Gather 'round folks, I have a yet another "Christmas isn't secular" tale for you. 1
A few weeks ago, a friend in California saw a fundraiser posted on twitter by a public school teacher on the east coast called "Cleaning and Christmas" to raise money to for cleaning supplies and "holiday decorations" (stocking and ornaments) for her classroom. 2/
My friend shared this piece I had recently written with the teacher and shared her concerns about Christianity in the classroom. The teacher responded that she celebrates all holidays with her students and she just likes alliteration. 3/
My friend suggested that "Cleaning and Kwanzaa" would have accomplished alliteration as well. The whole exchange was very pleasant but the teacher blocked my friend anyway. 4/
It should be noted, my friend has never been blocked on Twitter before, and nothing that was said by either party was rude or disrespectful. 5/
My friend reached out to me with the screenshots, and I approached the teacher via twitter. In response to a tweet in which she said that no one has to donate to the fundraiser if they don't want to and therefore there was nothing wrong with the fundraiser ... 6/
... I pointed out that her students don't get to decide whether they sit in her class decorated with stockings or not. She didn't respond. She blocked me. 7/
So, I reached out to her superintendent with my concern. At no point did I name the teacher, and I'm not naming her, tagging her, or posting screenshots here, because I feel strongly that this is NOT a personal or personnel issue, but a structural issue. 8/
The superintendent did not respond, but her assistant sent me their holiday policy which I read. In my read of it, the teacher's fundraiser/classroom decorations did not follow the policy. 9/
I told this to the superintendent and her assistant and I then received contact from their communications person. 10/
The communications person wanted to know the name of the teacher, which I did not provide. I reiterated that I wasn't interested in getting anyone in trouble, but I did want to understand what the district was doing to ensure... 11/
... separation of Church and State and inclusion for all students. I am especially interested in these matters when Jews (or Muslims or Sikhs, etc.) are NOT present. If there's one thing I've learned being the first Jew that people meet ... 12/
... it's how normalized Christianity is in this country to the point that people don't even realize when they're using Christian language to talk about things that aren't Christian. 13/
EXAMPLE: All the times people have found out I am Jewish&asked me what church I go to. Not because they are horrible people, but because they've been raised in a Christian context&no one within that context has ever taken the time to say ... 14/
... "this is how we do things, but not all people do things this way." 15/
That's the thing about growing up a Jew in America, or any minority in America: to get by, you have to be SOOO aware of the majority's customs and norms that essentially you become a student of ... 16/
... white, Christian, hetero-normative, cis-gender, able-bodied, neuro-typical patriarchy and it's quite shocking to realize that those in the majority have rarely thought to look outside their own context, because you've spent a great deal of time doing just this. 17/
SO... the last I heard from the communications person was this: "We have reviewed the posts and will address the matter in an appropriate manner consistent with District policy." That was a week ago and several follow-ups have been ignored. 18/
HERE'S MY ASK: If your kid is in a public school, or a secular private school, watch what happens over the upcoming holidays. EVEN IF/ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE CHRISTIAN, please do your part to stem antisemitism and othering ... 19/
... by making sure teachers and school officials aren't claiming Santa is secular, etc. 20/
The thing about classrooms that only have Christians in them is that there is still a teachable moment to be had. And it's almost more important that those classrooms remain secular and acknowledge that Christianity (and all religion) is a choice. 21/
Because my kids, and kids from all minority religions, mostly have parents they can come home and have these conversations with. We have these conversations almost daily in my house this time of year. 22/
Please, Christians, help your kids (&their teachers) understand that Christianity is not a default just because it's more common than any other religion. I will end with this: In mom's groups I see a lot of consternation about when&how to tell their kids Santa isn't real. ... 23/
... I don't see as much chatter about what to do when a kid tells your child they are going to hell because they don't believe in Jesus. Which one of these do you think is the more damaging interaction? Let's talk more about that one. 24/
If you've read this far, THANK YOU. Please boost, share, comment, learn, and teach me!
Shabbat Shalom! 25/25
Shabbat Shalom! 25/25
because the piece i wrote got buried... here it is again: parentmap.com/article/how-pa…
