the books have been "deemed appropriate for high school readers."
"Gender Queer: A Memoir" by Maia Kobabe, which contains explicit illustrations of oral sex and masturbation, and "Lawn Boy" by Jonathan Evison, containing graphic descriptions of sex between men and children, were removed from FCPS libraries in September after a parent raised concern over the books at a school board meeting.
FCPS denies that "Lawn Boy" includes pedophilia, saying in the announcement that there "is no pedophilia present in the book."
The parent said in an interview following the board meeting that the books "are actually so much worse than I ever would have imagined. So much worse."
Assistant Superintendent for Instructional Services Noel Klimenko praised the reimplementation of the books in a Nov. 23 news release.
"I am satisfied that the books were selected according to FCPS regulations and are appropriate to include in libraries that serve high school students," Klimenko said of the books being reinstated. "Both books have value beyond their pages for students who may struggle to find relatable stories."
The decision to put the books back on FCPS shelves came after two committees — made up of school administrators, librarians, parents, and students — voted unanimously to again offer the books to high school students.
The committees' decision will hold, pending any further appeal, FCPS said in the news release.
Nonprofit parent group Parents Defending Education slammed the decision to reinstate the books into FCPS libraries.
"The county’s actions are insulting and downright cowardly," Nicole Neily, President and Founder of Parents Defending Education, said in a statement to Townhall. "Schools are no place for hardcore pornography, yet Fairfax County Public Schools insists on pushing this graphic material upon our children."
"By announcing their decision over Thanksgiving break, they clearly hope that parents won’t take notice, she continued. "However, their actions show just how unfamiliar they are with parents: We’re always looking out for our children, and we won’t take this lying down.
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Georgia School System Paid Nearly $100K for Panorama Education’s 'Social Emotional Learning' Surveys
The Savannah-Chatham County Public School System in Georgia announced that it would be using Panorama Education’s Social Emotional Learning surveys for students and staff, costing more than $95,000 that the district said would be paid for using federal CARES Act funds.
The district said that the survey will include questions on challenging feelings, positive feelings, self-management, social awareness, grit, learning strategies, school engagement and valuing school, school climate, sense of belonging, and teacher-student relationships.
Panorama Education, the controversial organization founded by Attorney General Merrick Garland’s son-in-law, has reportedly been data mining students through its surveys.
Parents of students attending other schools throughout the country that have also used Panorama's surveys reported discovering that the organization's surveys included intrusive questions, including those about an individual's gender, sexual orientation, views on racial issues, and whether they receive free and reduced lunch. The schools then send the students' information to Panorama, and parents are unable to access their child's data, according to RealClearEducation.
"They are data mining and psychologically profiling our kids," a New Jersey parent told the news outlet of Panorama. "The questions they are asking are absolutely inappropriate in a school setting. Schools have sold our children’s privacy to a data analytics company that is tracking attendance, behavior, and family’s financial status."
And while Panoroma has previously been linked to critical race theory, the Georgia school district, acknowledging news reports showing connections between the two, claimed that the organization is in no way affiliated with the doctrine or any of its supporters.
The district said that Panorama Education is "not affiliated with any particular academic or legal philosophy, including critical race theory" and that Panorama is "does not sell critical race theory to schools." It added that the organization is "not a tool for teaching critical race theory."
Parents Defending Education slammed the district for using Panorama's SEL surveys in their schools while their students continue to struggle with traditional subject material.
"This district falls well below the state average for its reading and math outcomes with 31% of students scoring proficient in both subjects," Erika Sanzi, Director of Outreach for Parents Defending Education, said in a statement to Townhall. "District officials can't point to any evidence that these increasingly intrusive surveys are beneficial to students and $95,000 of taxpayer money would be much better used on actually teaching more students to read and do math."
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http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://australian-politics.blogspot.com/ (AUSTRALIAN POLITICS)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
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