Principal Shank bans Quakers from his school (Tenn.)

[donsu]

http://tennessean.com/education/archives/05/01/65061319.shtml?Element_ID=65061319


Principal bans 'anti-military,' 'anti-American' materials


High School administrator said Veterans for Peace and a Quaker group can't come back into his school with materials considered ''anti-American'' and ''anti-military.''

The groups plan to go before the Putnam County school board tomorrow with claims that they're being denied privileges afforded to other organizations, including military recruiters.

The war veterans, some who also belong to the Quaker group, were allowed into the school during a September fair for organizations. They set up a table with books about U.S. wars and offered photocopied fliers and pamphlets from both organizations about the war in Iraq and military careers and alternatives.

-snip-

''The information was brought to the attention of administrators because of the influence it may have had,'' said Shank, who restricted future visits by the groups. ''I felt, from a principal's viewpoint, that the students were being put into a position that they shouldn't.''

Black said Shank specified some quotes in the literature that he objected to, including one from a 1953 speech by President Eisenhower that said, ''Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed. Those who are cold and are not clothed.''
-snip-
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what is Shank afraid of?

[Stop_the_War]

1. Welcome to fascist America........n/t

[Sanity Claws]

2. Why is peace considered anti-American?

It's so sad that mainstream America no longer thinks peace is anti-American.
Clergy should come forward and say that peace is in deed a virtue that all should strive for.

[one_true_leroy]

3. that pinko commie, Eisenhower!!

how dare he care about the poor!

[bryant69]

4. That strikes me as bizarre

You can't have alternate points of views?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[seriousstan]

5. I thought I was in LBN ...sorry

[NewInNewJ.]

6. My children

attended school in Cookeville, Tn. at the time Mr. Shanks was a basketball coach. The people in Cookeville, are very consecrative and do not like strange people coming in their closed society. They are the type of people that if you were not born there, you are never accepted,there are probable 400 churches in this small town, that cannot even get a shopping mall, because the people don't like being overrun by outsiders, although there are two super walmarts within 4 miles of each other. It is a safe place to raise your kids from crime, and also from open mindness. I was there when John Kerry declared is bid for Pres. I put up a Kerry sign in my yard and 3 neighbors, told me that really had enjoyed being my neighbors for the past 14 yrs and they had liked us, but they changed their minds when I put the sign up. That's good ole Cookeville, Tn.

[housewolf]

7. This is frightening to me...

The concept that pro-Americanism now equates to pro-militarism freaks me out.

I mean... I TOLERATE the military. I see that we have a need for a military and am not opposed to my tax dollars supporting a military. I don't want to be in the military but I appreciate those who do. There are some wonderful people in the military and the military has done a world of good for some people and in some situations - but not all.

But I sure as heck don't LOVE the military. I don't glorify it. I don't deify it. I'm not out there trying to enroll people into the military.

I value peace over war. I would rather solve conflicts through diplomacy and conflict resolution than through the use of force.

And that supposedly makes me an anti-American????

No.

There is something wrong with that kind of thinking. In fact, I'd call it anti-American thinking.

[xpat]

11. This is not new

"The concept that pro-Americanism now equates to pro-militarism freaks me out."

I ran into the same thing as an anti-war activist in the 60s.

[housewolf]

12. I guess I wasn't aware of that at the time...

so it kind of makes me feel a bit better knowing that it's probably not a permanent attitude. I remember more the part about people actively avoiding military service, and the anti-war/anti-military mind-set and the desire to bring the troops home. At least in my world (I was in h.s. and college at the time), it was the consensus attitude and accusatons of anti-Americanism did't filter into our awareness.

Perhaps that why the accusations of anti-Americanism have hit me so hard - I just don't get it and it seems to me to be such an abuse of power to throw it around the way the right does, and to define Americanism as narrowly as they do.

[xpat]

16. If anything, things are better now.

It took us years (I got involved in 1963) to build the anti-war movement. This time around, it was a global mass phenomenon before the invasion. Since then, it has been able to seriously undermine the US government's agenda.

Take this article, for example, on that latter point:
http://www.thinkingpeace.com/pages/arts2/arts359.html

[KamaAina]

8. Can't the Quakers claim religious discrimination?

The fundies always do at the drop of a hat, any time someone tries to make them stop proselytizing on school grounds.

Here the Quakers aren't even proselytizing (obviously), yet out they go. Ouch.

[electropop]

9. Principal Chancre doesn't believe in just letting kids learn stuff

willy nilly. Truth is a precious commodity and should be used very sparingly.

[4_TN_TITANS]

10. Please send a letter to

[e-mail]

And blast this blatant censorship of opposing viewpoints. This is the paper in Cookeville, TN, where I grew up. I know the Quaker in the story, Hector Black. He is the kindest old man you could meet, who spends his time organic-farming on a quiet river in neighboring Jackson Co. This is right wing, small town politics at it's worst.

[Dulcinea]

13. Is he legally allowed to do this?

Isn't a school a public building?

Methinks Principal Shank will be welcoming the Quakers & the vets back in soon, whether he likes it or not.

[KayLaw]

14. Ask yourself

What would the AntiChrist do?

[scarletlib]

15. This nation is truly infected with war fever

How sad to ban a group promoting PEACE. What does it say about our values to say that those who support PEACE are not allowed to be heard.

As an aside a few weeks ago in Broward County FL there was a similar incident. The details are foggy now but essentially a peace group was asked to leave a public park where there were a number of other activities also taking place the same day.

[truth2power]

17. "...students were being put into a position that they shouldn't.''

And what position would tht be, Mr. Shank?? The position of being able to make an informed decision about something that might get them KILLED?

This doesn't surprise me, though. The blood-lust in my own community is frightening enough. :nuke: