Tag Archives: Des Moines

The End Of Common Sense

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Yesterday The Daily Caller posted an article about a high school basketball game is Des Moines, Iowa.

The article reports:

Supporters of the Des Moines North High School basketball team, many of whose players are from refugee families, were offended when fans of Valley High School’s basketball team wore red, white and blue last week, The College Fix reports.

“This is an example of BLATANT racism,” said Ty Leggett, a Valley High School alum, on the Valley High School – WDMCS Facebook page. “ALL participating should have been pulled and banned from ALL VHS extracurricular events for the remainder of the year! As a parent, I’d be mortified that my son or daughter thought this way, acted in this fashion and refrained from taking a stand against this 21st century inexcusable behavior!”

Erin Ness Carter, a mother living in the Iowan district, remarked that “for the supporters of one team from a primarily white part of town to paint themselves as the ‘team of the USA’ it strongly implies that the other team, the less white team, is less American.”

Wearing the colors and the American flag is not racist–it’s patriotic. Historically Americans have invited immigrants to join in that patriotism. Historically immigrants have been willing to be part of that patriotism.

The article further reports:

Some Facebook users commented on Valley High School – WDMCS, noting that they had heard the chant “deport him” or “deport them,” but others denied these claims. Valley High responded to the accusations, stating that “administrators and teachers did not hear nor have evidence during the game of this occurring. If we had been aware of it, we would have taken immediate action to stop it. Now having received reports, we are investigating and disciplinary action will be taken for evidence found.”

If evidence of these chants is found, those responsible need to be disciplined, but otherwise, there is no crime in wearing the colors of the American flag. I can’t believe that any school administrators were even willing to give this discussion the time of day.

About That Tolerance Thing

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One charge the political left is consistently making against the political right is that the political right is intolerant. However, the facts don’t always bear that out.

Yesterday The Blaze reported that Blake University in Des Moines, Iowa, turned down the request of the group Turning Point for official status as a student organization. Students had hoped to establish a Turning Point group on campus. Turning point is an apolitical organization that educates students in free markets, fiscal responsibility and limited government. Evidently these ideas were not welcome at Blake University.

The students who requested that Turning Point be given official status believe that the organization was turned down because of its conservative views. This is another example of a university that is not interested in exposing its students to a range of political thought–our universities have become centers of indoctrination rather than centers of learning.

The article reports:

Jerry Parker, associate dean of students at Drake, said that the Turning Point USA members will be required to go through the approval process again if they appeal the senate’s decision, KCCI reported.

Rachel Paine Caufield, a professor of political science who has taught at Drake for 15 years and is an advisor to the Turning Point USA group, said that she can only remember one other student organization’s application being rejected.

“I’m a firm believer that the university should provide the same opportunities to all organizations,” Caufield said, according to the Register. “I’m hopeful we will be able to meet with the students and talk about what course of action they want to take next.”