Today’s blacklisted American: School bans all pro-Israeli clothing
No freedom of speech for conservatives in
NY schools. Photo: Leo Reynolds.
The new dark age of silencing: Neal Singh, the principal of a middle school in Brooklyn, forbid a teacher from wearing a t-shirt that said “Proud Zionist” because it was “politically explosive.”
An outraged Park Slope teacher says he learned the hard way that it’s OK to wear Black Lives Matter T-shirts to work at his “woke” Brooklyn school — but not pro-cop or pro-Israel garb.
Jeffrey Levy, an English as a Second Language teacher at MS 51 in the liberal Brooklyn enclave, told The Post that school principal Neal Singh ordered him to stop wearing his “Proud Zionist” T-shirt in the building — even though other staffers have worn shirts touting BLM and women’s rights. Levy filed a discrimination complaint over not being allowed to wear his self-made shirt, which features the Star of David.
He said he was told by Singh that students and staffers complained about it — and also the pro-police “Back the Blue” T-shirt he’s previously worn. “Singh told me that my T-shirt with an Israeli flag on it and the words ‘Proud Zionist’ were ‘politically explosive,’” Levy says in his complaint, filed Sept. 30 with the city Department of Education’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity.
The excuse Singh uses to ban the pro-Zionist t-shirt is that it offended some students, which means that Singh hasn’t the slightest idea what freedom of speech entails. To have free speech everyone must be allowed to offend others. Silencing someone because their opinion offends you is blatantly oppressive.
Note too that I am sure Levy was offended by the Black Lives Matter banners and t-shirts, since many of that movement’s leaders are outright bigots and anti-Semites. He however did not call for their banning. He did the right thing, responding with more speech.
The NY Department of Education (DOE) is supporting Singh by noting that teachers are not supposed to advocate political positions while at work. Sounds good, eh? The problem is that the DOE did nothing to stop teachers from promoting BLM and feminist causes, continuously. It clearly has a double standard, designed to silence one side of the debate.
I doubt Levy will win his case. I even expect he will find himself fired for daring to make this complaint. After all, he lives in New York, a place that increasingly resembles the Soviet-style dictatorships of Eastern Europe during the Cold War.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
No freedom of speech for conservatives in
NY schools. Photo: Leo Reynolds.
The new dark age of silencing: Neal Singh, the principal of a middle school in Brooklyn, forbid a teacher from wearing a t-shirt that said “Proud Zionist” because it was “politically explosive.”
An outraged Park Slope teacher says he learned the hard way that it’s OK to wear Black Lives Matter T-shirts to work at his “woke” Brooklyn school — but not pro-cop or pro-Israel garb.
Jeffrey Levy, an English as a Second Language teacher at MS 51 in the liberal Brooklyn enclave, told The Post that school principal Neal Singh ordered him to stop wearing his “Proud Zionist” T-shirt in the building — even though other staffers have worn shirts touting BLM and women’s rights. Levy filed a discrimination complaint over not being allowed to wear his self-made shirt, which features the Star of David.
He said he was told by Singh that students and staffers complained about it — and also the pro-police “Back the Blue” T-shirt he’s previously worn. “Singh told me that my T-shirt with an Israeli flag on it and the words ‘Proud Zionist’ were ‘politically explosive,’” Levy says in his complaint, filed Sept. 30 with the city Department of Education’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity.
The excuse Singh uses to ban the pro-Zionist t-shirt is that it offended some students, which means that Singh hasn’t the slightest idea what freedom of speech entails. To have free speech everyone must be allowed to offend others. Silencing someone because their opinion offends you is blatantly oppressive.
Note too that I am sure Levy was offended by the Black Lives Matter banners and t-shirts, since many of that movement’s leaders are outright bigots and anti-Semites. He however did not call for their banning. He did the right thing, responding with more speech.
The NY Department of Education (DOE) is supporting Singh by noting that teachers are not supposed to advocate political positions while at work. Sounds good, eh? The problem is that the DOE did nothing to stop teachers from promoting BLM and feminist causes, continuously. It clearly has a double standard, designed to silence one side of the debate.
I doubt Levy will win his case. I even expect he will find himself fired for daring to make this complaint. After all, he lives in New York, a place that increasingly resembles the Soviet-style dictatorships of Eastern Europe during the Cold War.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
I have no problem with blanket ban on teachers wearing political garb. The problem, of course, is who defines “political”. So, make it easy: No text or logos on outerwear . What’s a teacher doing wearing a (visible) t-shirt, anyway?
You could still get away with ‘gang colors” – I’m seeing blue hat, white shirt, blue pants – but it is at least subtle.
Second markedup2: Why are government employees proselytizing politics while working in their professional, and tax-payer funded, positions? Sorry, folks. You don’t get it both ways: expressing personal beliefs on the sovereign coin.
New York has become unsafe for a large proportion of its citizens. I know many people who are moving away. Florida is popular destination.
William
It was just announced that Florida’s voter registration flipped, for the first time in thirty years, to majority Republican by 500,000.
“The problem, of course, is who defines “political”. ”
The problem is also who’s under the blanket. Enforce the rules for everyone, or there are no rules for anyone.
If the teacher hasn’t contacted an attorney, they are crazy.