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That is exaclty what I'm saying. The white children played Indians without complaint, think how it would have looked if they had made the "only Indian in the school" play an Indian. The fact that they expected her to play a Pilgrim is school protocol. Anything else would have looked racist. In todays world it's extremely hard to know what to do about anything. If they don't recognize her cultural difference they are wrong. If the DO recognize the difference and treat her accordingly, they are racist-also wrong. So, where's the right? I'm not saying you don't have the right/ability to dictate what your daughter participates in, I'm just saying that nobody really knows what the heck they are supposed to do and that in a lot of "racial" situations (by this I mean more than one race, be it black, asian, latin, white, etc), there is no right answer b/c someone is bound to be upset at some seemingly racist/unfair/bigotlike occurance.
I just wanted to shed a little light on the uncertainty that surrounds all things race related.
Oh I know it is like walking the thread of a tightrope...I just expected more from a military school on a base of 65,000 soldiers plus their families. In such a multi-racial environment and multi-religious environment you would expect better sense.
I mean asking that of her is like asking a black child to play the part of a slaver trader, or a japanese child to play the part of Admiral Halsey. I mean it is not difficult to use common sense. I personally was not bothered by them asking her to play part i was ticked off that she was suspended for refusing to play the part.
Whatever they asked her to do- If she had objections to being in a play about pilgrims and Indians, why couldn't she do something else? If they used common sense they would have just let it slide. I mean if you refused to let her do reading class - maybe - but a play? I've had flack from people before about not filling out any racial information and I've heard all the excuses- Need it for statistics blah , blah, blah, My answer to them is the same as my answer to a lot of stupid stuff I get confronted with-- People in hell want ice water - but they not gonna get it. And why couldn't she maybe make a report on why she doesn't agree with the traditional pilgrim -indian story. Something !!
Not taking any thing away from the great teachers and School staff that are out there, but my experience with a lot of them in the last few years is that common sense is absent in a lot of cases. Some of my kids' teachers have been great - but some of them have been complete dingbats!! They talk really nice and pretty , but don't have enough sense to pour **** out of a boot!!
