2006/03/30

Weeping schoolkids forced to be Jews


Outraged parents in Apopka, Florida, are demanding to know why their children came home crying after being forced to be "Jewish" for the day.
For Holocaust Remembrance Day at Apopka Memorial Middle School, children whose names ended in the letters L through Z were forced to wear yellow five-pointed stars. The chosen ones were then denied simple comforts at every turn.
John Tinnelly was furious upon learning that his son was made to stand in the back of the classroom and sent to the end of the lunch line simply for being "Jewish."
"He was forced to go to the back of the lunch line four times by an administrator," Tinnelly said.
The man's soon came home in tears.
"He was crying," Tinnelly said. "I said, 'What are you crying about?' He said, 'Daddy, I was a Jew today.'"
The little boy was even denied the use of some water fountains that bore signs that said, 'If you're wearing a yellow star, you can't use this water fountain.'
Instead of learning lessons of history or tolerance, the younger Tinnelly came home with one lesson seared into his fragile psyche: "Daddy, the only thing I found out today is I don't want to be Jewish."
As monstrous as the Nazis were, they at least told the Jews the persecution was simply for being Jewish. Some of the Florida schoolchildren had no idea why they were being forced to stand or go with out water or wait for food.
"Teachers felt that it would have defeated the purpose to tell the students ahead of time because that would have prepared them," Principal Douglas Guthrie said. "Students came in and all they got was a star."
Guthrie thought the day was a great success.

"I feel that it was very effective to have students feel what it's like to be persecuted," he said.

No comments:

Daily Stoic

A great sight we should all subscribe to;