Editor, The Smithfield Times:

CRT doesn’t belong in public schools. By CRT, I mean “Christian” Reactionary Trumplicans.

Fannie Lou Hamer, a courageous American activist, once said, “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.” I know why. She lived and struggled for justice during the Jim Crow era. This was certainly a period of our history in which the last two words of the Pledge of Allegiance (“for all”) were meaningless. They did not apply to millions of Americans.

I use the word Christian in parentheses because the attackers of public schools often profess a belief in their religion while exhibiting no knowledge or commitment to the lessons from the Beatitudes. They are railing against the past, the present, and seek to harm the future.

Public schools are obligated to prepare all children for a better future. Our country needs this.  People who don’t like that could send their children to any number of private schools or even homeschool them. That is their prerogative. But don’t presume the vitriolic attacks on public schools are in the best interests of the students, the community or the nation.

One of the tropes assailants of public education bring out is their idea that learning the actual history of this country would damage the self-esteem of some children. Excuse me. What are you saying about the self-esteem of children who are descendants of those whose history you would whitewash? Doesn’t that just speak volumes?

It is a shame that agenda-driven advocates are trying so desperately to steer our schools back toward an entitled, unjust past when we are obligated to prepare them for an inclusive and challenging future.

Thank you, Dr. Jim Thornton, for your hard work. Thank you, School Board, schools, administrators, teachers and support staff, for your hard work. Thank you, parents and community that support our schools and all of our children.

 

Jerry Tenney

Smithfield