Thanks to Christine Langhoff for sharing this horrifying video.
It shows parents at Grant Middle School in Grant, Michigan, demanding the removal of a mural painted by a high school student. The mural was meant to make all students feel welcome.
But parents saw frightening symbols in it, such as a T-shirt that was a trans symbol, another that was a gay symbol, others graphics that were allegedly demonic or Satanic.
This country needs mental health services for adults who think that their children’s lives will be changed by seeing anything that offends parents. Do they object to textbooks showing the swastika? Really, there are many symbols to at could be interpreted in many ways.
Don’t they understand that children are shaped above all by their home environment?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Poor widdle xtian fundies. Snowflakes so early in the coming winter.
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I saw this last week. I felt so bad for the student who created it.
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Reblogged this on NANMYKEL.COM and commented:
Thanks for letting me reblog! This is truly horrifying…
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The more we become aware and speak up, the harder ignorant folks protest and try to kill our spirits.
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Recently I was in a newly constructed office building and in the lobby was a large mural in black, white and gray the featured Henry Ford in one third, a badly drawn picture of an assembly line with Model Ts, and a Ford quote. Don’t think anyone other than me was offended by it. They certainly didn’t get my joke that they should have gone all the way and honored Goebbels.
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I think this every time I see a Christopher Columbus statue. And yeah, Ford. What an evil man.
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Are we angry with the commemoration of historical figures because we do not like what they mean to us? Or are we angry with these societal symbols because of what they might mean to others?
Put the question another way: do we honor people for all that they did or just the stuff we like?
I grew up in a South struggling to wrap its head around a war that killed a generation of its boys. This was happening around me as my parent’s generation struggled to undo the legal parameters of Jim Crow. To me the statues of old confederate soldiers, usually generic ones, were tired when compared to those who looked at the music of blues culture or what we called “Black Literature.” During that time, we began to commemorate the generation that struggled against the legal oppression of Jim Crow. We did this by getting interested in the things that we liked that came out of that horrendous experience. We did not build monuments so much as we bought books and records.
These contemplations are probably not worth much.
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Providing mental health services for 25 to 30 million MAGA RINO adults like these would cost the country trillions of $$$$$$$$. We can’t afford it. And counseling for people that are mentally effed up like these MAGA RINOs are only works if they want the help. Forcing them to attend counseling might be physically dangerous for the therapists.
But we could turn that counseling over the ZOOM Charter Reeducation Counseling sites. Paying for even remote counseling would still be a problem because of the charter school frauds would leap on the chance to fatten their bank accounts even more on public money.
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So because the mural would have to be huge to include all ethnicities, etc., no one but white Christians should be represented? Has anyone ever told these folks that it is likely that Jesus was not white and was Jewiish?
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If one of those parents were telling the truth:
“Of course we’ll allow some Negro Christians in on the edges, just so long as they know their place. None of those Catholic Mexicans, though. And everyone knows Jesus was White and just happened to be Jewish. He realized he made a mistake when he was resurrected. Just look at the crosses and pictures everywhere. Plus he pulled himself up by his own bootstraps and was an expert marksman. It’s only because the Romans took away his guns that they were able to nail him up. Read up on some authentic history! No wonder our schools are so messed up!”
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Not just schools! – History of Gay Rights Exhibit removed from Missouri State Capitol:
“Making History: Kansas City and the Rise of Gay Rights,” the exhibit documents the early days of LGBTQ activism in the state. It consists of banners, curated by University of Missouri-Kansas City history students, recounting the activism of the city’s LGBTQ community.
It was supposed to be on display in the Missouri State Museum in the state Capitol until Dec. 26. But it was removed within days of its installation in early September after some Republican lawmakers complained to the governor’s office. (From Missouri Independent)
And, then there’s Lindbergh’s airplane hanging upon entering the Missouri history museum
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Parents need to organize to do public shaming of these backward American Taliban.
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https://youtu.be/K3hAVT2sDqQ
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This is one fabulously written scene.
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As an art teacher I always told my students, “If you paint a mountain, everyone will know it’s a mountain and say so. If you paint a purple-headed duck in an orange pond with three eyes, people will stop and say,’That’s a weird duck. Why is the water orange?'” Art with meaning engages. It creates dialogue. The student would say, “I am glad you asked. I am pointing out that if we don’t do something about the mercury in our water animals and people will get sick.” It creates the “stopper.” The artist who painted this mural was ENGAGING HER MIND to make a point about ALL THE KIDS who being trampled on and not getting the help they need (and a big DUH in the mental health office). I have been there. Call me crazy, but I worked with all the kids that felt out of place and with broken spirits. One of the things I always did was ask the student, “Let me take a look at your art. Explain to me your meaning behind this. Interesting concepts. At one point, I caught myself starting to censor some art where students had obscenities on the “wine bottle art.” I said, “No. People need to see this and how you are feeling. The words were used to yell “Help me! I want you to listen. I know you think I don’t care, but you all don’t listen.” I had adults in tears when they finally stopped to LISTEN. When I wanted to paint murals on the school, THEY told me in more ways than one how it could not be done. We finally had a student designed mural that got painted and designed by students. They came on weekends and painted. They were so proud. It got tagged a lot, but I used it as a “teachable piece” with my students to repair it. It held meaning for the kids. By the summer, when the district decided to paint the school, they just painted over the mural. Wow, and it is all about kids, right, critical thinking and equity, right?
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Maybe Satan just needs to feel wanted
Inclusion
Even Satan needs some love
Never gets it from above
Even Satan needs a hand
Never gets it from The Man
Even Satan needs to be
Painted in, like you and me
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The Unforgiven
Why can’t Satan be forgiven?
Hate is all he’s ever given
Maybe Satan needs some love
From the One who sits above
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