Lexington, Mass school cancels American Pride Dance

Posted by johnpe1 9 years ago to Culture
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"The Battle of Lexington and Concord, the first
engagement between British troops and
American colonists, took place there in 1775."

the melting pot is behind us. -- j

SOURCE URL: http://www.ijreview.com/2015/03/277752-high-school-dance-theme-got-canceled-offensive/?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=9&listID=%7BlistID%7D


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    Posted by Non_mooching_artist 9 years ago
    Just.
    Wow.....
    Aren't all who come here, and become citizens, Americans??? I don't understand what the hell is wrong with people. I'm so sick and tired of hearing daily that somehow being American, and proud of it, IN THIS COUNTRY, is somehow offensive. I find the PC police more offensive! They are suppressing free speech! OMG this irks the heck out of me....
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  • Posted by kn1ghtride 9 years ago
    To my shame, I live in Massachusetts. I am very proud of the kids who are standing up for what they believe in. I am so exhausted fighting the P.C. Police and ashamed of what this state has become over the years. When did the United States of America become a bunch of wussies that can't take a little criticism and get offended by the smallest things. When did this great nation so full of spirit and life become so disheartened and beat down? We as Americans must show our strength and pride and not allow ourselves to be squashed into oppression. We really must look into what our forefathers wanted for this country and remember what makes us the greatest world power. American craftsmanship and ingenuity. How about we remember America and not allowing looters to tell us what we should be doing. We must stop the "P.C. Police" and stand up for our American rights. I will get off the soap box now.
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  • Posted by davidmcnab 9 years ago
    It seems the word 'pride', like 'gay' and 'queer', is now the intellectual property of the LGBT community.

    Seems it's ok to be proud of having a sexual configuration which puts one amongst 10% of the population. But it's not ok to be proud of one's nation and its heritage.
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  • Posted by Herb7734 9 years ago
    When did the melting pot become the melted pot? When I was a kid, examples of intolerance were given as being against people of a certain ethnic background. Today, intolerance is aimed mostly at America by Americans. It's a strange world we have devolved into.
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  • Posted by Temlakos 9 years ago
    This is one of those Hank Rearden i-could-say-it-but-I-won't moments.

    I could say, and cite this as a prize example, that the government schools are deplorable for the indoctrination in "political correctness" they offer in lieu of honest instruction.

    I could say it, but I won't. Because it's not the government's place to offer instruction, proper or improper, in anything but the arts of war, and then only to candidates for active military service, and the American military officer corps.
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  • Posted by $ AJAshinoff 9 years ago
    Apparently being American and taking pride in being American is now considered original sin.

    useful idiOts or just run of the mill kool aide saturated libtards?

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  • Posted by Flootus5 9 years ago
    Pretty sad. I began growing up in Winchester, Mass, right next door to Lexington. In High School, I used to ride my ten speed over to the Lexington Green and the Concord bridge. I spent hours contemplating the events of 1775 and what it means to risk your life in defiance of tyranny. I was fascinated with the mindset of that kind of dedication.

    Having absorbed some of the effects of that contemplation and seeing where Massachusetts was heading, I resolved to leave while in High School. I did this initially by going to college in New Hampshire. This was in 1973. New Hampshire was very different then from what it has and is becoming and the motto of "Live Free or Die" played a role. I then resolved to move West seeking more freedom and did so in 1977 by going to college again in Arizona.

    No regrets, but after 38 years, I see the crap catching up in the West.

    But along the way I learned that an ancestor of mine played a role in the birthing of this nation. He was a patriot from the Groton-Pepperell Mass, area and was present at so many of the major events of the time. He was in the French and Indians Wars with an expedition to maritime, Canada, was there in the call to arms to Lexington, and was actually just as important a figure in Shay's Rebellion in Massachusetts as was Daniel Shay himself. It was my ancestors treatment in incarceration for the pre-Constitution Shay's rebellion that set the tone for what was incorporated into the Constitution regarding cruel and unusual punishment.

    I learned this about old Job Shattuck from a recent book written by a comtemporary relative of mine - Gary Shattuck. Here it is:

    http://garyshattuck.tateauthor.com/

    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Captain-J...

    This revived a certain amount of pride in my origins and the history of the area surrounding the Revolutionary War period. Including Lexington.

    To see these teachers taking these attitudes despite the opportunity to encourage this same pride in the history of your community, is just plain sad. Those kids should be encouraged and applauded. It is absolutely what it is all about.
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    • Posted by Ducky 9 years ago
      Thanks for sharing your story! You have some very special people as ancestors, Flootus5.
      That book on Job Shattuck looks wonderful--thank you for recommending it. I don't know if you've heard this, but Mrs. Job Shattuck was quite a woman. She and another woman named Prudence Wright played an important role one evening after April 19, 1775 (the day our Revolutionary War started, with the battles at Lexington and Concord, and all along Battle Road). They and 30-40 other women in Groton and Pepperell dressed in their (then) war-attending husbands' and brothers' clothes, took whatever muskets/flintlock pistols, farm implements and lanterns they had, and patrolled the town of Pepperell, in anticipation of a British patrol which was said to be delivering sensitive information gathered by Tory spies.
      These women gathered in the woods on both sides of the bridge over the Nashua River, and waited quietly. They had no idea how many Redcoats to expect, and rumors of mass slaughters were circulating through the colonies. Most of these women left their sleeping children unattended in their homes, to be there that night.
      After a period of time, the women heard horses approaching. Prudence and Mrs. Job Shattuck stepped out in front of the approaching men, and ordered them off their horses. It was Capt Leonard Whiting, a Redcoat captain, and either Samuel or Thomas Cummings, one of Prudence's brothers. As Capt Whiting raised his pistol on Prudence, her brother said "That is my sister Prudence, and she would wade through blood for the cause of liberty!" The other women stepped into the light, out of the woods, and the men realized they were surrounded. Once off their horses, the women searched them and found the incriminating papers in Capt Whiting's boots. The women took them into custody, turned them over to authorities, and submitted the papers to The Committee of Safety.
      This is the kind of stuff these people were made of. As Lord Hugh Percy (of the Royal Marines) said, after having seen the colonists in action on April 19th, "They have men amongst them who know very well, what they are about."
      Our role now, if we want to keep (actually, regain) the liberty those people helped to win for us, is to work to earn it. And I think we do so in part by learning our heritage and sharing it with others, so they can wake up, too, and help change our culture for the better.
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      • Posted by Flootus5 9 years ago
        Thanks Ducky; for laying out the story of Mrs Job and the arraignment of Captain Whiting. I was aware of that side of the story, but thanks for sharing it here.

        I remember Pepperell well. My family frequently went there to visit relatives. My cousin is a Shattuck and still farms in the area. The cemetery has tons of Shattucks, Grays, Blood's buried there. My parents, grandparents, great grandparents and going back are all buried there now. The Shattucks in Massachusetts actually go back to about 1640. Colonel Prescott of Bunker Hill fame is laid to rest in Pepperell as well.

        I still contemplate and marvel at the will and determination of what it takes to face tyranny at the real possibility of losing your life. It may be all too close a decision for us with the way things are. How did they put it in the Lord of the Rings? You cannot chose the times you live in, but it is how you choose to use your time here. It is never hopeless.
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  • Posted by MinorLiberator 9 years ago
    There is some discussion about the exact wording of this quote from Teddy Roosevelt on immigrants and America, and whether it was a speech or letter, but this version seems to reflect it best. To me it means that, yes, there is a unique and exceptional culture that is distinctly "American", and one we should be proud of. You rock on, kids!

    "We should insist that if the immigrant who comes here does in good faith become an American and assimilates himself to us he shall be treated on an exact equality with every one else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed or birth-place or origin.

    But this is predicated upon the man's becoming in very fact an American and nothing but an American. If he tries to keep segregated with men of his own origin and separated from the rest of America, then he isn't doing his part as an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. . We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as Americans, of American nationality, and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding-house; and we have room for but one slel loyalty, and that is loyalty to the American people."
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  • Posted by $ MichaelAarethun 9 years ago
    It's All American from Point Barrow to Cape Horn.
    It's all the US from Guatemala to Canada. It used to be the USA before it became known as the USSA. It's still the USM in the United States of Mexico. But as an easy to use nickname it served the purposes for those who were citizens of the United States of America.

    Kudos to the students. Thumbs down to the NoEducationAssociation
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  • Posted by Ducky 9 years ago
    I'm glad to see they reversed themselves on this occasion, but really, the next time this silly but about "not excluding other nationalities" is thrown up, it should be demanded that all St. Pat's Day, Cinco de Mayo celebrations and all currently-observed Muslim holidays also be cancelled. Otherwise, they're offending Americans by saying that everyone else's culture but ours, is "cultural," and worth celebrating.

    And here's another point I'd like to make. America is about an idea--the residents and school administrators in Lexington should know this, probably better than any other place in this country. Lexington is where, at dawn on April 19, 1775, the Redcoat soldiers fired without orders, into the backs of retreating colonists. America is about Liberty, and the right of the individual to his own life--and that idea knows no borders. That truly is something worth celebrating, and the heritage which became ours, was won for all people-- if only they choose to accept it. How's that for inclusive?
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