Music Soothes The Savage Beast, Yet One School District Thinks It Promotes “White Supremacy And Institutional Violence”

I’m now convinced that the left invented both stupidity and hypocrisy. Not only did they invent them, but they’re also so proud of their inventions that they use them every single day.

For decades, schools have offered chorus and band classes in addition to sports, cheerleading, etc. I was fortunate as were some of my friends. We not only participated in sports, but we also sang in the chorus. I couldn’t play an instrument, but I had several friends in the band. The point is this, sports, chorus, and band aren’t for everyone, but each of them individually fill an important void in a young person’s life.

Now a woke school district in Washington plans on cutting music classes, claiming that they promote “white supremacy and institutional violence.”

The Olympia School District (OSD) is comprised of 19 schools and enrolls around 10,000 students, so this decision is no small matter. Yet, during a school board meeting earlier this month, the board voted to eliminate the fourth and fifth grade band and orchestra classes. The reasons given for this decision are that cutting the classes helps towards the district’s 11.5-million-dollar shortfall and will combat …. racism.

Huh?

The School Board Director, Scott Clifthorne, attempted to explain the decision and spewed forth nonsense as only a died in the wool leftist can do.

“We’re a school district that lives and is entrenched and is surrounded by white supremacy culture. There’s nothing about string, or wind instrumental music that is intrinsically white supremacist. However, the ways in which it is, and the ways in which all of our institutions, not just schools but local government, state government, our churches, and our neighborhoods allow white supremacy to be propagated, and cause significant institutional violence are things that we have to think about here. I think we have to do that interrogation and address the ways in which it creates challenges for the educational day for our elementary learners.”

Huh?  What the hell is this clown talking about?

According to a district spokesperson, the cuts would not apply to any secondary music courses but only a music elective.

“It is having a disparate impact across our schools on students who choose to participate in band and strings and on those who choose not to. The opportunity offered to all forces choices between things like lunch, recess or intervention time and this opportunity disrupts our teacher’s ability to teach all kids in their classes academic content in an already packed school day.”

Huh?  These classes have been offered in schools for DECADES, … By the way, what is “intervention time?”

Obviously, this did not sit well with many parents. One of the more outspoken parents was Alesha Perkins. Perkins has three children attending schools in the district and in an interview with Fox News Digital she expressed her disgust.

”OSD has reached a level of absurdity that is difficult to ignore. We are losing students in huge numbers. I’m not talking about a handful of students. I’m talking about hundreds and hundreds of students that are exiting the district, and they are virtually all citing these results. You cannot sustain a school district with a mass exodus of students. I mean, it’s just not sustainable for funding or anything else.”

A few days after the meeting Clifthorne, (who has obviously never heard that it is “better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and to remove all doubt.”) tried to explain his “white supremist” remarks.

“My comments related to “white supremacy culture” is that predominantly white communities can sometimes display certain characteristics (a sense of urgency, defensiveness, either/or thinking, etc.) to support and perpetuate systems that benefit themselves and not necessarily all. We need to be aware of that and work against it. In this instance, it is not the curriculum. Rather, I would like to see instrumental music structured and administered in a maximally inclusive way. As you can see in my comments, I don’t believe “white supremacy culture” is unique to music education, the Olympia School District, our state, or this country, for that matter. It is our moral obligation to think critically and make mindful policy decisions that expand access, fight discrimination, and promote equity, especially in the context of deciding budget reductions. My comment was intended to encourage students, staff, administrators, and our community to be mindful of the work we all need to do to ensure our programs serve all students and families.”

Huh?  Is Kamala Harris writing this guy’s remarks?

In response to Clifthorne’s remarks, Perkins wasn’t buying it.

“The music teachers in the district are wonderful people that have dedicated their professional lives to music and teaching that to students of every imaginable demographic. No student is excluded that wants to join these programs.”

Making budget cuts is an issue that many school districts struggle with. However, maybe providing the education the children deserve and stopping the woke nonsense like CRT, DEI and gender identity would keep hundred of students from leaving.

Take a good long look in the mirror Clifthorne and stop insinuating that these classes propagate white supremacy and cause institutional violence. Your board’s decision had already dug a deep hole, your comments are the equivalent to asking for a bigger shovel.