David Huntwork

They Say Trevor Made a Mockery of MLK Day
Preparedness: Hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst
Wikileaks War
The Rise of the Tea Party
Why I Signed The Manhattan Declaration
Boycott The One
Into a Twisted Future with Gary Wolf
We Shall Not Go Quietly Into The Night
Dancing Under the Ugandan Skies - A Book Review
The 99 Most Memorable, Interesting and Outrageous Political Quotes of 2008
Obama's Natural Born Problem
The Giggle Monster Lost His Giggle (A children's story)
Victory at any Price
The History of the Huntwork Clan
Palin and those "scary" Christians
Our "Little Barracuda"
Civility at Saddleback
The Top Ten Reasons Obama Should Not Be President
The Coming Fascist State
You're to Blame for Everything
Hillary's Close Call
The Jerry Springer Party
Christianity, Obama, Identity Politics and Liberation Theology
Tis the Season to be PC
I Am NOT An Animal
The Sad Saga of Amanda Marcotte
The Left attempts to define Political Correctness
In Defense of Blackwater and the Modern Day Merc
Some Thoughts on the Senate Sleepover and the Iraq War
The Salt Lake Shooter and Sudden Jihad Syndrome
Successes and Setbacks in the "Long War"
The Rise of the Anti-Jihadists
The Little Boy and the Magic Snowman (A Children's Story)
Exploiting Children in the Name of Climate Change
Workshop of the Second Self: A Book Review
The Mystery of 9-11, Dr. Graham and Jamal Khan
2996: A tribute to the victims of 9-11
Myths (and Truths) of the Illegal Immigration Invasion
Out of Control Teacher Reinstated after Anti-US Rant
Alternating Worlds: A Book Review
Defending Christmas
The Execution of Terri Schiavo
The Saga of SpongeBob SquarePants
Civility at Saddleback
Embedded Reporters: A Bad Idea
Death of a Monster: Yasser Arafat
Immigrations Unarmed Invasion
Post 47 and RAthERGATE
September 11th: Lives Lost and Lessons Learned
An Alliance of Evil
The Holy Land - A Book Review
The Nature of the Enemy
The Embracer: A Book Review
Final Battle of the Culture Wars
They Say Trevor Made a Mockery of MLK Day
Did You Lie to Your Kids at Christmas?
The Twists and Turns of the Jessica Lynch Story
Valley of the Dry Bones
Rush and Race
What's Wrong with the Caucasion Club?
The Seductive Temptress
A Just War
Living the Bill of Rights
The Institutionalism of Liberalism
Triumph of the Bush Doctrine
New Alliances for a New Century
The Real Reason for the Iraq War
The Family Historian
There Once Was A Little Brown Bug (A Children's Story)
Happy Birthday Ronald Reagan
The U.N. Agenda
Powell the Pacifist

trevorrichardposter.jpg

Trevor is a junior at Westside High School in Omaha, Nebraska. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Trevor along with a couple of friends decided to orchestrate a campaign that he be named the recipient of the "Distinguished African American Student Award" for next year. In the best American political tradition, they printed and plastered throughout the school about 150 posters showing a smiling Trevor giving a thumbs up and encouraging votes for him. The award has been given for eight years on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to a senior selected by teachers.

There was only one slight problem. Though Trevor was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, he is white. This apparently did not sit well with the powers-that-be at Westside High School. In very short order, Trevor and his band of merry men found themselves on the receiving end of disciplinary action. Though the punishment of the other students has not been publicly disclosed, Trevor himself was suspended for two days. This was his reward for publicly spoiling the spirit of this inspiring award on no less than the holiest of the politically correct holidays.

I suppose an insignificant punishment for unsanctioned poster hanging may have been in order but the resulting punishment was certainly out of proportion to the crime. The students were not officially disciplined for the hanging of the posters themselves but for the particular ideological message that was contained on them.

Even more disturbing and serious was the punishment of another student for circulating a petition the following day criticizing the practice of recognizing only black student achievement with the award. This gallant expression of grassroots activism was swiftly squashed by the now on-guard school administration that was boiling at the audacity of mere teenagers hanging, as they put it, "inappropriate and insensitive" posters in this culturally aware and enlightened society.

There is no law that says one has to be "appropriate and sensitive" (as defined by who?) but the speech codes in public high schools and college campuses are mercilessly used to strangle any suggestion of dissent of the policies and ideologies of the Left.. Never mind that Trevor is more "African" than any other student attending his high school and is probably more knowledgeable of African culture than the other 1,842 students combined.

This incident only further reveals the idiocy of Balkanization, tribalism and race-based activities, awards, and advocacy groups. Under the guise of diversity and multiculturalism, true independent political thought and action is subject to attack at the slightest provocation as Trevor and his friends found out the hard way. There is no room at the inn for the viewpoints of conservatives, libertarians, Christians, or constitutionalists in the public indoctrination system.

