I want to say thanks to Shaun King for sharing this story. I enjoy his writing a lot and follow him here on DK. I know a lot of people have other feelings about Shaun but I am fan. He sheds light on a world I hear about all to frequently lately. The mistreatment of people by authority. Too much lately Authority has been laying the smackdown on innocent people. This has to stop and quickly. Authority can be good but as we have seen and will see even more of in the future Authority can over step and when it does it needs to be stopped. Too often those who have Authority abuse the power and in the past there were little to no consequences for their actions. We need to shine a light on their unjust use of power and show them there are consequences when they abuse their power. As a result of Shaun's story I was moved to email the superintendent of schools, Jay Foster. I share the email below and will share the response if the power hungry idiot decides to respond.
This was such a huge breach of the decorum expected at a ceremony of this type. You must make sure it never happens again at your school. You should immediately arrest the kids as well. Why stop at the parents when it was clearly the children's fault for making it through 4 years of high school to graduate. In fact it is such a horrendous act that all must pay dearly for their actions. All four families must be seen to pay for their actions. Why not have a public execution of all of them right on the football field ? That would really show the kids that you mean business. Make it a mandatory school event. Make sure you explain that anyone caught shouting or crying or screaming will be shot next ! Heck just throw out the First Amendment ! Make sure you dress appropriately for the execution ceremony. I would suggest a Tan shirt and pants with Black knee boots and a nice red, arm band with a white circle in the middle with that great symbol of freedom The Swastika emblazoned on the white field of the circle, or maybe that is too much maybe you would feel more at home in a nice white sheet ! That would go over great. I'm betting you could a bunch of your friends to dress up with you. When you are done with the execution you could burn a cross to finish it off. I am betting your circle of friends would really love that. Make sure you film it so your buddies can enjoy it time after time.
Just in case you can't figure it out with your extremely narrow mind, the above is SARCASM ! How in any sense of right and wrong can you believe that arresting people who were doing nothing more than expressing their exuberance at their children's greatest achievement to date ? Maybe your feelings were hurt that a few people did not follow your rules. So freaking what. Are you that much of a power hungry MORON ? I am betting you sat there seething at the thought that these people were going to get away without any real consequences. You just had to have the last word and make sure your punishment was over harsh. You had to make sure no one would ever violate one of your rules in the future. You must be a complete idiot to believe that no one would get a little over joyed and excited at the ceremony. Not one single graduation has gone on without some member of the crowd expressing their joy and excitement with a shout or yell to their child. This is not some huge issue of defiance. Deal with it and go on with your life. One word of advice. You might want to get out of the education business. You have the completely wrong attitude for it. You would probably do very well as a prison guard or even the warden. Then you could enact thoughtless and immature policies and the inmates would have to take it. Though you might want to watch out for their lawyers. There is such a wonderful document in this country called the Constitution. It gives each of us rights,. The first of these allows us the freedom of speech. As an educator you might need to brush up on this.
Speaking of educators, my dear sir, you are definitely NOT one. A true educator tries to engage their students minds, not control their every action and thought. That sir is the way dictators act. They are similar in look and sound but they are not the same thing. Even as the head of the school you should exemplify the best of what educators are supposed to be. A leader leads from the front and by example. The only example you have given these children is that they must mindlessly follow your rules or face extremely stiff punishment way out of proportion to the crime.. This does nothing to engage their brains and everything to engage their rebellion while trying to crush their spirit. These children have had the disservice of your totalian rule long enough. Do the next classes a favor and resign now. You have neither the temper nor the demeanor of an educator. They would be much better off with someone who values free speech over mindless obedience to minor rules. You have failed to crush their spirit and that is an amazing testimony to their resilience and not a testimony to your petty and childish actions in the face of someone breaking your insane rules. I am betting you probably have not even read this far, deciding instead to go back over the first paragraph and revel in the supposed homage of your actions while imagining the firing squad. Nothing will be able to change your thinking that you are right and just in this cause. and that is truly pathetic.
I will await your reply. Unfortunately I do not believe one will be coming. You refused to allow the TV to interview you. What are my chances for getting an answer in writing on your vile actions ? Not much that is for sure.