View Full Version : NYC Principal Bars Students from Singing "God Bless Usa" at Graduation
Think this maggot "principal" will get fired or get a medal. It is New York...
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/06/10/nyc-principal-bars-students-from-singing-god-bless-usa-at-graduation/#ixzz1xNFLAfWs?test=latestnews
A New York City principal has pulled the plug on patriotism by preventing students from singing "God Bless the USA" at their graduation.
The decision has sparked fireworks at a school filled with proud immigrants.
Greta Hawkins, principal of PS 90, the Edna Cohen School, will not allow kindergarten students to belt out the beloved Lee Greenwood ballad, also known as "Proud to be an American," at their moving-up ceremony.
Five classes spent months learning the patriotic song, which skyrocketed in popularity after the 9/11 attacks and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
It was to be the rousing finale of their musical show at the June 20 commencement. The kids, dressed up for their big day, would wave tiny American flags -- which, as the lyrics proclaim, "still stand for freedom."
But Hawkins marched in on a recent rehearsal and ordered a CD playing the anthem to be shut off, staffers said. She told the teachers to drop the song from the program.
"We don't want to offend other cultures," they quoted her as explaining
Snip
Wow.
I can't believe some of the shit that comes out these days. We spend so much time focused on everyone else, and so little time focused on the core values of America.
This is a prime example of what will ultimately lead us to our own demise.
I agree, it tears at the very fabric that is America.
That being said, I would have picked a different song. Don't get me wrong, I cry at that Lee Greenwood song just like everyone else.
How about "The Star Spangled Banner"? Kids sing it, automatically the audience gets up and starts to sing it as well. Sounds like a win, win to me.
Before anyone beats me up on this, I repeat, I am not bad mouthing Lee Greenwood. Also, my scenario would never work for the same reasons the Lee Greenwood song got yanked.
Just my $0.02
sf
Fox News reported that some teen pop song called, "Baby," was replacing it...:mad:
Principal hawkins needs a good old fashioned Bitch Slap or five...what a POS Bitch.:rolleyes:
JMHO,
Holly
How about "The Star Spangled Banner"? Kids sing it, automatically the audience gets up and starts to sing it as well.
So far.
Destrier
06-10-2012, 07:05
A federal and State funded school not desiring to offend other cultures by playing a pro-America song?
Sorry, had to say it out loud just to make sure I was reading it correctly.
As a Western New York State resident, I am offended my state tax dollars are being funneled to NYC schools by way of Albany. I am equally offended my Federal taxes are supporting 'this school' in particular.
aegisnavy
06-10-2012, 08:02
It is a simple fact of gratitude. If you are unable to realize and understand the privilege of living in the rare miracle that is the United States of America, you will never appreciate it.
The scourge of the entitlement mentality wears many faces.
Bet she has a CD of The Internationale and other similar songs that she listens to while going to and from her worker people funded job.
Sounds a lot more complicated than how Fox News chose to present it.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/school_silences_patriotic_song_xdunXcLPbE8S2rAEcZo UiP?utm_medium=rss%26utm_content=Local
Seems like a fairly toxic work environment complicated by the principal's personal religious beliefs (against any national symbols such as pledges, etc) and has been festering for awhile now.
And so it goes...
Richard :munchin
Oh, Yeah. Right. Not age appropriate!
"......Department of Education spokeswoman Jessica Scaperotti gave The Post an explanation staffers said they never heard — that Hawkins found the lyrics “too grown up” for 5-year-olds.
The song starts: “If tomorrow all the things were gone, I’d worked for all my life. And I had to start again, with just my children and my wife, I’d thank my lucky stars, to be livin’ here today.”
Scaperotti said the department supports the principal’s decision. “The lyrics are not age-appropriate,” she said.
But Justin Bieber’s flirty song about teen romance, “Baby,” was deemed a fine selection for the show. Hawkins had no problem with 5-year-olds singing lines such as, “Are we an item? Girl, quit playing.”....................."
First off her ass should be out in the street for being in charge of the school and only finding out what songs were playing in the program after many weeks of practice.
Sounds a lot more complicated than how Fox News chose to present it.
