Though I found a few diaries here that covered this latest FAUX News, Malkin spew outrage, they got very little traction, and I thought it would be important that Kossaks support both the school under attack, the principal and the children. Freepers are also out in force pushing a poll in on a Philly.com website.
Media Matters is covering the controversy, which relates both to the initial story and the FOX coverage of same.
Fox News scrubs any mention of school death threat in kids-sing-for-Obama story
Foxnews.com posted an item about the right-wing crusade yesterday to vilify young school children in N.J. who sang the praise of the president Obama during a Black History Month event. In that original report, the Fox update noted [emphasis added]:
The tension at B. Bernice Young Elementary School escalated to such a degree Thursday that the school was placed temporarily on lockdown after its principal received death threats over a YouTube video that showed nearly 20 children being taught songs lauding the president, though back-to-school night events continuing as planned Thursday night at the school.
Soon after though, the Fox news report had been scrubbed of any mention of looming violence; it had been scrubbed of any notion that right-wing crazies apparently called the school and were threatening to kill the principal.
Philly.com has posted an article this morning with attached poll:
HAIL TO THE CHIEF?
Current poll results:
READER FEEDBACK
Do you object to schoolchildren singing in praise of the president?
Yes, it's indoctrination 986 (61.8%)
Yes, but more because the kids are too young to really think about this 215 (13.5%)
I don't know; it's just a song 89 (5.6%)
No 306 (19.2%)
Freepers are in an uproar (what else is new)
I will not provide a link to comments there, since why drive hits but a sample includes:
>>>Forsyth also said the teacher who directed the song and is not shown in the video retired at the end of the school year.<<< <br>Fire her, retroactively, for misconduct, and take away her pension!
"commissioner wants to ensure that students can celebrate Black History Month without ‘inappropriate partisan politics in the classroom’."
WTF are we doing still doing this "Black History Month" crap? It’s RACIST, and it needs to stop.
Damage done for sure. It’s criminal to corrupt young minds that way.
Much more insidious brainwashing has been going on for the last 20 years in public schools where ever "diversity" and "multiculturalism" was established.
John Dewey, a Progressive, took over the school's curriculum and inserted cultural Marxism....the results: someone like zero elected. People like Dewey had to hide their schemes originally because it was a lot harder to implement his ideas with the 50's (in-tact family) generation, although not impossible since the media was controlled by Marxists (see 60's revolution).
I agree with you black history month is racist. should be american history
The right wing furor has also led to calls to the wrong school, which bears the same name:
Angry calls also were reported at the Bernice Young Elementary School in Springdale, Ark., said Debbi Flora, the principal. Some "did not use very kind language," she said.
"Over the last several months, there has been a concerted effort on the part of some cable news networks, blogs, radio shows and organizations related to the tea parties to question the legitimacy of the Obama administration and the president himself," Harris said. "And if you were to look at where the story is being driven, I'd be surprised if it was not the same set of actors that raised questions about death panels, birth certificates, expansion of the scope of government, government takeover of health care and, generally, government threats to individual freedom."
Fox News is now focused on the school principal
N.J. Principal Unapologetic for Videotape of Kids Praising Obama, Parents Say
posting a photo of the principal, who is African-American attending the Obama inauguration.
Superintendent Christopher Manno defended the performance in Friday's editions of the Burlington County Times.
"There was no intention to indoctrinate children," he said. "The teacher's intention was to engage the children in an activity to recognize famous and accomplished African Americans."
He said he would not identify the teacher who led the song. State education officials said she retired at the end of the last school year.
The source of the video is not entirely clear. In Malkin's column, she said it was posted in June on the YouTube channel of author Charisse Carney-Nunes, who wrote the children's book "I Am Barack Obama."
The song medley was presented to Carney-Nunes, who had been invited to the school, as a demonstration of a project the children had put together, her public relations firm said in a statement.
"Charisse feels it is unfortunate that an event put together with sincere intentions to encourage literacy while celebrating the contributions of African Americans to our great nation has become political fodder and hopes cooler heads will prevail," the hoverFly media statement said.
I cannot imagine how any school during Black History Month, or any other month for that matter, could ignore the historic election of our first black President.
What lessons should our children be learning from the election of Barack Obama? I hope that they are now learning no longer are the portraits of U.S. President's only white males. Having grown up in America with the lie my whole life that "any child can aspire to be President" because the reality of history said otherwise, are we now to be constrained from discussing this in classrooms, and inspiring young people who happen not to be white or male from taking pride in this breakthrough? I would hope that Sonia Sotomayor's appointment to the Supreme Court would also be a source of hope for the nations students who are Latino.
The witch hunts being conducted by the right, with the collusion of FOX news will have a real chilling effect of how comfortable teachers feel about doing anything that touches upon the issues of race and ethnicity in our nation's history and current events.
We need to push back. Bad enough that schoolchildren were prevented from seeing an address to children from the POTUS. What next?
***UPDATE*** Hat tip to BlueSue for this information about the school having sent the lyrics home to parents in advance in a piece by Raw Story:
. . ."no parents objected to [the song] prior to the assembly, during the assembly or after the assembly."
Mitchell told On the Record with Greta Van Susteren that parents were sent the lyrics of the song in advance, as is standard procedure with performances of this sort, and that no one voiced any concerns about it. He noted the performance took place in February, shortly after the inauguration of the 44th president, when Obama's popularity ratings were riding high.