Shame on the Detroit Lakes School Board for voting to support bigotry.
By a four to two vote, the Board passed a motion to remove all non-school materials that are not funded, sponsored or authorized by the school district. Specifically mentioned in the motion were rainbow stickers, posters, flags, and buttons.
Make no mistake. This action was a direct attack against the LGBTQ community and all who support them. It sends a message that equal rights are not supported by the Detroit Lakes School Board, and that the district is not a safe space for LGBTQ students and staff.
One Board member says the policy is necessary because the district needs to remain neutral on these kinds of issues. Neutral about what? Protecting students? What’s the other side of this issue? Clearly, it’s hate and discrimination. So, the Board has voted to be silent against hate and discrimination.
LGBTQ Flag
As Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel said, “Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.”
Another Board member said that the policy is necessary because many parents who live in the Detroit Lakes district have chosen to home-school their kids because of the rainbow stickers and pushing the LGBTQ agenda. That optional “agenda” actually encourages tolerance and inclusion. I am sorry those parents can’t handle that.
Detroit Lakes School Board Members from www.dlschools.net
That attitude reminds me of the 1950s and 1960s in the South, where many public schools were integrating. As a result, many white parents pulled their kids out of public schools, and sent them to private schools, rather than, God forbid, have them go to school with Black children.
So, the majority of the Detroit Lakes School Board is now pandering to the bigots.
Perhaps the worst thing about all of this, is how sneaky, sleazy and dishonest the process was. The item was never on the advanced agenda of the meeting. It was simply introduced at the meeting by Board member Sanford Nelson.
According to the Minnesota Star Tribune, this follows a recent retreat by the school board and the superintendent where they agreed there would be no surprise amendments to meeting agendas.
So, that agreement meant nothing to four board members. No wonder that board member Julie Smith-Yliniemi, who voted against the motion, told the Star Tribune “We were blindsided” by the proposal. She’s right.
The public never knew it was coming. There was no chance for anyone in the LGBTQ community, school district community, or any school district resident to speak out about it. The only opinions that mattered were the four school board members who plotted to push this.
It appears those four who voted for the motion secretly colluded ahead of time about this, and possibly violated the state’s open meetings laws.
This is an ugly look for the Detroit Lakes School Board. Here’s hoping at the next School Board meeting, there will be a big turnout from the public, and the Board will learn about tolerance and doing the public’s business in public.
–Interior Secretary and former North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum has disgraced himself with his handling of the Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C. On top of his previous frightening policies, Burgum’s reputation is drowning because of the Reflecting Pool fiasco.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum testifying
We are learning more about Burgum’s deception now that charges have been dropped against former Olympic canoeist David Hearn for allegedly vandalizing the pool. The charges were bogus from the start, with no evidence to support them.
In recent weeks, Burgum absurdly claimed that the pool’s problems were caused by vandalism. “There was vandalism there, there was box cutters,” Burgum told CNN’s Dana Bash. “I’m not sure why you and others in the media think you want to keep question(ing) this…It didn’t peel off. There was vandalism.”
Burgum said they have photos and they can prove it. He told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos, “We have video and eyewitness reports.”
However, Washington, D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, who up until now had been a Donald Trump toady, said she dropped the charges because “the (pool’s) damage was the result of a botched installation and not vandalism.”
U.S Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro / justice.gov
Moreover, Pirro said her office of prosecutors had been deceived by Burgum’s Interior Department. She said that within two days of the pool’s repair project, the blue coating had started to peel and the Interior Department knew that, but didn’t tell Pirro’s office. Instead, the Interior Department kept falsely claiming that virtually all of the damage was from vandalism.
Not surprisingly, Pirro has called Burgum an “incompetent liar,” according to the New York Times.
The entire project has been a debacle from the start. There never should have been a no-bid contract awarded to a company that Trump chose because they had worked at one of his golf clubs.
The Washington Monument reflects in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, viewed from the Lincoln Memorial plaza. (2021) nps.gov
David Hearn became the scapegoat for all this incompetence and dishonesty. Trump and Burgum were shamefully willing to send an innocent man to prison for years to try to cover up their dishonest blunders. Hearn deserves an apology from Trump and Burgum. I’m not holding my breath.
Despite the dropping of the charges and Pirro’s findings, Burgum continues to say, “The evidence is clear, vandals have repeatedly caused damage to the Reflecting Pool. Some of these acts were even caught on camera.”
If Burgum has photos or videos of the vandalism, let’s see them. What’s left of Burgum’s credibility is on the line.
It remains baffling how the once highly regarded Burgum can continue to lie and deceive on behalf of his master, Donald Trump. In the world of Trump and Burgum, honesty and integrity are dirty words.
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