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/school_silences_patriotic_song_xdunXcLPbE8S2rAEcZo UiP?utm_medium=rss%26utm_content=Local
Seems like a fairly toxic work environment complicated by the principal's personal religious beliefs (against any national symbols such as pledges, etc) and has been festering for awhile now.
And so it goes...
Richard :munchin
There's no silver lining in this one, Richard.
"We don't want to offend other cultures," they quoted her as explaining
Snip
We're not in other countries...this is the USA. What an ignorant bitch.
greenberetTFS
06-10-2012, 18:00
We're not in other countries...this is the USA. What an ignorant bitch.
Excellent ...:mad: :mad: :mad:
Big Teddy :munchin
She's a Jehovah's Witness. They can declare no sovereignity to any Country, only to God. They don't believe in any kind of 'pledge' or swearing to a man made entity....they do not allow their members to join the military.
Very strange cult......they come to my door all of the time....
She is ovelaying her personal beliefs upon that school and should be sued for it.
This has nothing to do with 'culture'...she is lying.
We're not in other countries...this is the USA. What an ignorant bitch.
Very eloquently said. :)
Having pride in our great country is always age-appropriate.
S.
Sand_Rogue
06-10-2012, 20:09
She's a Jehovah's Witness. They can declare no sovereignity to any Country, only to God. They don't believe in any kind of 'pledge' or swearing to a man made entity....they do not allow their members to join the military.
Very strange cult......they come to my door all of the time....
She is ovelaying her personal beliefs upon that school and should be sued for it.
This has nothing to do with 'culture'...she is lying.
Double facepalm for me. One for being a former JW one for being a (still proud...kinda) New Yorker.
Just as a side note, as a Jehovahs witness, people are encouraged to "preach to the good news." She probably thinks this is some kind of proselytizing. Conversely Witnesses are also admonished to not "become unevenly yolked" and to "pay back caesars things to caesar." In other words taking on jobs where you might be asked to take an action that conflicts with your spiritual integrity (ie police, military, any kind of government work INCLUDING A PUBLIC SCHOOL PRINCIPLE) is highly discouraged. Looks like someone needs to read the watchtower some more...
Well I just went to my daughter's elementary graduation and they started with the pledge, then sang America the Beautiful. It was a beautiful thing.
greenberetTFS
06-11-2012, 09:38
It's not just her,she's getting complete support from the very "Top" of the school system,not good, not good at all........:mad::mad::mad:
Big Teddy :munchin
ddoering
06-11-2012, 12:13
More liberal asshats that have exceeded the capabilities of their genes. Its no wonder that civilizations rise and fall.
Better choice would be God Bless America or America the Beautiful or, I dunno... The Star-Spangled Banner.
It's NYC stupid! :rolleyes:
In retrospect, maybe that shouldn't have been in pink...
The fact that she's a jeowah's witness explains a lot, 99% of the subject matter.
I despise religions in general and very few are as radical as that cult.
The only way for me to get rid of their unwanted sunday morning 7 am visits was, one morning, to open the gate and let my adored dobermann better convey the message that I was sick and tired of their persistence, that I didn't want anything to do with them and their jeovah and that they were receiving the last friendly warning.
That being said, she should be removed from office. A public official should never exercise his/her duties in such a narrow minded and egotistical fashion.
Quadruple face palm on that ( I asked a coworker to lend me two hands)
Hell with it, have 'em sing "Blood on the risers".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWgsdexkv18
Only in NYC, only in NYC :mad: :mad:
Children singing ‘God Bless the USA’ heckled by man screaming ‘burn in hell’
Children singing “God Bless the USA” with a Republican congressman were heckled by protesters who said that those responsible for the event will “burn in hell.” Video of the event was first posted by Politicker.com.*
The event was held outside Public School 90 in Coney Island, N.Y., where school principal Greta Hawkins decided to axe Lee Greenwood’s hit from a kindergarten “moving up” ceremony while keeping Justin Bieber’s chart-topping “Baby.”
Some were offended by the principal’s decision, prompting Rep. Bob Turner, who is running for the U.S. Senate, to organize the event on Tuesday morning.
