Do we need anymore proof of the complete racist white privilege Florida maga sponsored by DeathSantis is pushing. Read to the end to see the attitude of the white woman who told him that Former President Obama was not age appropriate to be posted on a bulletin board in a majority black school. These people don’t even feel the need to hide it anymore. We have to stop this spread, remember DeathSantis is the favorite for the republicans in 2024. Hugs
An Escambia County public school teacher resigned this week over what he characterized as racist behavior by a school district employee.
The teacher, Michael James, emailed a letter to Gov. Ron DeSantis and Escambia County Superintendent Tim Smith in which he wrote that a district employee removed pictures of historic Black American heroes from his classroom walls, citing the images as being “age inappropriate.”
Images that were removed from the bulletin board at O.J. Semmes Elementary School included depictions of Martin Luther King Jr., Harriett Tubman, Colin Powell and George Washington Carver, James said.
“It really floored me,” James told the News Journal. “I’ve been teaching special education for 15 years, and it just really floored me when she did that.”
James chose the board’s theme because the majority of the students and the residents in the neighborhoods that surround O.J. Semmes are Black, and he wanted to motivate his students with inspirational leaders they could easily look up to and see themselves.
James, 61, of Daphne, Alabama, sent his letter to the governor Monday night. He officially resigned from his position as an exceptional student education teacher at O.J. Semmes Elementary School on Tuesday morning.
Superintendent Smith said teachers are permitted to decorate their classrooms with educational materials and he was unaware of any policies that would prohibit a teacher from displaying pictures of inspirational American heroes on their walls.
Smith said a full investigation of the incident, which he called an “anomaly,” has been launched.
Charlie Crist, who is running for the Democratic nomination for governor to challenge DeSantis in November, blamed the governor’s “culture wars” for politicizing Florida’s public schools.
“This is the sad reality of Ron DeSantis’s Florida — a teacher, in a predominantly Black community, comes into their classroom to see posters of historically Black American heroes, including President Obama, taken down for being ‘inappropriate’,” said Crist in a statement by his campaign.
“DeSantis’s culture wars are infiltrating every corner of our state, and it’s Florida’s students who are paying the price.”
Crist, currently a U.S. congressman from St. Petersburg, is running against Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fired for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
Escambia County Public Schools spokesperson Cody Strother provided the News Journal with an official statement on behalf of the school district.
“Our office was made aware of this employee’s resignation and his stated reasons for resigning very early this morning, Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2022,” the statement read. “Around the same time, we were copied on an email written by this individual and released to the Governor’s Office and various media outlets before we had any opportunity to investigate. We are now in the process of conducting a full investigation. If these allegations are deemed factual, we will certainly take corrective action, as it is our aim that all of our teachers feel valued and supported.”
The district has yet to confirm the identity of the district employee who James alleged removed the pictures from his classroom walls, but in his letter James stated the employee worked as a board certified behavior analyst for the school district.
Above the pictures of the Black leaders, a copy of the Pledge of Allegiance was pasted in the bulletin board’s upper right hand corner, James said.
“Am I to believe Escambia County Schools employs those that dislike African Americans and are against swearing allegiance to these United States of America? Is there a dislike in anything that states ‘One Nation Under God’ in it?” James wrote, in his letter to the governor and superintendent.
James said he could not work for a school, or under the umbrella of a school district, that would hire people who would condone such behavior.
“I hate to say this about everybody in the staff or the leadership there, but something is not right,” he said. “Something needs to be changed or fixed.”
James previously taught at schools in Hawaii, Georgia and Alabama. It was going to be his first year teaching in Florida.
In his letter, he explained he recently purchased approximately $58 of school supplies with his own money at the Teacher Store in Pensacola.
“With these school supplies purchased, I spent several hours making a classroom bulletin board located behind my desk,” he wrote.
On Monday, the behavior analyst and another behavior coach entered his classroom to help him set up the room.
“That is kind of unusual, but that’s OK,” James recalled thinking. “They came in, and we started moving tables around and swapping some out, and I had made the bulletin board a couple of days earlier.”
As an ESE teacher, James was employed to teach students ranging in age from kindergarteners to fifth-graders. The bulletin board was on the wall directly behind his desk at the front of the class.
It contained about five to seven images of Black historical figures, as well as the Pledge of Allegiance. The individual pictures were about the size of a piece of paper, with short written passages on them explaining the achievements of each person.
“I was sitting down in one of the children’s chairs cutting something out, and I turned around and saw her start taking something off the bulletin board,” James recalled.
When he questioned what the behavioral analyst was doing, “She said something along the lines of it wasn’t age appropriate. Something like that,” James said.
