December 12, 2018
By: Linda Case Gibbons, Esq.
Not believe in Santa Claus? It happened in Miracle on 34th Street, until Santa straightened things out.
But ban Christmas from kiddies in elementary school? That's unthinkable!
And yet, that's exactly what happened in Elkhart, Nebraska.
Jennifer Sinclair, principal of the Manchester Elementary School, banned the most beloved symbols of Christmas. Going down her list, she systematically snatched All Things Christmas from the hearts of children.
Kindergarten through fifth grade! Tykes aged 5 through 10!
"We are not to be doing any Christmas or holiday-specific themed activities with students," Sinclair said.
And she explained herself.
"I come from a place that Christmas and the like are not allowed in schools," the Ocasio-Cortez-Like-Pop-Eyed principal said in one of many back and forth e-mails to her teachers.
Parents weren't told about any of this. Until later. But if they had known, they certainly would have asked, "Where is 'the place' she comes from?"
Fair question.
And what does, "Christmas and the like" mean?
Some things made Sinclair's Okay List: Penquins and Snowpeople were fine. Elf on a Shelf and Santa, classroom Christmas trees and Christmas carols were out. And candy canes.
"The shape is 'J' for Jesus," Sinclair wrote. "The red is for the blood of Christ, and the white is a symbol of his resurrection." And she banned colored candy canes, too.
All of this was, she said, to further "culture sensitivity." In fact, that's the very reason making Christmas ornaments bit the dust.
"Making a Christmas as a gift," she said, "assumes that the family has a Christmas tree, which assumes they celebrate Christmas. I challenge the thought of, 'Well, they can just hang it somewhere else."
Luckily angrier heads prevailed, and outrage bloomed. Parents and teachers brought in Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit legal group which focuses on religious freedom. Founder and Chairman Matt Staver soon set things straight. Just like Santa in Miracle on 34th Street.
"Nothing prohibits public schools from teaching objectively about Christmas or other holidays with religious significance, from displaying religious and secular Christmas symbols side-by-side, or singing sacred and secular Christmas songs together," Staver said. "The First Amendment prohibits censorship based on religious viewpoint."
And, he added, "This outrageous three-page memo by Principal Sinclair was not based on ignorance of the law, but hatred toward Christianity and Christmas."
Happily the school district reversed the anti-Christmas policy, and put Sinclair on administrative leave.
But no. She didn't lose her job.
Sinclair is a disgusting example of a disturbing trend in education, the rise of anti-American, anti-cultural propaganda, taught by our children's teachers, from grade school through college.
Remember Liz Phipps Soeiro, the Cambridgeport Massachusetts Elementary School librarian who turned down First Lady Melania Trump's gift of Dr. Seuss books?
This person felt she could lecture Melania Trump about what "acceptable" literature was; tell her "Dr. Seuss' illustrations are steeped in racist propaganda, caricatures and harmful stereotypes." And chide her, "You may not be aware of this, "but Dr. Seuss is a bit of a cliche, a tired and worn ambassador for children's literature."
She should tell that to the cast of the critically-acclaimed How the Grinch Stole Christmas, which is playing on Broadway. This year. Again.
But Soeiro is small potatoes compared to middle school teacher-turned Antifa leader, Yvette Felarca.
Felarca is a leader of BAMN, By Any Means Necessary, which is associated with the Revolutionary Communist Party, and which is alleged to have ties to NAMBLA, the North American Man/Boy Love Association.
You might remember Felarca and her pals. They were the ones burning buildings and rioting at U of C at Berkley, while trying to shut down a speech by Conservative Milo Yiannopoulos.
Or maybe you recall that Felarca has a great left hook. And never hesitates to use it.
But what Felarca, Sinclair and others like them don't understand is that Christmas is what America is. It is love and sweetness. It is children and gifts. It is paper-chains hung on a classroom tree. It is a holiday of joy, not exclusion.
It is like comfort food for the soul. Everyone's soul.
So why wouldn't Christmas be a threat to people like Jennifer Sinclair and Yvette Felarca?
People like them. And whatever "Place that they come from."
Hold the line, America.
Where We Go One, We Go All