Joseph Meyer on Nostr: Memories from Texas On September 8, 2009 President Barack Obama spoke to school ...
Memories from Texas
On September 8, 2009 President Barack Obama spoke to school children across the USA about the importance of education and personal responsibility. My children were attending a Texas public elementary school at the time and I learned by official memorandum that some parents in my neighborhood were unhappy about the event. The school principal didn’t tell those parents to get over it; she did not tell them to send a note asking for their children to be excused (and begin the school day late or sit in a separate room without the broadcast). No, to appease racism, the school principal sent a letter to all parents requiring them to give signed permission for them to opt into hearing the President of the United States speak about an apolitical topic. Otherwise they would sit quietly in the cafeteria. It made me really angry; it still makes me angry.
I once heard a classmate use the N-word when I was in elementary school more than 50 years ago. I decided to try it out when I got home in a conversation with my mother, who I recall was standing in front of the stove and cooking. She turned around and slapped me across the face. I’m glad she did. I haven’t forgotten it. But I didn’t realize how much bigotry was still around just 15 years ago when Obama gave his talk to school children. And I certainly did not realize it was still so widely prevalent when we re-elected Donald Trump in 2024.
#Texas
#School
#Racism
#Bigotry
https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamabacktoschoolspeech.htm
On September 8, 2009 President Barack Obama spoke to school children across the USA about the importance of education and personal responsibility. My children were attending a Texas public elementary school at the time and I learned by official memorandum that some parents in my neighborhood were unhappy about the event. The school principal didn’t tell those parents to get over it; she did not tell them to send a note asking for their children to be excused (and begin the school day late or sit in a separate room without the broadcast). No, to appease racism, the school principal sent a letter to all parents requiring them to give signed permission for them to opt into hearing the President of the United States speak about an apolitical topic. Otherwise they would sit quietly in the cafeteria. It made me really angry; it still makes me angry.
I once heard a classmate use the N-word when I was in elementary school more than 50 years ago. I decided to try it out when I got home in a conversation with my mother, who I recall was standing in front of the stove and cooking. She turned around and slapped me across the face. I’m glad she did. I haven’t forgotten it. But I didn’t realize how much bigotry was still around just 15 years ago when Obama gave his talk to school children. And I certainly did not realize it was still so widely prevalent when we re-elected Donald Trump in 2024.
#Texas
#School
#Racism
#Bigotry
https://www.americanrhetoric.com/speeches/barackobama/barackobamabacktoschoolspeech.htm