Heather Cox Richardson, professor of history at Boston College, recently said that historians “study patterns in society to make predictions about the future.” There is value in looking back to find the path forward.
Kristina Nohe
An uproar erupted recently over the reading of “Prince & Knight” at Prince William County’s Thurgood Marshall Elementary. Those opposed to this book by Daniel Haack about a prince who falls in love with a knight built their argument around parents’ rights and religious freedom, ideas worth testing through a historic lens.
Below are comments made by Virginia parents regarding changes in their children’s schools that went against their beliefs. Some were written online in 2022 about a children’s book and some are about school integration taken from letters to the editor over 50 years ago. Words that would give away the answer have been redacted:
A) This is only one of the many reasons why ---- that do not want ---- and should not have it forced down their throats by ----.
B) I am very disappointed that ---- would force feed ---- to my 11-year-old child without my consent.
C) [He], under the guise of friendship to ----, comes like a panther with his claws concealed beneath his soft down and with gentle words and professions of love, undertakes to force ---- upon an unwilling country.
How about these?
A) That the push for ---- is anti-Christian and ungodly [and] will be recognized by many of the people who are now honestly misled.
B) If Christians believe in the Biblical view of ----, they have a right to teach that to their children.
And finally, which of these is about LGBTQIA+ and which is about integration?
A) The ----, through his various organizations, supported by the Communist (there is ample proof of this), has invaded our seminaries and convinced some of our clergy that ---- is unchristian. Some of our teachers have absorbed the false doctrine of ---- equality from Pinko teachers’ colleges.
B) A large part of the problem is that teaching degrees require students to learn a lot of anti-American and immoral values! So, unfortunately, public school teachers tend to be more left than the average parent! And part of that is teacher unions who overwhelmingly support the Democrat party and in turn, they follow the 45 goals [of the] communist party USA!
The overlap of sentiment is remarkable, but why does it matter? Any parent today who advocated for segregated schools would be rightfully chastised.
However, during integration, parents did just that. One wrote in 1954, “I have often wondered how one could combine Christianity, or the moral teachings of Christ, in any way with the suggested forced integration of races in our schools.” Statements like that are shocking today, but that wasn’t always so.
In 1956, the Virginia General Assembly created the Pupil Placement Board (PPB), designed to usurp local authority regarding school assignments, as part of Virginia’s Massive Resistance to school integration. Black students looking to attend previously all-white schools had to apply to the PPB for reassignment, which they did with limited success.
White parents used the PPB to have their children reassigned out of integrated schools and into schools remaining all-white. Newly integrated schools sometimes lost almost half their white students to reassignment applications filed under the auspices of a parent’s right in “deciding on the companionship of their children.”
Public schools have regularly been the gateway to societal inclusivity, and it rarely reflects kindly on those who preach exclusion. Today, segregationist parents’ arguments sound imprudent and misguided, even though they, too, claimed to have tradition and religion on their side.
Someday, another historian will dig through the comments made about the reading of a children’s book in which a prince gives his heart to a knight instead of a princess, and, if Richardson is right and we can use the past to predict the future, the arguments made today (all of the Bs) will hold up no better than those made in the 1950s (the As) or in 1872 (the Cs).
Kristina Nohe is a local activist, adoption advocate and homeschooling mom.
(6) comments
So the tldr version of this is that if you don’t want your kids groomed in school, you’re no better than a racist segregationist.
What a kooky person. I guess one look at that hair could have told you that.
Ok, groomer.
Yeah, we see you, Ms. Nohe.
History isn't just a record of what has happened in the past, and interpretation has to be carefully minded, especially within context of cultural milieus. The idiom goes, "History is written by the winners.", but more accurately, history is a living, anthropological process (much like science) and considering anything "settled" serves no purpose except to predicate questionable arguments on subjects that can be dismissed as granted.
Imagine writing an opinion piece wherein you espouse the value of history, then remove the date specific information to remove the temporal context of the statement. That's not how history works. And on top of it all, if history judges those who made these statements then as ubiquitously wrong, then why are we still having the same conversation today? The answer is that it isn't settled. Before you jump into the "history will judge you" prognostication, perhaps a little logical thinking would be best.
Additionally, it's quite easy to cherry pick the craziest arguments about an issue, fallaciously arguing from the specific to the general, and imply that the conclusion speaks for itself based on anecdotal example. I'd be curious to hear Kristina's opinion on 21st century African American segregationists, especially ones that want exclusively African American facilities, including schools, libraries and colleges, today, in 2022. Are you going to step in and control what they teach to their children, too?
Mr. Rockefeller is spot on. Today's political leaders, media and academia only view history through the modern prism of understanding. The fact that most people don't bother to even learn history speaks volumes to our country's current political discourse. The world laughs at us for looking ignorant and weak in spite the fact that our culture and successes brought freedom and prosperity to the world.
Kristina wraps herself in racism around every corner because of her adopted black children who she uses for her own woke personal black face to get her dribble published by leftist outlets like inside nova. People like you are a stain on this country and your pathetic husband as well. Schools have no business pushing homosexual propaganda on little kids. It’s quite a ridiculous stretch to compare that to not allowing people attend school because of their skin color such as segregation. You’re a joke!
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