Shortly after the ceremony began, chaos ensued.
“You Republicans come go to a Republican area and do that, we don’t do that here,” one protester said. “This is ridiculous, this is sad. This is so crazy. This is sad.”
“Excuse me sir, can you let the kids sing please?” a man presumed to be a Turner staffer interjected.
The heckler immediately screamed “No!” and added “The kids don’t even know what they’re singing! They got something you tell them to say! It’s ridiculous! It’s sad, sad, sad. Y’all are going to burn in hell! You all burn in hell! Shame on you! Shame on you!”
snip
http://dailycaller.com/2012/06/19/children-singing-god-bless-the-usa-heckled-by-man-screaming-burn-in-hell/
Hmmmm - Because kids sing God Bless America they'll burn in Hell?
Must be lib think. The liberal mind on display for all to see.
A bit more to the issue and the Congressman's actions which help explain some of the vitriol expressed, including some information which had been misreported in the initial news reports on the principal's actions.
As Issue Divides School, Congressman Takes a Side
NYT, 19 jUNE 2012
Political opportunism, at its most benign, gives us bemusement and exasperation; at the more extreme end of things it inspires a wish for high-grade exfoliants to scrub away all the contact grease and grime.
It was toward this end of the scale that Representative Bob Turner, who is seeking the Republican nomination to oppose Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand, a Democrat, showed up at a public elementary school in Brooklyn on Monday to lead a group of flag-waving children in a defiant rendition of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the U.S.A.,” a song for which the school’s principal had voiced by now well-known disapproval.
“What’s better than having a congressman come out here?” Representative Turner asked me outside Public School 90 in Coney Island on Monday. Explaining what he hoped to accomplish, he said he had come “to continue and further an appreciation for the U.S.A.”
On one level the congressman’s actions might seem anodyne enough, but P.S. 90 is an embattled place where partisan intrusion was bound to deepen conflicts. Its principal, Greta Hawkins, who is black and presides over a predominantly white staff, has been under siege, the recipient of racist hate mail from unknown sources, and the target of a group of parents and some teachers who find her management style antagonizing. The school is divided among those who are staunchly devoted to her and believe she is striving for excellence, and those who aren’t and don’t.
Representative Turner’s choral efforts were hardly welcomed by all or even by many. Coney Island is close to the congressman’s district but not actually in it.
“This is a country song,” said Dina Rosado, president of the school’s PTA and a great believer in Ms. Hawkins. “This is Brooklyn. This is not the country.” Ms. Rosado’s husband, Jorge, directed a sign at Representative Turner that said, “Shame on You.”
A news release distributed by Mr. Turner’s campaign aides explained that he had reached out to parents after Ms. Hawkins banned the song from a kindergarten ceremony on the grounds that its lyrics were too adult. That decision became a matter of national attention after The New York Post reported that she had sought to replace the song with Justin Bieber’s “Baby.” This never happened. Still, the story managed to gain an insidious traction, diagraming in miniature how we’ve wound up in a world where facts are routinely eviscerated for the sake of political spectacle.
Even after the city’s Education Department explained that Ms. Hawkins had eliminated both songs simultaneously, Representative Turner’s campaign staff perpetuated the myth, declaring in its news release that Principal Hawkins had forbidden kindergartners to sing “God Bless the U.S.A.” but instead allowed them “to sing a Justin Bieber song gauged toward teenagers.” When I asked the campaign press aide why this was being stated even when it wasn’t so, she said that she had relied on what had been “widely reported.”
Mr. Turner was not the only representative seeking to capitalize on the drama. Michael G. Grimm, whose district includes Staten Island and part of Brooklyn, but not this part of Brooklyn, and who has criticized the principal, was scheduled to attend the singalong. He changed his plans at the last minute, because, as a news release put it, “The House of Representatives is in session.” That release, too, reiterated the Bieber claim, despite the evidence. In lieu of Representative Grimm, aides were sent to hand out free copies of Mr. Greenwood’s book, “Does God Still Bless the U.S.A.?”
