A school in California has a tradition of having its very young students re-create the first Thanksgiving feast. This means having some students dress up as Native Americans--and so, naturally, the mavens of political correctness aren't pleased:
"It's demeaning," Michelle Raheja, the mother of a kindergartner at Condit Elementary School, wrote to her daughter's teacher. "I'm sure you can appreciate the inappropriateness of asking children to dress up like slaves (and kind slave masters), or Jews (and friendly Nazis), or members of any other racial minority group who has struggled in our nation's history."
Hmmm. But later in the article, look who speaks up for the other side:
"Kathleen Lucas, a Condit parent who is of Choctaw heritage, said her son -- now a first-grader -- still wears the vest and feathered headband he made last year to celebrate the holiday.
"My son was so proud," she said. "In his eyes, he thinks that's what it looks like to be Indian."
And he didn't feel "demeaned" at all.
I think what would be truly "demeaning" is to have those students pretend that there were no Pilgrims and there were no Indians, and that there were no differences at all. At Christmas time, in Christmas plays, children dress up as angels. Is that "demeaning" to angels??? Come on.
