There has been outrage focused against the school board from two distinct perspectives. Many progressive parents are outraged that the school would invite such a controversial figure to speak on the topic of MLK and civil rights. The other side is attacking the teacher for standing up to the obvious irony and hypocrisy of the event.
Mr. Hutcherson has mobilized his likeminded followers to barrage the school board with sheer numbers in order to force this attack on a teacher that did exactly what Martin Luther King reminds us in the following;
"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter."
-Martin Luther King Jr.
We need the help of local leaders, the community, the media and national organizations to focus this issue at its core which is bigotry and intolerance within our schools.
Please let us know if you can help.
MtSiParents@gmail.com
10 comments:
Here is a link to Wikipedia that provides a comprehensive overview on Ken Hutcherson's activities. When I read it, I am once again astounded this man was chosen to be the key note speaker at a Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Assembly. My understanding is that this was not his first appearance at Mt. Si.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Hutcherson#Gay_Rights_opposition
I think it is important for us to recognize that there are two issues at play here. One is the preacher and the other is how safe and inviting the schools are.
As far as the preacher, he is using this opportunity to get media attention to further his agenda, and that agenda extends far beyond the borders of this school district. That is why I am not using his name- I will not further his cause.
Let me say, though, that he is an ironic fellow. As I have been told, his speech to the students was about half an hour long. Something like 20 minutes of that was about how he used to hate Caucasians and liked to hit them on the gridiron. Then he found religion and loves them. The ironic part is that while he says he loves them, in my eyes what he has done is find a way control them while getting them to pay him for hating yet another group. It is a wonderful example of sublimation. Anyway, he doesn't really figure into what we need to accomplish for our schools, so I am hoping that if we simply disregard him as irrelevant, he will find something else to do. As Deputy Dawg told Muskie Muskrat- "Don't go away angry, just go away."
The real issue is the schools and the way they are administered. After the first visit by the preacher and last year's Adam and Steve skit, there were protests. This year GSA made plain their position on the preacher coming back. In the face of all this, he was invited back. As a parent, I can arrive at no other conclusion than the school has hidden hatred for gays and lesbians. Every supervisorial person from the Board through Mr. Aune, Mr. Taylor and on down to the staff assigned to work with the kids to plan the assembly are directly responsible for creating a hostile and harassing climate. This is a real problem that by all estimates affects 10% of the Mt Si student body or 150 of our kids. It is backward, cowardly and hurtful. We cannot allow it to continue. These staff in decision making positions need to apologize for allowing this to happen. To date they have only gone so far as to apologize for the uproar. The uproar is simply a symptom. They need to set an example for the students, swallow their pride and take responsibility for their inaction. We as role models need to model the behavior we want our kids to learn. Avoiding responsibility is not among them.
There are risks and costs to action. But they are far less than the long range risks of comfortable inaction.
- John F. Kennedy
This email was just sent to Libby Denkmann of the Dave Ross show, who is looking for a call in interview for the show with Mr. Hutcherson tomorrow morning at 10:
Hello, Libby. We have a list of people who have come forward to have their names added to a blind list. All of them profess to be on the opposite side of the issue than Mr. Hutcherson. I have included them in this response, so if they choose to act, they may.
It is the opinion of this list keeper that Mr. Hutcherson is a symptom of the intolerance exhibited in our school system, not a cause of it. On top of this, I feel that he is using the issue to further his own aims, and I do not want to give him any further leverage. We wish he’d just take his hate somewhere else, or make a decision to become constructive. We have no interest in engaging in any debate with him because he is irrelevant to our situation.
I personally cannot participate, but I would invite any of the individuals in this list to participate in an on-air discussion without Mr. Hutcherson about the issue we do face here, which is how our school district could have allowed 3 assemblies to further a homophobic agenda. Perhaps some of them will see fit to contact you.
Please feel free to include this email on a broadcast.
Thank you
Friends of GSA
Her info is:
Libby Denkmann | Producer
Dave Ross Show
710 KIRO Radio
1820 Eastlake Ave E.
Seattle, WA 98102
206-726-5418 (w)
425-890-2326 (c)
libby@710kiro.com
Mahatma Gandhi once said, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." I have always found this to be a profound statement by one who had an intimate understanding of (and respect for) Christianity. I think it could be argued that Gandhi also practiced what one could argue to be true Christianity if one considers Jesus’ life and teachings to be the basis for Christianity (although one might not see that in much of the church today).
As I ponder the things I have heard from Reverend Ken Hutcherson regarding homosexuality, I wonder what kind of Christianity he is practicing. According to a recent Snoqualmie Valley Record article, Rev. Hutcherson claimed that “his beliefs…come strictly from the Bible, ‘all 56 books’”. I have a strong feeling that the word “strictly” (coupled with his statements about homosexuality) point to Rev. Hutcherson’s reading of the Bible in a very literal sense. And, I must say that I take the Bible much too seriously to take its words literally.
That being said, I’m not going to go into a Biblical treatise on homosexuality. I will say that I wouldn’t have anything to do with a church that reduces any of my fellow human beings to anything less than fully human, which is precisely what Rev. Hutcherson is doing. And, today is the birthday of Thomas Merton, who once said, “A faith that supports itself by condemning others is itself condemned by the Gospel.”
So Rev. Hutcherson; I propose that you learn to embrace ALL people, and then really honor Dr. Martin Luther King by speaking out against the real “evils of racism, poverty, and militarism that mire people in misery, divide us against one other, and threaten the world with extinction.”
I take the Bible too seriously to take it literally. Ken Hutcherson should never have been invited back, and I encourage all of you to stand up for Mt. Si and your children. His kind of intolerance is totally unacceptable, and cannot be allowed in schools without having equal time for presenting the other side.
"His kind of intolerance is totally unacceptable, and cannot be allowed in schools without having equal time for presenting the other side."
It was MLK day and he talked about raceism. What is the other side and where is your tolerance? Free speach goes both ways and tolerance "terms used in social, cultural and religious contexts to describe attitudes and practices that prohibit discrimination against those whose practices or group memberships may be disapproved of by those with the opposite view." must be shown by all or none at all.
Imagine taking the Constitution to serously to take it literally. WOW
I take honesty too seriously to take it literally. WOW, WOW!!!
What if we all took life too seriously to take it literally. What a mess that would be.
RAWILS said...
I take the Bible too seriously to take it literally.
nuf said
Your statement "Mr. Hutcherson has mobilized his likeminded followers to barrage the school board with sheer numbers..." is GROSSLY IN ERROR. I spoke at the school board meeting that night, and I personally know about ten others who spoke. Many others I know by acquaintance from living in North Bend for 19 years. I do not attend his church, and I have never met him before that night. I can personally guarantee that at least 50% of the people there had nothing to do with the Reverend Hutcherson or his church. I am confident that the percentage was considerably bigger than that.
You live in a fantasy world in which you think the majority of people support your point of view on this, and that only those people who are involved with Hutcherson disagree. You are so far wrong it would be laughable if the consequences of your error was not so serious. From reading comments on the blog entries, you have obviously created a club for like-minded people, but you appear to be woefully ignorant of the opinions of the majority of parents and citizens in the SVSD.
To parents of 4 Mt Si Students. I found your post very interesting. Interesting in that you are quick to call to task a comment linking those in support of Hutercherson's viewpoint as "followers" while at the same time ending your a bold statement that the majority of the valley residents see things the way you do. This really isn't about Hutcherson or homosexuality. This is a tolerance issue. If what you propose it true, that the majority of valley residents support intolerance and discrimination, then it certainly isn't the place I have come to know and love.
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