With so much at stake for children in the city right now — steep cuts to early-childhood and after-school programs on the horizon, and schools that by the end of the year have run out of money for substitute teachers — it would seem little to ask for politicians to acquit themselves productively in regard to public education.
Getting passionate teachers and keeping them is, of course, one of the biggest challenges of all.
After Monday’s event had devolved into rival groups of children singing in a kind of face-off — those who came with the parents who dislike Ms. Hawkins singing Mr. Greenwood’s song, and those who came with parents who are her fans belting “America the Beautiful” — a 25-year old teacher, Chiara Nakashian, emerged from the school. An Oberlin graduate, she’d come to P.S. 90 through Teach for America and found herself deeply inspired by Ms. Hawkins’s work ethic and standards. “She is an amazing woman,” she told me.
But all the vitriol and divisiveness were getting to her. Ms. Nakashian said she’d stay another year, but after that she couldn’t say.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/20/nyregion/congressman-bob-turner-joins-protest-at-school-principal.html
And so it goes...
Richard :munchin
So Richard - is it a bad thing that Mr Turner showed up?
The press as usual comes down on the lib side and presents their picture of things.
Interesting that the press is silent when schools send the little munchkins out to wave signs at political events.
When my munchkins were in HS I took them out one day when IIRC Code Pink was running a protest downtown.
The Principle was all smiles as I was explaining why I was signing them out - until I said we were going to be part of the counter protest. gasp - eyes get big!
EDITED TO ADD: Richard, I did read that article - and it sure reads like an op ed story not news. I looked all over the web page and couldn't see anything stating it was an Op Ed. Maybe thats the problem - the MSM doesn't know the difference between News Stories and Opinion Statements anymore. To them it's all one in the same.
Badger52
06-20-2012, 13:03
The press as usual comes down on the lib side and presents their picture of things.
Interesting that the press is silent when schools send the little munchkins out to wave signs at political events.Locally I recall HS students getting bused down to the capital to "report on current affairs first-hand" (read, bolster up the mob) when the legislature went AWOL awhile back. Several who I personally engaged 1:1 didn't even know the actual Governor's name, just that their teachers had bemoaned that "our rights are being stolen." (Art class was enlisted to make some signs for this "civics" lesson.)
The media did not report that local parents & citizenry afterward proceeded to hand the school and school-board their ass at a city meeting for such shenanigans.
Plus ca change...
Public schoolteachers, for the most part, seem communistic to me.
longrange1947
06-20-2012, 14:45
Richard - Nice Op Ed piece of fluff that means little except "the liberals are right and the others are not". Of ocurse you would expect that now from teh liberal press.
My question, what is so "adult" about the song "God Bless the USA"? I just can't figure it out, except what was said in the very beginning that it may "offend" some people. Once again, what is so offensive about the song?
I think it is PC run amok and we can no longer flay our flags, wear our t-shirts, or do anything that expresses our pride in the USA for fear it will offend.... someone.
As for the idiot yelling, that is the standard Lib tactic of he has his right to free speech and the other does not as he can drown them out. For God's sake don't do that to them as they will go berserk and the press will pillar you for it.
My 2 cents, but this type of don't talk good about the USA as it will offend is crap.
Even after the city’s Education Department explained that Ms. Hawkins had eliminated both songs simultaneously, Representative Turner’s campaign staff perpetuated the myth, declaring in its news release that Principal Hawkins had forbidden kindergartners to sing “God Bless the U.S.A.” but instead allowed them “to sing a Justin Bieber song gauged toward teenagers.” When I asked the campaign press aide why this was being stated even when it wasn’t so, she said that she had relied on what had been “widely reported.”
Reminds me of WMDs myth!
Hmmmm - Because kids sing God Bless America they'll burn in Hell?
Must be lib think. The liberal mind on display for all to see.
I'm not too sure that many liberals believe in hell, unless of course it is reserved for patriotic conservatives. ;)
On the other hand, maybe this heckler was somehow connected to Fred Phelps and his Westboro racket? The theme is similar, what with their insistence that God loves dead soldiers and hates America, among other things....
