What kind of weirdo world are we living in. The "Student Worker Club" at Boulder High School is pushing to name their high school after Barack Obama. I mean, come on ya'll, what happened to the days kids snuck off campus to conspire against the government while listening to Dead Prez?
According to the Denver Post, Ben Raderstorf, president of the club said:
"We think the election of Barack Obama is one of the most significant events in our country and shows the progress we've made in this country," Ben said Wednesday between classes. "We think he is deserving of recognition like this."
I'm sure Barack Obama will be happy to know that the creepy white paradise of Boulder has honored him by renaming their school; however, doing so appears to be another act of classic Boulder cultural appropriation. Obama's victory is white Boulder's. Yuck.
According to the Post, Mr. Raderstorf is proud because the Student Worker Club has moved beyond being an organization that boycotted the "Pledge of Allegiance," to the following:
"We've reinvented ourselves," he said. "We want to build up the school. It's quite the opposite" of the situation with the 'Pledge of Allegiance,' he said, explaining that renaming the school Barack Obama High would never be considered unpatriotic.
"We initiated this campaign in order to honor the momentous achievement of this African-American, inspire the community with his ideals of unity and hope, and reflect the progressive spirit that is shared by both Barack Obama and our school environment,"
Caught up in Obama Mania, Mr. Raderstorf neglects to note that Obama's policies are far from progressive. Escalating in Afghanistan and off-shore drilling hardly demonstrate a progressive agenda.
I don't know Mr. Raderstorf. I mean, I appreciate the idea that you want to fill your community with hope, but don't you think examining the racist impact of rezoning laws in Boulder might be a better place to start? It's one thing to promote naming the school after Obama. It's another to challenge white supremacy in that creepy racist town.
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4 comments:
i wish you could expand on this a bit. i can only guess what you're getting at which i think might be interesting.
if you're frustrated with the essentialist idea that one can possess an essential culture, i'd like to hear more. if you're frustrated that i'm making assumptions about boulder students ditto. maybe you're not frustrated at all. i need more coffee.
sure, all of that. but more to the point in this case, obama's victory presumably *is* white boulder's victory. it's not like they're trying to name the school Ghandi High.. he's their president, and one who claims to represent them at that. a claim which may be closer to the truth than his claim that he represents you or me.
i think people are all to eager to sound the alarm of cultural appropriation without thinking about what that really means, and i think that you, my friend, just seem eager to sound alarms in general.
The sound of alarms is the sound of our era. I thought hard about applying the term cultural appropriation to this case and if you read the article I'm referring, it's very likely you'll see why I chose that word. You are correct that Obama is those student's president and perhaps represents people of privilege more than others.
Wait, what is that I hear...an alarm going off elsewhere...
nice soundbite
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