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'ToM 1«MoRpoW©7“03-20l3 ...www.thismodernworld.com..,twitter.com/tomtomorrow
AMERICA’S PROMISE THIS 4TH OF JULY
CLARKE SCHOOLS SHOULDN’T BAN BOOKS
The timing could not have been better.
In the days leading up to the Fourth of July,
when we celebrate the founding of this coun
try, we were given reminders of just what it
means to be an American.
The Supreme Court handed down a land
mark decision last week that said persons of
the same sex can marry and receive the same
federal benefits that are extended to tradi
tional married couples.
Just two days after that historic decision,
the U.S. Senate passed and sent to the House
of Representatives a comprehensive immigra
tion reform bill. If that measure is signed into
law, then millions of undocumented immi
grants residing in this country will be allowed
to pursue a lengthy administrative path
to eventual citizenship.
Those actions are the latest
developments in the long story of
a nation that slowly but surely
extends to all of its citizens the
civil rights that originally were
limited to a privileged few.
There was a time not long ago
when several states, including
Georgia, would not allow men and
women of different races to marry.
The Supreme Court struck that down
in 1967. Last week's gay marriage decision is
another step in that march to equal rights.
Nearly 10 years ago, Georgia voters over
whelmingly passed a state constitutional
amendment prohibiting same-sex marriages.
That amendment has largely been made irrel
evant by the Supreme Court, and you can bet
that Georgia's gay marriage prohibition will
one day be erased from the books.
One of the most important rights Americans
hold is the ability to cast a ballot on election
day. When the Constitution was ratified more
than 220 years ago, however, only white males
who owned property were allowed to vote.
Over the years, the right to vote has slowly
been granted to all citizens regardless of
race or gender. By 1856, the vote had been
expanded to all white males. In 1868, former
slaves who were males were allowed to vote.
In 1920, the 19th Amendment extended suf
frage to all women. By 1947, the legal barriers
that prevented Native Americans from voting
were removed. In 1952, all people of Asian
ancestry were granted the right to become
citizens. In 1971, 18-year-olds were given the
right to vote.
There have been setbacks along the way,
including last week's Supreme Court ruling
that struck down an important provision of
the Voting Rights Act, but we continue to
live in a country where rights are usually
expanded, not restricted.
Despite the concerns you often hear about
the movement of immigrants into the U.S.,
this is a country whose entire history
has seen our population bolstered
by successive waves of people who
came to these shores and, in time,
became citizens. Over the past
two centuries, discrimination has
given way to assimilation.
State legislators have spon
sored bills in recent years that
were intended to make hundreds
of thousands of immigrants disap
pear from Georgia and go back to
their countries of origin. Those mea
sures will fail. The immigrants who have come
here over the last 20 years to provide a source
of cheap labor will eventually be allowed to
take their place as American citizens with the
full rights enjoyed by all. History has taught
us that lesson many times.
"America was always promises," said the
poet Archibald MacLeish. "From the first voy
age and the first ship there were promises."
America's promise has always been this: we
will find a place for everyone who comes here
and we will find a way, sometimes after hor
rendous struggle, to ensure that those who are
here will have the same rights to life, liberty
and the pursuit of happiness. That is a prom
ise to remember on this Fourth of July.
Tom Crawford tcrawford@gareport.com
THIS MSIIIH WSIkS
by TOM TOMORROW
u
OF THE
HOMO”
THE CONSPIRACY LASTED DECADES. ■ THEIR OPPONENTS UNDERSTOOD WHAT
WAS AT STAKE.
IT'S SEEN A LONG STRUGGLE, COM
RADES—BUT THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
INCREASINGLY support So-called
"MARRIAGE EQUALITY"!
MARRIAGE IS A TRADITIONAL
INSTITUTION—UNCHANGED For
CENTURIES!
EVENTUALLY, HOWEVER, THE BUL
WARK DEFENSE OF MARRIAGE
ACT WAS OVERTURNED.
I DON'T KNOW HOW HETEROSEXUAL
MARRIAGE CAN EVEN SURVNE
IF SAME-SEX COUPLES ARE ELIGIBLE
FOR FEDERAL BENEFITS'
BRAVE JUSTICE SCALIA WROTE A
SCATHING DISSENT!
WE HAVE NO POWER UNDER THE
CONSTITUTION TO INVALIDATE THIS
DEMOCRATICALLY ADOPTED LEGIS
LATION!
