December 16, 2009

2nd Grade Kid On A Cross, People! What's Going On In Christmas City?

taunton_jesus.jpgThough we know here as America's Capital Of WTF Dad Stories, the official unofficial nickname for Taunton, Massachusetts is "The Christmas City." Which makes it all the more ironic [read OUTRAGEOUS ATTACK ON FREEDOM] that an 8-year-old boy was suspended from school and ordered to undergo psychological evaluations for drawing a picture of Jesus at Christmastime.

Chester Johnson told WBZ-TV that his son made the drawing on Dec. 2 after his second-grade teacher asked children to sketch something that reminded them of the holiday.

Johnson said the teacher became upset when his son said he drew himself on the cross. Johnson, who is black, told WBZ he suspects racism is involved. He said he thinks the school overreacted and wants an apology.

Maybe last week he just wanted an apology. By yesterday, when that shit hit the talk radio/wingnut fan nationwide? Johnson upgraded his outrage from racism to, well, let's just say he wants a little rendering unto Chester:
"It hurts me that they did this to my kid," Chester Johnson, the boy's father, told the Globe. "They can't mess with our religion; they owe us a small lump sum for this.''
And guess what, the Taunton school district is aggressively disputing key aspects of Johnson's story, saying that there are no religiously themed assignments of any kind, it's not clear that the kid even drew the picture at school, he wasn't suspended, and this:
[The superintendent] said the boy's drawing was seen as a potential cry for help when the student identified himself, rather than Jesus, as the [dead] figure on the cross, which sparked the teacher to alert the school's principal and staff psychologist.

She declined to comment on whether the teacher had reason to believe that the student might be crying out for help.

She added: "Religion had nothing to do with this at all.''

There they go again, trying to eliminate religion from the public schools.

Child's Christmas artwork deemed 'violent' -- SOUNDOFF [wbz news radio via dt sr freakout/taunton metropolitan area correspondent sara]
Taunton schools rebut report on child's Jesus drawing [boston.com[

3 Comments

My, my. That's certainly a good example of radical divergence between stories about the drawing!

It's fairly obvious to me that people with a grievance will grasp at straws and make mountains out of molehills in order to get publicity. Paying attention to the facts comes very far down on the list, and isn't on the list at all when you start talking about "the media."

I'm reserving judgement until there is resolution. It isn't fair to call people wingnuts and radicals before it's decided who's story is accurate.

"Radical divergence" is a phrase meaning "big difference." Not "divergence by wingnut radicals."

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