This weekend a School Board member made national news when
he went on the record to express his views/opinions about our President’s
religious affiliation. Carl Paladino
cited patently false and repeatedly debunked accusations that President Obama
“is a Muslim, not a Christian.” Further his remarks insinuated that President
Obama, if not a Muslim is a “sympathizer”.
Although he leaves the listener to surmise with what or whom the
President identifies, he clearly believes the President is un-patriotic, is only supported
by the “uninformed” or the “elite” and doesn’t care about the average
American. While these remarks would appear to be aimed only at the President,
the covert message is that somehow, being a Muslim is a problem; signals
un-American tendencies; is intolerable and sinister.
I am appalled that an educational decision maker would make
such remarks without consideration of their impact on the student population he
serves. And as a fellow Board member, I
believe that silence becomes complicity in support of this behavior. It should
be acknowledged that Mr. Paladino has freedom of speech to express his
views. And he is doing that as a citizen
not as a Board member. Likewise, my comments are not made on the behalf of the
Board or of myself, as a Board member. In fact, the Board is prevented by
Education Law from formally admonishing or sanctioning one of its members. However, as Mr. Paladino has, I also have the
right, and the obligation, to exercise my free speech rights and do so as a
grandmother, child advocate and educational stakeholder.
Buffalo Schools serve over 34,000
students. African American, Latino,
Native American, Asian and Pacific Islanders comprise nearly 80% of our student
population. An increasing number of our
students are immigrant children who come from countries where the predominant
religion is Islam. We also recognize that many of our students,
American citizens, are Muslims. Our
country was founded on the belief that religious freedom is a fundamental right.
All of
our children, regardless of religious preference, deserve and MUST see
educational leaders/adults modeling behavior that demonstrates a valuing,
respect and tolerance of difference. Our educational system actively promotes
the goal that “All students will
demonstrate the ability to live harmoniously and to cooperate with others,
valuing the enrichment provided by diversity, and incorporating our democratic
civic values of equal opportunity, justice, and peace.” In other words, we message that
regardless of race, creed, religion, national origin or sexual orientation we expect
the ideal that all will treat each other with dignity, honesty and respect.
That includes adults.
Our students understand coded
language. They are more technologically
savvy than most adults and they respond to social media in formats that we’ve
never heard of. Comments such as those
made by Mr. Paladino are not confined to CNN or the Buffalo News. Our students understand the hypocrisy of
adults, who exercise situational ethics in their interactions. They reject the
attempt to impose a set of standards for behavior on them that are not mirrored
in the behavior of those who make the policies. They expect us to model the
behavior, adhere to the ideals and validate the goals we’ve developed to guide the
system. Yes, words matter, actions matter.
Our students are watching us Mr. Paladino. What will you do or say next?