Having been born and raised in Georgia, it has always been very clear to me that the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) is a bunch of racist Neanderthals who are lower that whale dung. So if a teacher assigned my daughter some homework reinforcing that fact, I would have no problem with it.
But some parents in South Carolina apparently think such a lesson is a step too far. WTF?!
Parents of fifth graders at Clinton Elementary School complained when a teacher instructed students to create a “Wanted” poster for a KKK member.
One of the parents, Eric Robinson, remarked:
“It’s okay to teach kids about hate groups…But to me she (the teacher) went too far with it.”
It should be noted that the assignment was in compliance with state requirements, but school administrators still felt the need to speak to the teacher about being more careful with assignments in the future. The students did not have to complete the homework.
Some parents said they felt the subject matter was too much for fifth graders–age 10 and 11–and others worried it might create racial tension.
But South Carolina educational standards for fifth graders say that students should have knowledge of the Reconstruction period, and the curriculum specifically states:
“Students continue their study of the history of the United States in grade five, beginning with Reconstruction and continuing through the present day.”
In other words, the period right after the Civil War, when the KKK was formed and became one of the most brutal and violent domestic terrorist groups in the history of the United States.
My daughter is only 8, but I have told her about the Klan. I want her to know the kind of lowlife scum that once inhabited this nation and terrorized innocent men, women, and children simply because of their race, religion, or national origin.
And I wonder: Had the teacher asked the students to make a “Wanted” poster for a member of ISIS, would the parents have complained about that? No, because they would have been too busy helping their children make the poster.
Hate is wrong in all forms. There are no exceptions.