James does not remember the woman mentioning race while taking down the photos. But he did note that she had also seized a picture of former President Barack Obama that he had placed near his desk because there wasn’t room on the bulletin board.
“She picked it up and said, ‘You don’t need to put this up either,'” James recalled. “She said — I can’t remember exactly what she said — but she said, ‘the kid are too young‘ or something like that. It floored me. I thought, ‘This is the first Black president.'”
The behavioral analyst’s general demeanor and attitude made James feel like she had authority at the school, he said.
“I don’t know who guided her or why she took that on her own. I’ve never seen that in 15 years — just completely take down my board — without asking or anything,” he said.
In his brand new work environment, James didn’t know what to say or who to go to in the moment.
“I didn’t say anything else. I honestly let it go, but got to thinking about it and got pretty upset,” he said. “I could have just sent it the principal. But things need to get done. A lot of times people can just sweep things under the rug.”
His lack of institutional knowledge at his new job and what he characterized as the “rundown” state of the O. J. Semmes Elementary School building compelled James to go straight to the top with his complaints.
James said the school is in poor shape and he believes that it is treated as a lower priority because many of the students are Black children from low-income families.
“I feel like sometimes they are taken advantage of and no one is speaking for them, and that school — there is no way with the Florida lottery — that it should look like that. I’m wondering what kind of equitable division of money is being done for that school compared to other schools in other wealthier areas of Pensacola or Escambia County,” he said.
Currently, teachers are in demand everywhere, and James is not too worried about finding a new job.
“I’ll be teaching somewhere in a month,” he said. “I have excellent credentials.”
The teacher was told to remove images of notable Black American leaders, like former President Obama, from his classroom because they were deemed "age-inappropriate".
Making it more difficult for smart and committed teachers to do their job well is a tactic, as poorly educated, misinformed people are easier to control with bullshithttps://t.co/J65e4d9ujb
We had a Roundtable with teachers who recently left the classroom. ALL of them expressed that their #1 reason for leaving the classroom is because of the fear/stress of this attempted “new normal” for teachers & education in Florida.
I’m at a loss to understand the mental gymnastics the mind has to go through to think that black American history is age inappropriate, other than it comes from the mind of a racist.
You answered your own question. Start with a conclusion, then walk backwards
10). White people are perfect 9). And the black people thanked god whites people were there to rule over them . . . 1). Blacks are lesser humans at best.
Jesus fucking christ, they are on an absolute RAMPAGE to rewrite history and write black folks right out of it. Fucking Orwell’s spinning corpse should be connected to a turbine to solve global energy shortages.
Keep in mind, if the governor of Florida and his fellow Republicans across the country hadn’t demonized education and black experience to the point where many have criminalized the concept of Critical Race Theory, the racists wouldn’t feel empowered to cancel race in the classroom.
Absolutely no doubt about DeathSantis attacking education in Florida. The bastard took State Education funds to pay for “private” schools. The KKKrist-O-Fascist population jumped at the opportunity for indoctrination, grooming and kiddie diddling Priests.
This is a national disgrace! This country is said to be the wealthiest on earth. We have billionaires and millionaires, and because of unrestrained capitalism the wealth gap gets wider every day. Rents too high for people to have a place to live, medications to expensive for people to get the life saving drugs they need, but no question at all for more money for the wealthy defense industry. Every year there is more money shoved into the defense / military budgets than asked for because most of that money goes to the wealthy executives and their shareholders. This must stop. We are creating a country of impoverished beggars and super wealthy. As one person said, it is a crime to be poor. Hugs
Officials in Tennessee passed a new bill making it a felony to make a campsite on public land, affecting people experiencing homelessness. CNN’s Nick Watt reports.
Indiana State Rep John L Bartlett proposed a bill that would ban erectile dysfunction pills. His reasoning? If unwanted pregnancies are gods will so is impotency. Comedian Ben Gleib breaks it down on Rebel HQ.
