Mike Victor
2/24/17
According to an article by Dana Liebelson in the Huffington Post, teachers who put up pro-diversity posters such as the one above in Westminster High School in a 93% white Maryland County were asked to take them down out of fear that the posters could be perceived as anti-Trump.
Understand that nothing on the posters is overtly political which simply include generic, upbeat messages of justice and diversity. There is no mention of Trump, Bannon, or Putin.
So if the school is admitting that even generic messages that celebrate principles Trump violates must ipso facto be anti-Trump, then they better not stop with banning posters. Here is a short but admittedly incomplete list of incendiary anti-Trump propaganda all teachers should purge from their classrooms.
1. The Constitution
This radical liberal document must head any list of any anti-Trump iconography. Trump's fury at the idea of an independent judiciary able to strike down his de facto Muslim travel ban means that any teacher who displays the Constitution risks being seen as mocking or ridiculing our president. Teachers must check their liberal politics at the door. Besides, what's the point of teaching students about rights they soon might not be able to use? It's just depressing.
2. The Statue of Liberty.
"Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free."
Not in today's world, not after what happened in Bowling Green and Sweden. This French gift is an embarrassing anachronism, a reminder of a weaker time before America woke up to the clear and present danger represented by refugees and their families. No one can look at the Statue of Liberty today without understanding it as an explicit rebuke of President Trump. Let's face it: Lady Liberty is now a Democratic divisive symbol that must be purged from our children's classrooms.
And removing images from the walls isn't enough. Teachers, please preview any movies for scenes of immigrants cheering at the site of the so-called "Lady Liberty" as they steam into New York Harbor. If you cannot fast forward through these offensive sections, at least pause the film to explain that these refugees were not thoroughly vetted; many no doubt went on to become terrorists or vote Democratic.
3. Thomas Jefferson.
This liberal atheist who preached religious freedom, separation of church and state, and universal, state-supported public education is objectionable, divisive, and political for several reasons. In today's charged political climate, displaying Jefferson could also be seen as an affront to our commander in chief whose position on religion is radically at odds with Jefferson's. "Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man," Jefferson wrote. Is this really what we want our god-fearing children to celebrate? Displaying Jefferson's likeness might remind students that Trump did not read the Constitution and its Jeffersonian idea of no "religious test" office-holders or government employees, generalizable to those seeking refuge or citizenship in the United States.
4. John Adams.
In his correspondence with Jefferson, John Adams shared a hostility toward Christianity ("the most bloody religion that ever existed") and a tolerance of Islam that in today's political climate is simply unacceptable. John Adams' insistence that "the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion" and has no "enmity against the law, religion or tranquility of Musselmen" is embarrassing to a president today who clearly doesn't believe this. Allowing children to see this man every day might give the false impression that their teachings on religious tolerance are laudable, thereby making Trump appear ridiculous.
His insistence that "facts are stubborn things" could be seen as undermining Trump's insistence on "alternative facts" and a much more flexible relationship with the truth.
5. General or President Ulysses S Grant.
As a young officer participating in the United States invasion of Mexico, known euphemistically as the Mexican-American War, Grant was incensed at what he saw as an imperialistic land grab. At the end of the war, half of Mexico including territory that we now call Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California were all part of the United States. He wrote that the war was "one of the most unjust ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation. It was an instance of a republic following the bad example of European monarchies, in not considering justice in their desire to acquire additional territory."
This was not how representative constitutionally limited republics behave, he wrote. This is how rapacious monarchs in Europe behave. He felt the action was fundamentally anti-American and betrayed our founding principles.
Therefore, the idea of building a wall separating the part of Mexico that was seized illegally in Grant's opinion and the part of Mexico that we allowed Mexico to keep might be considered absurd. Those who study Grant might realize that Mexicans sneaking into Texas are really not immigrating as much as coming home.
Better to avoid this embarrassing chapter in American history altogether. Remove Grant from the walls.
6. Frederick Douglass.
Although Frederick Douglass was a strong early advocate of not just ending slavery but integrating African Americans into American institutions such as the United States Army, and although many of Trump's policies and actions have been viewed as hostile to African Americans, that is not the reason why the likeness of Frederick Douglass should never adorn the walls of any classroom.
When Trump said, "Frederick Douglass is an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and is being recognized more and more, I notice," it seemed clear he had no idea who Douglass was or that he died in 1895. Therefore, any portrait of Frederick Douglass is a jab at Trump's historical ignorance. As such, it is disrespectful to the president and potentially distracting to students who should not be exposed to anything that might make their president look ridiculous.
7. A globe.
Any symbols of cartography could clearly be interpreted as another swipe at the president's geographical ignorance. The seven countries on President Trump's travel ban for example did not include any of the countries whose citizens attacked us on 9/11 or in any attack since then. Also, he clearly is confused about Sweden and has no appreciation of our long-standing friendship with Australia. Better to avoid the whole topic of geography rather than risk being political and mocking our president.
8. Meryl Streep.
The merciless harangue of President Trump by Meryl Streep during her Golden Globe Award acceptance speech clearly has equated her image forever with that of the most vicious critics of President Trump. Putting her face on the wall of any classroom would literally make her the poster child for the sort of liberal anti-Republican propaganda that does not belong in a classroom. This also goes for Ellen DeGeneres, Robert De Niro, Eric Baldwin, John Oliver, John Stewart, and a list that is too long to name.
9. 1984 or anything by James Orwell.
We get it. This novel has soared to the top of the New York Times and Amazon.com bestseller lists ever since Trump won the electoral college vote. Very funny, liberal book readers. Haha. You've managed to turn a classic into a swipe at our 45th president. So why don't we all just settle down as Sean Spicer would put it and get the book out of our children's classrooms since the attack on totalitarianism, propaganda, and the torturing both of citizens and of language and logic hits too close to home. 1984 is clearly a Democratic book criticizing an administration too uncomfortably similar to the Trump administration.
10. Grizzly bears.
Any photographs of these animals will clearly be seen by many snickering Democrats as the punchline to a joke about Trump's Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos who, when asked why schools should have guns, replied, "to protect from potential grizzlies." The anti-gun left that has never seen the wisdom of arming elementary school students had a field day with this one. Just in case it might arouse disrespect of our president and his cabinet, teachers are advised to simply purge their classrooms of any ursine imagery.
So let's not risk offending the feelings of our admittedly thin-skinned president and his even more sensitive supporters. The best strategy for a teacher is to try to make the classroom mirror the president's mind: it should be empty, even sterile. Students can be exposed to competing political viewpoints elsewhere. The school is no place for controversy.
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