By Barbara Smith,
Blogger and Social Justice Activist,
https://www.facebook.com/HWdemocrats/
The following post is my response to the following Boston Globe headline….
Schools Wary as Nonprofit Targets Teaching!
Right-leaning group’s complaints cite bias in lessons on gender, race, sexuality
by Jusneel Mahal- Globe Correspondent
https://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-boston-globe-1018/20221115/281479280402628
This is a complex issue because there are two competing brands of extremists wrestling for control of what teachers must or are allowed to teach, threats of lawsuits and confused students who often just want to learn the academics that will enable them to graduate and earn a living.
I am sharing from the Boston Globe article (link above) in Black italics and my thoughts and responses are in blue. There really are two sides to this conflict…..This is reflected locally in The Hamilton Wenham Public Schools, in the lovely, rural, north shore, Massachusetts. The following excerpts describe a supposed Human Rights Coalition that is actually a faith-based, hate mongering, political lobby with evangelical goals and a thirst for power.
Boston Globe:
“An increasingly active right-leaning nonprofit called Parents Defending Education filed a federal civil rights complaint against Newton North High School last month, alleging that a student-led theater production broke the law by limiting auditions to people of color only. “
If I were in that school, given my liberal bent and understanding of the history of enslavement, Jim Crow, hate and legal discrimination against people of color – I would simply ignore this situation. However, One must also question why there is a need to create a conflict that might ultimately result in a discrimination lawsuit between the less enlightened students and their parents while doing nothing to promote racial harmony. When I attended an integrated high school in 1968 New York City, I joined the modern dance club that was dominated by talented African American students, who choreographed and taught me African style movements that we performed at assembly. I LOVED IT!!! But then again, that was New York, a bastion of liberal values…..
The Boston Globe continues…
” The same group sued Wellesley Public Schools last year for alleged illegal discrimination when Wellesley High School hosted a forum for Asian students and students of color to discuss a mass shooting at an Asian massage parlor in Atlanta. The teacher who organized the session wrote that it was “not” for students who identify only as White.”
When I attended high school in the 1960s young people had a focus on equality for women, people of color and stopping the senseless Viet Nam War. I also knew that homosexuals suffered from hate and violence, even in liberal NYC. The term “gender identity” had not yet crossed my path.
My high school teachers created a space for students to talk about war, death, hate, racism, homosexuality and sexism. The most vocal and articulate students led discussions ( I was a quiet, wallflower at that point) and I loved hearing the variety of perspectives. How dare Wellesley schools deprive students an opportunity to sit in a diverse setting, discussing critical, current issues that impact the school community and society at large. After all, these are the young people who have been handed a post Trumpian world of hate….. to fix. However, if my “white” self was excluded from this school sponsored event- I would again, be annoyed and confused, but accept it. I understand that people who share a marginalized status may be more comfortable with each other. However, the school’s exclusionary actions denied white students learning opportunities and opened the door to lawsuits. This is not helping promote positive race relations.
So far, according to the Boston Globe- 43 incidents…..
“So far, the national group has identified 43 “incidents” in which they say Massachusetts Schools inappropriately- or even illegally taught students about race, sexual orientation, or gender, setting school districts across the Commonwealth on edge that they might be sued next. ”
“I’ve never seen anything like this before in all my years here,” said Wellesley School Superintendent David Lussier; who settled the lawsuit with the organization in February. “They try to go after superintendents and get people fired”.
“Parents Defending Education did not return repeated requests for comment, but supporters say the group offers a vital counterweight to an education system steeped in liberal values.”
“I think it’s good because, for a long time, education has been very one-sided,” said Jenifer McWilliams, a consultant to Parents Defending Education who runs her own advocacy group in Indiana. “Schools have decided that they need to teach children morals, values, attitude, and worldview over academics.”
So, What are the goals of Parents Defending Education?
Let me begin by presenting my value that NO BOOKS SHOULD BE BANNED…. Free speech, even hate speech is protected by the United States Constitution. The Parents Defending Education is not pro free speech since their website provides their mission statement as follows:
Parents Defending Education is a national grassroots organization working to reclaim our schools from activists promoting harmful agendas. Through network and coalition building, investigative reporting, litigation, and engagement on local, state, and national policies, we are fighting indoctrination in the classroom — and for the restoration of a healthy, non-political education for our kids.
American education has ALWAYS been biased. The question, the conflict, the culture wars etc…. are all about which bias should dominate public school education. I grew up forced to pledge allegiance to the United States of America even though there obviously was a lack of justice for all and I never believed in god.