I love this. As some may know we sold our Palm Beach home and bought a wonderful huge Extra large 4 door cab dually truck and a 40.4-foot fifth wheel with the idea of living in it for a long time and traveling. In year two Ron’s happiness changed. We suffered a tire blow out that was very scary to Ron, and it was during a time he was undergoing untreated anxiety panic attacks we did not understand. He was having them, and we did not understand why. The tire blowing incident caused Ron to freak out and demand we sell the entire set up as soon as possible. He did not want to live in it another day and wanted it gone. It was making him cry to even have to stay in it. This caused a problem because we sank 125,000 into the set up plus other costs, but I adore him and even though I did not know what was behind this insistence on his part I sold the entire unit at a huge loss, half the cost we paid for it all and moved us into 1984 double wide in the first phase of the RV mobile home park we were in. There were better homes we wanted and could afford but bigotry against us as one of the first well known gay couples of the park. Many of the old bigots refused to sell to us or asked for outrageous prices. Of course, after Ron got treatment for anxiety and panic attacks it was all better but far too late. But if I had the chance, I would love this unit. Hugs
VIDEO DESCRIPTION: You’re looking at a 47k lb, 13′ 5.5″ ft tall, 43ft long beast of a tiny home! The Everly family decided that time spent working, to take two weeks a year together, was off balance. With some research and a quick decision, they fell upon the double-decker bus they had renovated to suit their family and full-time travel. This rig has two bathrooms with a separate indoor and outdoor shower! The kitchen has a farmhouse style with a deep sink, induction stove, and plenty of gear for outdoor cooking. The rooftop deck has a sturdy railing so the entire family can enjoy the views, including hammocks that can hang from the safety guards! The kids dominate a daytime play area that turns into the parents sleeping quarters at night. This crew is family-oriented and travel driven. What an adventure!
The Good Liars highlight the hypocrisy of one particular MAGA priest. Alonzo Bodden breaks it down on Rebel HQ. Leave a comment with your thoughts below!
Since the Supreme Court & Congress are toying with changing the definition of marriage, this seems like a good time to revisit the issue. Join me, won’t you?
After it was reported that the FBI executed a search warrant on Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago, right wing pundits and influencers immediately began to make threats against the United States. Texas Paul reacts to their extremist rhetoric.
Rudy Giuliani drew parallels between the raid on Trump and a raid on the mafia, what Rudy forgets is that the Trump Family is a Crime Mafia. Meidas Contributor Texas Paul reacts.
This video is horrible and hard to watch. This kid is given a vicious beating because he is trans according to his grandmother. Notice the police and school have done nothing to help this teen and now with the don’t say gay laws no teacher can support him. This is what the republican’s in office and the right wing maga thugs want with the don’t say gay bills. This is the result of demonizing trans people to claim they are assaulting people in bathrooms, suggesting they are doing perverted stuff in locker rooms, and removing support for LGBTQ+ kids along with anti-discrimination messages that might help teach tolerance and acceptance. This is what the legislator that wrote the Florida don’t say gay bill admitted he wanted to have happen. He wanted LGBTQ+ kids targeted for abuse and harm. Well he is getting his way. With more abuse comes more suicide.
To those who say that kids are transitioning on whims and doing so because it is a fad or perceived as the cool thing to do need to see the reality of this video. This is the reality far too many gay, lesbian, and trans kids face. Far too many LGBTQ+ face these threats of hate and violence in their daily lives made worse by the actions of DeathSantis and his anti-LGBTQ+ maga thugs. When religious leaders scream that LGBTQ+ people should be killed, this is the result. Some of these LGBTQ+ face this at home which is why they are not out at home, but now republican laws force teachers to out them to their parents. Kids are not willing to transition and face this, living every day with the hassles of trying to find a bathroom, trying to make it through the day without support, suffering abuse and the danger of being beaten up unless they truly are of a different gender than they were assigned at birth.
We are working so hard to remove this hate from society and the LGBTQ+ communities were gaining such deserved acceptance in society. Schools had programs to teach tolerance, to show other kids there was nothing wrong with the LGBTQ+ kids, to establish acceptance. To teach that diversity was a good thing. Now in Florida married same sex couples cannot put up pictures of their spouses like straight couples and must hide from the kids their marriages / sexual orientation. These red states / republicans / right wing thugs are trying to create a country where only straight white Christians are accepted and have assumed authority / privileges. Everyone else must hide who they are and be silent. 50 years of work, decades of changing the perceptions in schools and the minds of the people, creating safer schools and workplaces, all destroyed in red states due to a small minority of violent thugs, the republican brownshirts, who won’t tolerate anyone different from them because they have the state authority’s permission to force other to live as these gang thugs’ demand. The power / authority of the state is supporting and energizing these thugs. If you vote republican this is the country you want. If you vote republican this is the way you want the LGBTQ+ to be treated, along with women being second class citizens whose duty is to be an incubator for a male’s offspring. Shame on you all for voting republican! This is personal. I lived through these beatings and worse. I lived through the fears in schools, I lived with the mistreatment at home, and the discrimination in all aspects of adult life for being gay. It was getting better until now. We were moving away from this stuff being acceptable. Now it is back. What next? Will black kids be the next targets of these laws, to make them the targets of more abuse? Will LGBTQ+ adults not be able to rent, buy in some neighborhoods? Will gays / lesbians get married on Sunday and be fired from work for being in a same sex marriage on Monday? Hugs
Scottie's Playtime 