Wow, the elitist waging war on our culture sure have been busy! Earlier I wrote about a Florida University that can’t stomach holiday decorations. A little closer to home, (too damn close mind you!), more of those enlightened individuals known as college/university professors have decided that kindergarten kids wearing traditional Thanksgiving day costumes is demeaning to native Americans. Oh, please . . .

For decades, Claremont kindergartners have celebrated Thanksgiving by dressing up as pilgrims and Native Americans and sharing a feast. But on Tuesday, when the youngsters meet for their turkey and songs, they won’t be wearing their hand-made bonnets, headdresses and fringed vests.

Parents in this quiet university town are sharply divided over what these construction-paper symbols represent: A simple child’s depiction of the traditional (if not wholly accurate) tale of two factions setting aside their differences to give thanks over a shared meal? Or a cartoonish stereotype that would never be allowed of other racial, ethnic or religious groups?

“It’s demeaning,” Michelle Raheja, the mother of a kindergartner at Condit Elementary School, wrote to her daughter’s teacher. “I’m sure you can appreciate the inappropriateness of asking children to dress up like slaves (and kind slave masters), or Jews (and friendly Nazis), or members of any other racial minority group who has struggled in our nation’s history.”

{…}

Raheja, an English professor at UC Riverside who specializes in Native American literature, said she met with teachers and administrators in hopes that the district could hold a public forum to discuss alternatives that celebrate thankfulness without “dehumanizing” her daughter’s ancestry.

Nice to know that someone teaching at the university level in SoCal thinks that “Jews (and friendly Nazis)” are part of “our nation’s history”. Excuse me Michelle, wasn’t that Nazi Germany? Getting your oppressed peoples a tad bit mixed up aren’t we?

Last week, rumors began to circulate on both campuses that the district was planning to cancel the event, and infuriated parents argued over the matter at a heated school board meeting Thursday. District Supt. David Cash announced at the end of the meeting that the two schools had tentatively decided to hold the event without the costumes, and sent a memo to parents Friday confirming the decision.

Cash and the principals of Condit and Mountain View did not respond to interview requests.

But many parents, who are convinced the decision was made before the board meeting, accused administrators of bowing to political correctness.

Life is getting more and more like South Park’s Mr. Hankey episode.

This Christmas-themed episode of South Park opens as the children rehearse their Christmas play. They are performing a Christian Nativity, and when Kyle’s mother hears of this, she is infuriated by the play, because her son, a Jew, plays the role of Joseph. Mrs. Broflovski is offended by the Christian imagery, and demands that the religious elements be taken out of the public school Christmas pageant, since they don’t celebrate Christmas. (…)

Mayor McDaniels decides that anything offensive to anyone will be removed from the Christmas celebrations, including Santa Claus, wreaths, trees, stars, lights, candy canes, and mistletoe. (…)

Ultimately, the school Christmas pageant, along with the whole town, is stripped of all symbols of Christmas, as anything that does resemble Christmas is deemed offensive by someone (…) . Instead, the children present a minimalist song and dance created by Philip Glass. The parents, astounded by how awful the pageant has turned out, begin blaming one another for destroying Christmas, and a fight breaks out.

If that doesn’t sound a heck of a lot like this . . .

Among the costume supporters, there is a vein of suspicion that casts Raheja and others opposed to the costumes as agenda-driven elitists. Of the handful of others who spoke with Raheja against the costumes at the board meeting, one teaches at the University of Redlands, one is an instructor at Riverside Community College, and one is a former Pitzer College professor.

Raheja is “using those children as a political platform for herself and her ideas,” Constance Garabedian said as her 5-year-old Mountain View kindergartner happily practiced a song about Native Americans in the background. “I’m not a professor and I’m not a historian, but I can put the dots together.”

{…}

“Its always a good thing to think about, critically, how we teach kids, even from very young ages, the message we want them to learn, and the respect for the diversity of the American experiences,” said Jennifer Tilton, an assistant professor of race and ethnic studies at the University of Redlands and a Claremont parent who opposes the costumes.

Ya know? Sometimes a bit too much education is a debilitating thing. Don’t think that everyone that teaches at the college and university level are super-smart. From the way they carry on, a good lot o’ them don’t know “Mr. Hankey” from Shinola!

Michelle Raheja — You are truly deserving of Okie’s Head Up The Wazzoo Award!

Say “howdy” to Mr. Hankey for me . . .

Technorati Tags: Thanksgiving day costumes, Claremont, Michelle Raheja

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