If you explore the Parents Defending Education, you will learn that parents fear their white children feeling guilty about being white, blamed for the sordid and cruel history of their country and being taught that gender is fluid. Young children may be taught about the new pronoun lingo foisted on them before even learning to read. This takes time away from learning academics. I no longer have a child in the school system and have no idea how accurate or misinformed parents are concerning what is actually taught but I do believe teaching accurate American and world history at a level developmentally appropriate for the given age group is critical to learning truth that can only help young people understand how to make the world more just. As a white woman, I do NOT feel guilty about my “white privilege”, I am not responsible for it, BUT I want to destroy this privilege by creating a level playing field for every American.
According to the Boston Globe, they encourage students to become “Incident Reporters”
“The two-year old organization, based in Washington D.C. urges parents across the country to report incidents in which they believe schools are dividing students on racial lines or inappropriately teaching students about sex or gender roles. The group states on its website that education must be based on “scholarship and facts” and says ethnic studies divide “children into ‘oppressor’ and ‘oppressed’ groups while teaching white students “guilt and shame.”
The Boston Globe article continues to describe the organization’s affiliations with right wing think tanks with big money (such as the Koch Brothers) pushing conservative values. According to Meira Levinson, a professor at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, “The right more than the left seems to have mastered techniques of developing language that can be replicated in legislation or policy across different municipalities and state governments.”
Faith-based, political lobby extremists in Hamilton
As I previously stated, I have no knowledge of what children are specifically being taught in the Hamilton Wenham Public Schools or any schools….. I have no problem with and in fact, desire…that white children learn the accurate history of enslavement, Jim Crow, the 1960s Civil Rights Movement and more recently the Black Lives Matter movement to stop police brutality targeting people of color. White children should be taught that they can be part of the solution in the fight for social justice. My “White Privilege” is simply a status that removed the onus of discrimination based on race from my personal life journey and challenges. I want to be part of the movement that creates an even playing field for every child regardless of classifications such as zip code, immigration status, race or gender.
However, there is no place for a faith-based, political lobby such as the one controlling the Hamilton Wenham School district to push an agenda that has demonstrated an anti-women and anti-atheist bias since its inception. Calling any voice of dissent (especially, mine) a “racist”, “anti-human rights”, “bigoted”, “classist” and a “TERF” (as I was called) is not only unethical, it promotes HATE. Pretty ironic, isn’t it???
I used to be an ally and member of the local North Shore NAACP, but disengaged when they encouraged faith based involvement and close association and approval of the faith-based Hamilton Wenham Human Rights Coalition, political lobby 501 (c) (4). By the way, the president of this group, Anna Siedzik- earns income when selling housing units for her employer, , the Harborlight Community Partners, a 7-church consortiumย nonprofit that makes millions of dollars from public CPC funds,ย grants. and taxpayers.. There is an obvious conflict of influence since she uses her elected position on the School Board to convince parents to support unfettered development in the name of human rights regardless of rising real estate taxes or environmental harm.
Educators walk a fine line attempting to teach truth without getting fired.
The Boston Globe cites cases such as a teacher organized Walkout in Brookline to protest the Florida “Don’t say Gay” bill. Personally, I believe that a class discussion would be more valuable and fair to conservative students who might have felt coerced to engage in political protest.
People of all ages have the freedom to engage in protest, but not necessarily during the school day and unlike some of the student led protests against mass gun shootings in schools….. we can all agree that mass murder is bad and teaching that focuses on political issues is controversial when the protest is teacher led and more or less forced on every student.
In June the Parent organization condemned Milton Schools for teaching a lesson about the country’s first openly gay politician, Harvey Milk, and the importance of the letters LGBTQ. Assuming that the students were developmentally and cognitively ready to learn about this hateful piece of history, it is very appropriate to include this discussion in history, social studies or even a psychology or sociology class.
In another lawsuit, Parents Defending Education focused on a Needham Schools power point presentation about genetics that also discussed transgender people. The power point included a statistical error that again opened the doors to a lawsuit.
Extremists in Hamilton:
The following is a message I received from a young adult and product of the Hamilton Wenham School System. Their mother is an officer in the Hamilton Wenham Human Rights Coalition and their father is a member of the select board and the liaison to the Hamilton Human Rights Commission. Both parents have associations with the local Christian College that requires volunteers, students and employees to sign a discrimination pledge against LGBTQi individuals. I include the screenshots from my phone at the end of this post.
