The PS 90 would not allow kindergartners to sing the much admired Greenwood classic, ‘God Bless The USA’, and that’s were it all began. Written after 9/11 it took off in the charts and has always remained popular, near the hearts of many. Several classes spent months learning the song to be used as the finale of their musical show yet Hawkins walked in on a recent rehearsal to call it off saying: “We don’t want to offend other cultures.”
Recently interviewed on Fox a mother explained: “A lot of people fought to move to America to live freely, so that song should be sung with a whole lot of pride.” She went on to explain that parents, immigrants from other countries, adored it.
Hawkins immediate move was to replace the song with Bieber’s ‘Baby’ saying something to the effect that the lyrics were not so ‘grown-up’.
Remembering that this principle was investigated about religious and/or racial comments we checked and found this from Daily News in 2010: “Principal Greta Hawkins of Public School 90 made several remarks about “white” and “Jewish” staffers, an investigation by the Department of Education’s Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) found.
Hawkins, who is black, is a graduate of Mayor Bloomberg’s elite Leadership Academy, which trains new principals.”
Looking further we located the comments not specified by Daily News: “I’m black. Your previous principal was white and Jewish. More of us are coming.”
Their rendition of ‘God Bless The USA’ was to include the waving of tiny American flags, all on Flag Day, which Hawkins rejected. Her goal was to permit the students to wave the flag of whichever country they wanted to support.
UPDATE: No large sodas will be consumed before, during, or after the singing of either Greenwood’s or Bieber’s song.
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Posted on June 12, 2012
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