I was notified of this situation by a member of my small circle of friends from college who keep in touch and relish the realm of ideological and political discussion. Within a short time, we were responsible for a series of critical e-mails descending upon the brave guardians of the Distinguished (black) African American Student Award. My particular contribution went something like this:

"I can hardly believe that a small group of Westside High School students were disciplined for advocating that a white student from South Africa receive the "Distinguished African American Student Award" next year. It would be laughable if it wasn't true.

Since when is it punishable to be "inappropriate and insensitive"? Poor preparation for real life. In reality, these students made a good point. I am proud of these young men for exposing the blatant racism, tribalism, and idiocy of the Distinguished African American Student Award. As a public school, maybe Westside High School should try teaching a little more reading, writing, and arithmetic instead of wasting everyone's time hunting down those who happen to hang a politically clever poster. Ideological censorship and heavy-handed punishment for petty political acts should have no place in our schools.

Even more disturbing is the punishment of a student for circulating the petition that criticized the practice of recognizing only black student achievement with the award. Welcome to America and the right to disagree with the powers that be. These children were logical, witty, and courageous to take on the entrenched forces of Political Correctness. They should be praised for their actions, not punished. Frankly, I am disgusted to see that this is even an issue. Shame on you both collectively and individually for allowing this type of incident to occur. These children deserve an immediate apology..."


Our small barrage of e-mails included some comments from my cohorts in common sense that are worth repeating.

"...The ham-handed, one-track liberalism that your administration has clumsily used to club innocent students is a disgrace. That your teachers and administrators are so single-minded and dim that they cannot even deal with simple dissent from TEENAGERS, speaks poorly of those who are working for your school. You should apologize to the students for abusing their trust, and to the taxpayers of Nebraska for being unequal to the task of educating their youth...."

And from another to the student's social studies department "...When students engage in real life lessons of civics and government, it is essential that they do so with the knowledge that their Constitutional activities will be backed by a member of the Social Studies department. Regardless of where you stand on the Distinguished African American Student award, it is an outrage that your department chose not to come to the aid of the petitioners. Moreover, the inability of your institution to deal with any of the listed "offenses" in a constructive way is an embarrassment. The kids deserve teachers that support the activities that enhance life learning. Not teachers that hide behind knee-jerk administrators with an ideological axe to grind on behalf of the offended..."

Also included was the short and direct criticism. "What could you fools possibly have been thinking? This is America!!! Or is it? You ought to be ashamed of yourselves and quit education altogether..."

All good fun in support of a brave little group of free thinkers.

It is amazing that Martin Luther King Jr.'s brave dream of a colorblind society has degenerated into divisive race-based awards jealously guarded by guilt-ridden liberals and white apologists. Trevor and his fellow students deserve praise for pointing out the obvious double standards of race-based policies.

"There is no room in the country for hyphenated Americanism....A hyphenated American is not an American at all. This is just as true of the men who put German or Irish or English or French before the hyphen. Americanism is a matter of the spirit and the soul. Our allegiance must be purely to the United States. We must unsparingly condemn any man who holds any other allegiance. But if he is singularly loyal to the Republic, then no matter where he was born, his is just as good and American as anyone else."  - Theodore Roosevelt

"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free."

- President Ronald Reagan

 ”I will not cede more power to the state. I will not willingly cede more power to anyone, not to the state, not to General Motors, not to the CIO. I will hoard my power like a miser, resisting every effort to drain it away from me. I will then use my power, as I see fit. I mean to live my life an obedient man, but obedient to God, subservient to the wisdom of my ancestors; never to the authority of political truths arrived at yesterday at the voting booth. That is a program of sorts, is it not? It is certainly program enough to keep conservatives busy, and Liberals at bay. And the nation free.”

—William F. Buckley Jr.

"Liberals want to regulate just about everything: where we live, what fuels we use, what car we drive, whether we can drive or be forced to use government mass transit, where we send our kids to school, what doctor we see, and even to what extent we express our approval or disapproval of others’ lifestyles. It’s hard to find something liberals don’t want to regulate. Is that a world you want to live in?” 
 

"At such a time in history, we who are free must proclaim anew our faith. This faith is the abiding creed of our fathers. It is our faith in the deathless dignity of man, governed by eternal moral and natural laws. This faith defines our full view of life. It establishes, beyond debate, those gifts of the Creator that are man’s inalienable rights, and that make all men equal in His sight. "

Dwight D. Eisenhower

"And if we elect a government that subverts or weakens or ends our war against terrorism, we can count on this: We will soon face enemies that will make 9/11 look like stubbing our toe, and they will attack us with the confidence and determination that come from knowing that we don’t have the will to sustain a war all the way to the end."

- Orson Scott Card

"In response to skyrocketing gas prices, liberals say, practically in unison, 'We can’t drill our way out of this crisis.”' What does that mean? This is like telling a starving man, 'You can’t eat your way out of being hungry!'  'You can’t water your way out of drought!' 'You can’t sleep your way out of tiredness!' 'You can’t drink yourself out of dehydration!' Seriously, what does it mean? Finding more oil isn’t going to increase the supply of oil? It is the typical Democratic strategy to babble meaningless slogans, as if they have a plan. Their plan is: the permanent twilight of the human race. "

-Ann Coulter

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen."
 
-Samuel Adams