Apr 12, 2022,
Hey Barbara, I know we’re in something of a public facebook smackdown, but I’m trying to let this message be a respectful sidebar: In one of your recent posts you referenced two categories of people “trans women” and “women with vaginas.” I’m not going to go too deep into why, but for a combination of accuracy (lots of trans women have genital surgery, so they have vaginas), rejection of genital/bio-centrism, and general hurtfulness to all parties, “women with vaginas” isn’t considered the appropriate way of saying “women who aren’t trans.” The best term is “cisgender,” or “cis” women. I believe in using the most appropriate and least damaging terminology when we talk about LGBT issues… I don’t believe in demonizing well-intentioned people who aren’t up-to-date on the “lingo.” So I didn’t want to comment publicly, where it could only be seen as an admonishment, but I did want to reach out to you to ask you to edit this post to say cisgender women and adopt this phrasing in your future posting/conversation! Thanks, X
Its no wonder parents are pissed…..
I’m for equal rights, for all, regardless of gender, gender identity or sexual preference. The recent spate of hate attacking the LGBTQI community is disgusting and horrifying and I am grateful that Marriage Equity is now codified before the extremist right wing supreme court abolish human rights as they did to women who lost bodily autonomy (women with vaginas who are vulnerable to forced birthing) .
But, no I will not change what I call myself to please a product of run amok morality and lingo police. Its really not a big deal that I received this narcissistic and ignorant person’s message…. BUT, people such as this are emblematic of the self-righteous, cult extremism and zealotry that controls every aspect of Hamilton government and society and many other communities. They believe that they are right and everyone else is merely not on board yet. They believe they are right with the same religious zeal that a reverend shouts from the pulpit. They believe that anyone who has independent ideas not in lock-step with the Hamilton Wenham Human Rights Coalition, a faith based, political lobby is wrong. School Board member Anna Siedzik believes that she has the right to determine who is right and who is wrong and who needs to have their minds fixed with the proper indoctrination. They believe that they have the right, moral duty and god’s approval to push her agenda of controlling every aspect of the public schools educational indoctrination. If someone is hurt by my calling myself “a woman with a vagina” – then that person needs mental health services.
Freedom means that WE all decide what to call ourselves. We decide what to pledge to, what proclamation to recite and whether or not to pray. We the people, decide what to do with our own bodies. I fight for that fragile Wall separating church and state as the Hamilton government officials, led by the Coalition, dismantle that Wall. I do NOT need to use Anna Siedzik’s Coalition Lingo and I am NOT a TERF because I do not attend big, crowded, noisy, covidy Pride parties…..
Below are just a few previous blog posts that clarify the faith based, political lobby mission….
https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/11/14/metro/right-leaning-
nonprofit-increasingly-targets-massachusetts-teaching-gender-race-sex-education/
https://www.pressreader.com/usa/the-boston-globe-1018/20221118/282900914584400
Message from young person telling me what to call myself!
She has very nice manners, but I have the right to call myself as I please and I also use any pronoun or lingo that individual people tell me to use in reference to them….
Message from Anna Siedzik, president of the faith-based, political lobby that calls itself the Hamilton Wenham Human Rights Coalition…. to me…
Anna Siedzik and others in the Coalition called 2 members of the Select Board “racists” because they refused to approve a human rights policy that excluded women and atheists as protected classes. These 2 women insisted that the policy either 1) remain nonspecific on protected classes or 2) include the highly vulnerable classes of “women” and “atheists”… Attacks on these courageous independent public servants ultimately resulted in their losing their re-election to the board. They were replaced by Christian Nationalists under Coalition control.
Ultimately the town sanctioned Hamilton Human Rights Commission (funded by taxes, yet controlled by the same faith-based extremists in the Coalition) chose to keep the policy statement general and short….. as the 2 demonized Select Board members originally requested….
By the way, women are not just random vegetables and atheism is NOT a religion as Ms. Siedzik states above…..
Statement From the Hamilton Human Rights Commission:
The purpose of this Commission is to affirm that the Town of Hamilton is an inclusive community that has, as one of its core values, the freedom from discrimination, intolerance, disrespect, bigotry, other forms of micro- or macro-aggressions, hatred and oppression, and to reaffirm the Townโs commitment to upholding and defending the rights of all individuals to enjoy the free and equal exercise of their rights and privileges, as secured by the Constitutions of the United States and Commonwealth of Massachusetts.