[Vision2020] Grievance Targets Teachings on Slavery

[pkraut at moscow.com]

I would recommend the same book Tom Trail recommended awhile back. 'To 
Hell or Barbados' is indeed a great book about slavery.



> >From today's (April 2, 2005) Spokesman review.
> 
> These teachings sound too, too familiar.
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Grievance targets teachings on slavery 
> 
> Taryn Brodwater
> Staff writer
> 
> April 2, 2005
> 
> An African American father has filed a civil rights grievance against the
> Coeur d'Alene School District, saying the district's teachings on 
slavery,
> lynching and the Civil War "encourage ignorance, mistrust, bias and
> intolerance."
> 
> In the complaint filed March 18, Gary Lewis said his son's eighth-grade
> history teacher made statements in class that "slavery was not as bad as 
it
> is often portrayed in some books and in Hollywood" and "as long as they
> didn't break the rules, the slaves had it pretty good."
>  
> Canfield Middle School teacher Ken Chariton is named in the grievance, 
along
> with Principal Jeff Bengtson and a substitute teacher, Dustin Shafer.
> 
> Chariton, Bengtson and Shafer could not be reached for comment.
> Superintendent Harry Amend said the district is working with Lewis to
> address his concerns, but Amend was hesitant to discuss specifics.
> 
> "I don't believe it would be appropriate for me to comment on Gary's
> concerns without his permission," Amend said Friday, adding that "it's 
very
> common the district can learn and often improves itself as a district by
> working with citizens and their concerns."
> 
> Lewis could not be reached for comment.
> 
> Lewis expressed concern in the grievance about statements Chariton and 
the
> substitute had made about slavery and lynching and about the textbooks 
being
> used to teach about the subjects.
> 
> He said the statement, "More whites were lynched in our history than
> blacks," was made by both teachers and taken directly from the textbook.
> 
> Lewis said teachings on the Civil War didn't focus enough attention on 
the
> Emancipation Proclamation and that his son said "the contributions of 
black
> soldiers, runaways and ex-slaves to the outcome of the war was 
marginalized
> or dismissed as insignificant."
> 
> In the grievance, Lewis criticizes Chariton for not mentioning Black 
History
> Month while covering material on slavery during February and for not 
telling
> students about a PBS documentary on slavery.
> 
> Lewis writes in the grievance that Bengtson told him that his children 
may
> have "heard Ken Chariton wrong and misinterpreted what he was saying." He
> wrote that the principal also told him Chariton was trying to get kids to
> see slavery from the Southerners' perspective.
> 
> In the grievance, Lewis listed a dozen suggestions for the district,
> including providing teachers and students with cultural awareness
> opportunities; educating students, parents and staff on harassment and 
the
> district's grievance policy; replacing the current textbook; recognizing
> Black History Month; and arranging for a presentation on black history 
from
> "an Afrocentric perspective."
> 
> Lewis calls for the district to investigate his allegations and provide 
him
> the findings in writing. If he doesn't agree with the findings, Lewis 
said,
> he will file complaints with the Idaho Human Rights Commission, the U.S.
> Department of Justice and the Office for Civil Rights.
> 
> ----------------------------------------------------------
> 
> Take care, Moscow.
> 
> Tom Hansen
> Just Another Pagan Intolerista Liberal Elitista Wacko Nutjob Loose in the
> Palouse Saving His Nickles and Dimes for Trinity Fest 2005
> 
> Seeya there, Fatboy.
> 
> "What is objectionable, what is dangerous, about extremists is not that 
they
> are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say
> about their cause, but what they say about their opponents."
> 
> -- Robert F. Kennedy
> 
> 
> 
> 
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