Elementary School Students Taught to Sing Praises of President Obama- Page 2

[tazber]

Posted: 9/24/09 at 7:11pm

I agree stockard, it has nothing to do with Obama.

It's just vaguely fascist to be praising the president not just in terms of accomplishments, but in terms of...I don't know...just *being*.

Now, objectively speaking, imagine how you would have felt if they made your kids sing spiritual praises about GWB.

Scary, no?

It's the idea of such blind and indiscriminate adoration that is frightening.

Updated On: 9/24/09 at 07:11 PM

Posted: 9/24/09 at 7:12pm

We've already got the Meme that Barack Obama wants to brainwash your kids....this just adds fuel to the fire.

My question....is there one person who SUPPORTS President Obama who calls him Barack Hussein Obama?

[SNAFU]

Posted: 9/24/09 at 7:13pm

It is not Obama's fault or that of anyone in the White House. It is the mistake of a well meaning however pretty stupid educator.

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 9/24/09 at 7:17pm

They didn't plug his name into a spiritual, did they? I think they just used the phrase, "red and yellow, black and white," from Jesus Loves the Little Children. It's still creepy and the teacher is still an idiot.

[tazber]

Posted: 9/24/09 at 7:40pm

From the OP's link, JG:

One song that the children were taught quotes directly from the spiritual "Jesus Loves the Little Children," though Jesus' name is replaced with Obama's: "He said red, yellow, black or white/All are equal in his sight. Barack Hussein Obama."

[JerseyGirl2]

Posted: 9/24/09 at 7:50pm

Yeah, that line is in the video. That's the line that made me cringe.

[toanythingtaboo 2]

Posted: 9/24/09 at 7:59pm

Apart from being African-American, what are his great accomplishments exactly?

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 9/24/09 at 8:42pm

Yes, Bammy loves me!
Yes, Bammy loves me!
Yes, Bammy loves me!
The teacher told us so.

[romantico]

Posted: 9/24/09 at 8:59pm

Where was Fox News outrage when the same was done to George Bush?

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/04/17/katrina-song/

By the way, has anyone here seen the film JESUS CAMP where they did the same thing to Bush?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxdt_f0hwUg

Fox News and their double standards!

[Jane2]

Posted: 9/24/09 at 9:07pm

Who said it was Obama's fault?

[Jane2]

Posted: 9/24/09 at 9:12pm

"And this one is about Washington AND Lincoln!"

Sounds like individual singers selections who chose to do that.

Not like having school children singing as a class, taught by the teacher. It's quite a different story.

[violet72]

Posted: 9/25/09 at 8:02am

Personally the teacher or whoever posted it on youtube should be in trouble because it's unethical. The song is a bit creepy but most of the parents were fine with it...the complaints(hate email, hate phone calls) were coming from out of state people who have no kids in the district. They interviewed 4 parents who had problems with it, most didn't...the school went on lockdown yesterday because they got death threats, they also had state police there for their back to school night(last night) and arrests were made

Posted: 9/25/09 at 10:36am

To anything Taboo: He was editor of the Harvard Law Review. He was a state senator, US senator and now President of the United states. What are YOUR accomplishments?

Posted: 9/25/09 at 10:40am

Oh and now you know...the rest of the story. The video was recently posted, but the song was part of an African History month celebration (in February) where the class sang the song about several African-Americans. The "Obama" verse has been pulled out (and posted) and is now causing outrage.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 9/25/09 at 12:01pm

Yes, Bammy loves me!
Yes, Bammy loves me!
Yes, Bammy loves me!
The teacher told us so.


LOL, Diva!

[smartpenguin78]

Posted: 9/25/09 at 1:37pm

I believe there should be a some matters of distinction here:
1. Students should actually be learning about President Obama, during Black History Month and otherwise, including the historic nature of his election. The protests lately have underscored a desire to stamp that out, which is nonsensical.
2. There shouldn't be a reverential or political vent to the way that students learn about the above, and this song verse seems to veer too far in that direction. (This is even more the case with this particular religious tune, that is entirely unacceptable.) That becomes blind nationalism, which is a dangerous and destructive thing, just as destructive as the ignorance of the other side.
3. None of this indicates a problem on its own, except that we need to come to grips with both of those points and develop an appropriate way to teach the significance of our times so that well meaning people who don't know better, and the crazies who are just trying to stir up hate, are not allowed to do simply whatever they want.
4. As many have said, this does not seem to be a top down thing imposed by the administration, and so, as usual, the vitriol from the right is unwarranted, hypocritical (as the posted links to previous versions of songs hailing Bush indicate) and misdirected. And it remains frighteningly on the edge of large scale violence.

Updated On: 9/25/09 at 01:37 PM

[PalJoey]

Posted: 9/25/09 at 2:30pm

Did that teacher REALLY use famous lyrics from "JESUS LOVES THE LITTLE CHILDREN"?

How stupid.

[violet72]

Posted: 9/30/09 at 10:58am

The Daily Show did something about this on Monday night in it's 2nd segment...can't get to the website right now but will post it later.

The thing about the video is(talked to a teacher and parent who teach/have a child in the school)
It was done in Feb. for Black History month and Pres day (the one that was taped is an old song about Martin Luther King(that I remember singing in 3rd grade, they just changed the name) other songs about Pres. and famous African Americans were done. The parents had the song lyrics and nobody complained before, during, or after the assembly. The kids in the video go to a different school this year(they are now all in middle school) so none of their parents were interviewed. It was not posted on youtube first. It was posted on a children site about the President(which the parents signed a form saying was alright to do) and someone took it off there and put it on youtube (illegally)
This only proves that Fox News does not check sources and makes/slants news out of nothing

[singingwendy]

Posted: 9/30/09 at 11:29pm

I'm curious if this part is true:

" "Alteredbeat" told FOXNews.com that he reached out to Carney-Nunes, who insisted that the program had been filmed in June as part of a Father's Day tribute to President Obama. "The kids made up the songs on their own," she wrote, according to the YouTube user."

If these lyrics were actually created by the students I guess I don't mind it as much. I guess I look at it as "folk music"--writing songs about what is going on in your lives and your community. It almost sounds like these were the results of talking and reading about our then brand new president and the kids then created lyrics to go with what they'd learned. If that's what it was, I have no issue. But if the kids were just handed these songs with no explanation, I have some concerns.

But then again, this is coming from a music teacher who just had to take down a bulletin board because a fellow teacher was offended by the word "hot" in the chant we were working on...

Posted: 10/1/09 at 3:42pm

I was forced to sing about the 'Kookoooburro sittin' in the old gum tree' when I was in elementary school. WHERE WAS THE OUTRAGE?