Claremont parents clash over kindergarten Thanksgiving costumes

[Chris_]

Claremont parents clash over kindergarten Thanksgiving costumes

For decades, Claremont kindergartners have celebrated Thanksgiving by dressing up as pilgrims and Native Americans and sharing a feast. But on Tuesday, when the youngsters meet for their turkey and songs, they won't be wearing their hand-made bonnets, headdresses and fringed vests.

Parents in this quiet university town are sharply divided over what these construction-paper symbols represent: A simple child's depiction of the traditional (if not wholly accurate) tale of two factions setting aside their differences to give thanks over a shared meal? Or a cartoonish stereotype that would never be allowed of other racial, ethnic or religious groups?


"It's demeaning," Michelle Raheja, the mother of a kindergartner at Condit Elementary School, wrote to her daughter's teacher. "I'm sure you can appreciate the inappropriateness of asking children to dress up like slaves (and kind slave masters), or Jews (and friendly Nazis), or members of any other racial minority group who has struggled in our nation's history."

Raheja, whose mother is a Seneca, wrote the letter upon hearing of a four-decade district tradition, where kindergartners at Condit and Mountain View elementary schools take annual turns dressing up and visiting the other school for a Thanksgiving feast. This year, the Mountain View children would have dressed as Native Americans and walked to Condit, whose students would have dressed as Pilgrims.

Raheja, an English professor at UC Riverside who specializes in Native American literature, said she met with teachers and administrators in hopes that the district could hold a public forum to discuss alternatives that celebrate thankfulness without "dehumanizing" her daughter's ancestry.

*snip*

Raheja is "using those children as a political platform for herself and her ideas," Constance Garabedian said as her 5-year-old Mountain View kindergartner happily practiced a song about Native Americans in the background. "I'm not a professor and I'm not a historian, but I can put the dots together."

The debate is far from over. Some parents plan to send their children to school in costume Tuesday -- doubting that administrators will force them to take them off. The following day, some plan to keep their children home, costing the district attendance funds to punish them for modifying the event.

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Oh FFS.  The  libs just can't let it go.   

[Wineslob]

Raheja is "using those children as a political platform for herself and her ideas," Constance Garabedian said as her 5-year-old Mountain View kindergartner happily practiced a song about Native Americans in the background. "I'm not a professor and I'm not a historian, but I can put the dots together."

The debate is far from over. Some parents plan to send their children to school in costume Tuesday -- doubting that administrators will force them to take them off. The following day, some plan to keep their children home, costing the district attendance funds to punish them for modifying the event.



Hey, Reheja, any part of STFU you can't understand?

[thundley4]

With the way the left has controlled the school systems in this country, I am surprised that any still let children dress up.

[jinxmchue]

With the way the left has controlled the school systems in this country, I am surprised that any still let children dress up.

There's a few bastions of sensibility left.  My daughter brought home her Indian headdress and costume yesterday.  I should take a picture for you.

[thundley4]

I'm willing to bet that most of those "bastions of sanity" are in rural areas.

[docstew]

Hey, Reheja, any part of STFU you can't understand?

yeah, the "shut" and the "up"

[Ptarmigan]

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks, not this insanity.

[jinxmchue]

I'm willing to bet that most of those "bastions of sanity" are in rural areas.

Wasn't too hard to guess, was it?