4th Grade Common Core Obama Book Blatantly Race-Baiting
Another Common Core aligned assignment fit for the bowels of the garbage disposal in the school cafeteria. These things pop up daily, but only rarely do they get much of a response from the “been there, done that,” Common Core fighting crowd. Our most recent find came from a 4th grade classroom in Dupo, Illinois. The book in question is called Barack Obama and students were instructed that they were to read the book and be tested on the contents.
A book about the president of the United States is certainly nothing to cry foul over–unless that book is filled with incorrect information that plays the race card and fuels the grievance industry folks. (I’m looking at you, Jesse and Al…)
Some astute parents saw this book come home with their children and began to take a look at what it said. Here are some things that jumped out at them.
First, the book continually addresses him by his first name–and not just his first name, but his nickname “Barry”. Is this to make him sound like a regular guy? You know, just like your friends next door, I guess.
When Barry looked in the mirror, he saw a young black man. But he didn’t know how to be black. And no one was there to teach him.
He decided to act like the black characters he saw on TV. He started acting tough. He cursed. Was that what it meant to be black?
As he got older, he started smoking and drinking. He tried drugs. Was that what it meant to be black?
No one was there to teach him how to be black? You have to learn how to act the race that you are? Aren’t you just supposed to act human? Poor Barry. He had to turn to the squawk box to learn his heritage. It is unclear here whether big bad TV executives or the author of the book itself are the ones who pinned black people as people who smoke, drink and did drugs.
Moving on from that bit of ridiculousness, we careen headlong into the race baiting. The book portrays the scenario that supposedly took place in America amongst white Americans when Barry became the Democratic nominee for President of the United States.
Did you all know there was a huge conundrum for whites? Apparently we are forward thinkers, but just not forward enough to ever vote for a nice guy like Barry—simply because he is Black.
Maybe we, like Barry himself, looked to TV to define Black or us and decided that he must certainly be a drinking, smoking, drug taker. (Surely you can see the sarcasm dripping off of your screen at this point…)
Here’s what the book has to say:
But some people said Americans weren’t ready for that much change. Sure Barack was a nice fellow, they said. But white voters would never vote for a black president. Other angry voices were raised. Barack’s former pastor called the country a failure. God would damn the United States for mistreating its black citizens, he said.
Hey, look at that, Reverend Wright makes an appearance here, but not by name. I recall Wrights contentious “sermon” wherein he said, “God bless America. No, no, no, not God Bless America. God damn America…”
I won’t digress here. I want to go back to a sentence in that quote taken from the book: “But white voters would never vote for a black president.”
Now, don’t overlook the obvious. Apparently white voters did vote for a black president, didn’t they? Why did voters, any color, vote for Barry? For white people, was it the ever-perpetrated white guilt? Was it something more? Or was it a combination of things? Perhaps, they really thought he was best for the job. Perhaps they overlooked the fact that Oprah promoted him like he was the newest Apple product, overlooked that he had only ever done “community organizing, overlooked that he was supposedly a great orator, no matter how empty the words.
I distinctly remember a group of Starbucks swilling, soccer moms who proudly wore “Obama Mama” t-shirts. When I pressed one on why she was an Obama Mama she told me he was smart, spoke well and was the first black presidential candidate and that this election was a historical event.
That’s interesting. There was no mention of his skills, what he would do for our country, what his fiscal policies or foreign policy would be. It was just so cool to have a black president. The first one. And he was so hip! And on top of that, he seemed to dislike government. He was tired of how American ran rough shod over the rest of the world.
They mistakenly saw this as a virtue. The reality of this trait is that Barry doesn’t dislike government, he dislikes America. And he felt the need to make the world tour of apology circuit.
This book will tell children that white people just couldn’t vote for a man with black skin. Since we now have Barry as president, it does tend to show that that was a wrong assumption.
Martin Luther King Jr. said it best in his inspirational “I have a dream,” speech. In this speech he famously said, “[they] will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” Amen Mr. King, amen! It’s too bad that this nation’s first black president was voted in precisely because the color of his skin and not the content of his character.
It doesn’t matter what color your skin is, it’s what is in your heart and your character that counts. The old adage rings true that you just cannot judge a book by its cover. In so doing you truly, and ironically, become a racist.