8UT WITH THE SANCTITY of MARRIAGE
SUCCESSFULLY undermined—WHO
knows WHAT MIGHT HAPPEN Now...
X'D LIKE TO INTRODUCE MY NEW
WIFE, ELSIE!
PLEASED TO MEET i
YOU! THIS IS MY
HUSBAND, TOASTY!
CHARMED!
During a recent Clarke County Board of
Education meeting, there was discussion about
And the Earth Did Not Devour Him by Tomas
Rivera, a work of literature that middle school
students read, a book that won the first
national award for Chicano literature in 1970
and, as Amazon.com puts it, "has become the
standard text for Hispanic literature classes."
Indeed, reading several pages of links
found through an Internet search—including
several study guides for teachers—not a single
one hinted at anything other than that this is
an outstanding work of literature that should
be widely read.
Few would disagree that challenging stu
dents with great literature is a major compo
nent of education. The
professional educators
in Clarke County and
elsewhere have identi
fied this and other
books that not only
are recognized as great
literature, but also pro
vide a connection for
our students. This par
ticular book provides
connection, inspiration
and understanding
across cultures.
As I understand it,
two parents objected
to the book because of
concerns about some
of the language, and
Superintendent Philip
Lanoue told them that
their children, and any
others whose parents
objected, would be
exempt from reading
the book. That seems an eminently fair and
appropriate response.
I understand that the parents filed an
appeal, objecting that not only should their
own child not read it, but that it should not
be included in the reading list for other stu
dents. Their reasoning is that students are
expected not to use such language, so reading
a work of art in which a character uses such
language is inconsistent with expectations for
their own behavior.
That reasoning is specious at best. Our stu
dents read of assassinations, of terrorism, of
deception, of myriad other activities in which
we would not want them to engage. Is anyone
suggesting that we remove books containing
such unacceptable acts from students' reading
lists?
If we want our children to grow into adults
with critical thinking skills, they cannot be
deprived of literature simply because someone,
for some reason, objects to it. I personally
did not like that school books my children
read glorified war, in violation of my religious
beliefs, but I did not ask that they not read
them, let alone that others not read them.
The suggestion that our students are inca
pable of appropriate responses to a renowned,
if challenging, work of literature that is used
in many middle schools reminds me of the
still-too-common phenomenon of low expecta
tions. CCSD's numbers have shown significant
improvement in recent years in large part
because expectations are set high, and sup
port is provided to meet those expectations.
Let us not move backward on that, and let
us not return to the days when the Board
of Education moved from its role in policy
and governance into
interfering with the
professional judgment
and day-to-day work of
the superintendent and
curricular staff.
Excluding books
from the Clarke
County School District
based on their lan
guage means that
Shakespeare, the Bible
and many other books
would be removed. If
objections to content
by any parents mean
removal of a work for
all students, you might
as well stop teaching
literature at all, or
for that matter sci
ence, history or any
other subject matter.
Someone objects to
just about everything.
I do not understand why five Board of
Education members have instructed the
Superintendent to reconsider his decision.
Under its current makeup (and those of the
last several years), I have almost never dis
agreed in any significant way with a decision
of our Board of Education. However, I strongly
disagree with this one.
As one who cares passionately about our
schools, I fully expect the board will not
further interfere if the superintendent allows
the book to remain on the list. Please, board
members, do not remove great works of lit
erature from our schools' curriculum. Do not
remove And the Earth Did Not Devour Him or
any other work selected by our professional
educators as part of the curriculum.
Tim Johnson
Comment is an occasional opinion column. Send your
Comment ideas to news@flagpole.com.
[Editor's Note] The controversy over And the Earth Did Not Devour Him centers around the following
passage, part of a worker’s internal monologue after the truck carrying him breaks down.
“What a stupid woman! How could she be so dumb as to throw that diaper out
the front of the truck. It came sliding along the canvas and good thing I had my
glasses on or I would even have gotten the shit in my eyes! What a stupid woman!
How could she do that? She should’ve known that crap would be blown towards all
of us standing back here. Why the hell couldn’t she just wait until we got to a gas
station and dump the shit there?...
“This is the last fuckin’ year I come out here. As soon as we get to the farm I’m
getting the hell out. I’ll go look for a job in Minneapolis. I’ll be damned if I go back
to Texas.”
JULY 3, 2013-FLAGPOLE.COM 5