I will gladly sing/whistle/hum "God Bless the USA" or any patriotic tune of my choice in commemoration of those who have laid down their lives for our freedom.
Reminds me of WMDs myth!
Myth? Then why'd they execute this guy:
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2010/01/201012514645847464.html
Ali Hassan al-Majid, the cousin of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein, has been executed in Iraq for crimes against humanity, a government spokesman said.
Al-Majid, nicknamed "Chemical Ali", received his fourth death sentence last week, for ordering the gassing of Kurds in the Iraqi village of Halabja.
"The condemned Ali Hassan al-Majid has been executed by hanging until death today," spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said on Monday.
In March 1988, Iraqi jets swooped over the village of Halabja and sprayed it with a deadly mix of mustard gas and the nerve agents Tabun, Sarin and VX.
Snip
Last I looked, Tabun, Sarin and VX were weapons of mass destruction. :munchin
Myth? Then why'd they execute this guy:
For actions which took place before GW1 - WCH was talking about the post-911 WMD claims of the GWB administration against Iraq.
Richard
For actions which took place before GW1 - WCH was talking about the post-911 WMD claims of the GWB administration against Iraq.
Richard
So? What do you think they would have done with them? Destroy them, while Saddam's regime was escalating its agenda of mayhem?
"There were no WMD's" is nothing but a liberal talking point, like "he lacks gravitas".
So? What do you think they would have done with them? Destroy them, while Saddam's regime was escalating its agenda of mayhem?
"There were no WMD's" is nothing but a liberal talking point, like "he lacks gravitas".
YGBSM - Iraq's WMDs were a thing of the past by 2003 even though Saddam was led to believe otherwise by his own commanders - we went there for a number of valid reasons; WMDs wasn't one of them.
Richard :munchin
craigepo
06-20-2012, 21:36
My take---anyone who fights against singing songs like this should show some courage in their conviction, and not accept money with "In God We Trust" printed thereon.
YGBSM - Iraq's WMDs were a thing of the past by 2003 even though Saddam was led to believe otherwise by his own commanders - we went there for a number of valid reasons; WMDs wasn't one of them.
Richard :munchin
Oh, so they used all of them on the Kurds. :munchin
Lose at poker, much? ;)
So Dusty since this thread is about deportations, can you please tell us which President has been tougher on deportations than any other modern day president?
a. George Herbert Walker Bush
b. William Jefferson Clinton
c. George Walker Bush
d. Barrack H Obama
So Dusty since this thread is about deportations, can you please tell us which President has been tougher on deportations than any other modern day president?
a. George Herbert Walker Bush
b. William Jefferson Clinton
c. George Walker Bush
d. Barrack H Obama
Again, you're working from the wrong premise, Bro. This thread is about anti-American educators.
And, as far as falling into your rhetorical trap goes-you'll never talk me into voting for a Dem. :D
longrange1947
06-21-2012, 08:04
So Dusty since this thread is about deportations, can you please tell us which President has been tougher on deportations than any other modern day president?
a. George Herbert Walker Bush
b. William Jefferson Clinton
c. George Walker Bush
d. Barrack H Obama
Mixed bag, while the answer you seek is d, he has also stimied more laws to get the illegals and allow the illegal vote than any other president. In my book, that makes him pro illegal. I do not care about the number of law breakers he has sent home. They only come right back due to the stae laws preventing it being challenged by him and his BS cronies.
Thus you lose in that idea camp. :munchin
Libs are dim :D
Oh, so they used all of them on the Kurds.
Only the few that remained of their previous stocks - most were used in their border wars with Iran, and then they lost their supplier and post-GW1 came under close international scrutiny regarding any attempts to resurrect their former WMD capacity.
Back on topic with this thread - politics...meh.
Richard :munchin
So Dusty since this thread is about deportations, can you please tell us which President has been tougher on deportations than any other modern day president?
a. George Herbert Walker Bush
b. William Jefferson Clinton
c. George Walker Bush
d. Barrack H Obama
I know, I wasn't asked but my answer would be any one of these guys.
Carlos Salinas de Gortari
Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León
Vicente Fox Quesada
Felipe Calderón Hinojosa