Welcome back, Students,
We cannot teach you
Real History,
nor Real Social Studies,
no genocide nor slavery
no systems of iniquities
and no Real Science,
nor even Real Biology,
lest you learn too much about
chromosomes and biodiversity
and the preacher down the street
should happen to disagree...
And no Real Literature,
even the classics
which your parents
and grandparents learned
...and loved...
And don't worry,
we've emptied
the shelves
in the library
of so many Real Books
about Real Lives
and Real Loves
of Real People
and Real Experiences
including the Reality
that human babies
are not delivered by storks
and also, that sexual abuse:
rape, and molestation,
are very Real Things, too.
And we can neither
Acknowledge nor Affirm
who you Really Are:
not your Pronouns
not your Name
And we cannot discuss
your Real Family
and your very Real Parents
who Really love the Real You
if they do not fit the
Aryan Family Ideal.
No! Not even
if your grandparents
and great-grandparents
or perhaps even
your great-great grandparents
fought against this Nazi nonsense
nearly a century ago.
No, now, our Statehouses
and our Governors
fully embrace it
and demand it
for you've got to be
carefully taught*
lest the teachers be
fined and fired
the dollars add up
the careers fade away
And remember,
Red State Students,
you don't need College
to Succeed
for the Corporations
are your Salvation
and they need Bodies
to Consume
the younger the better
We'll defund any University here
who dares to offer 'DEI'
And remember,
We can't have you
learning elsewhere
what we won't teach you here.
After all...
If Education is Power,
then Empires would crumble
and Tyrants might fall...
--
*the lyric, "you've got to be carefully taught," comes from the 1949 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, 'South Pacific,' which was frequently banned for discussing topics such as racism and interracial marriage. It was more recently quoted by Lin Manuel-Miranda in 'Hamilton.'
--
2024, Rev. Le Anne Clausen de Montes. May be shared and reprinted with attribution. Le Anne is a former international human rights worker and peacemaker, prisoner of conscience, and pastor in the Presbyterian Church- PC(USA). She coordinates the Iowa Faith Leadership Network, Neurodiversity-Affirming Congregations, and the Center for Faith and Peacemaking. She resides and raises four children in Iowa, where a series of recent laws, including SF 496, ban books describing sex, LGBTQIA+ content, and other diversity-related content and materials from the public K-12 curriculum, and ban DEI support programs and content from public colleges and universities. Her most recent published work may be found in 'A Liturgy for All Bodies' (Cyclical, 2023).
