I Prayed have prayed
Father, help us to maintain justice and to do what is right in Your eyes. Isaiah 56:1

A Texas school district has removed an 8th grade assignment that compared police officers to KKK members and slave owners amid backlash from parents and law enforcement groups.

 

The social studies assignment, given to students at Cooper Junior High in Wylie, Texas, used a political cartoon to depict five similar scenes: African-American men face down on the ground with their hands restrained behind their backs and a white man’s knee on their neck. Throughout the scenes, the black man says he cannot breathe.

Among the five different white men, one was dressed in a white KKK robe while another resembled Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

After the assignment was posted online by an unidentified eighth-grade teacher, parents immediately filed their complaints with the Wylie Independent School District.

Vice President of the National Fraternal Order of Police Joe Gamaldi sent a letter to Wylie ISD Superintendent David Vinson in August denouncing the assignment.

“I cannot begin to tell you how abhorrent and disturbing this comparison is, but what is more disturbing is that no adult within your school thought better before sending this assignment to children,” Gamaldi wrote.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also condemned the district’s assignment and said the teacher responsible “should be fired.”

Shortly following the public outcry, Wylie ISD issued a statement claiming that the cartoons “are not part of the district’s curriculum resources or documents.”

“We are sorry for any hurt that may have been caused through this lesson. The assignment has been removed, and students will not be expected to complete it,” the statement read.

David Fitzsimmons, the Arizona Daily Star cartoonist who created the image, defending his work.

“I’m impressed the National Fraternal Order of Police is directing its fury at an illustration revealing how our present horrors are mere echoes of our cruel past… Perhaps it requires too much moral courage, or honest clear-eyed reflection, for the National Fraternal Order of Police to funnel their fury at the few racist police officers who disgrace their oath and their badges by disproportionately murdering African-Americans,” Fitzsimmons said.

(Article by Bryan Brammer. Photo Credit: Getty Images.)

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Sandra Mears
September 10, 2020

What kind of person puts cartoons like this in a news paper? What teacher carries it into the classroom? This exactly what needs to be stopped in the teachings of our innocent children and grandchildren!! God we bind this evil agenda in the education of our innocent children and grandchildren, let Your righteous judgements come against this evil in Jesus name amen.

6
Judith
September 9, 2020

Thank you, Father, that parents were able to see this assignment and have input. Lord, please uncover. any teaching that is wrong and protect our children, the parents and the teachers in our schools. May our educational system be pleasing to you each day. Forgive us for accepting the removal of prayer from our schools. I pray that parents be convicted to use their homes with distance learning to once again begin each day with Prayer & the Pledge In Jesus name.

14
Carey Head
September 9, 2020

Abba, protect the children of this community. Once and still in many ways conservative, our growth has brought challenges. WISD is blessed with many, many believing administrators, teachers, and staff who give greatly of themselves in service to the community and for Your Glory. But a very few need severe correction and possibly salvation. We lift all our WISD personnel to You that their eyes would be open to abuses of authority and courage to fight attacks on our children’s souls. Let our children come to You, seeing Truth with their innocent eyes, and keep them innocent. Where they have been abused, bring healing and courage. Let them stand in Your Kingdom. And thank You for engaged parents! May they be ever more vigilant in their blessed role. Encourage and strengthen them. And though we are blessed with a godly ISD as a whole, and we thank You relentlessly, where possible, let parents assume the full education of their children, returning parents and children to one another for training in the way they should go. In Yeshua’s Name….

15
Darlene Estlow
September 9, 2020

Father, thank you for removing this lesson from the curriculum.

14
    Carey Head
    September 9, 2020

    Thank you, Darlene, for your prayer for my community.

    6
Marian
September 9, 2020

Dear Father,
I honor you and your plan for law and order. Help those who create curricular studies to promote snd use decent civility and honor for authority. May our youth learn justice and honor.
Praise you, Jesus.
Amen

28
    Carey Head
    September 9, 2020

    Thank you, Marion, for your prayer for my community and others.

    7

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