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So then, by that same reasoning, will the Moonbats be clamoring for a ban on the Hajj, which celebrates Prof. M's betrayal, conquest and slaughteraping of Mecca? Or of Al-Quds day, which celebrates the hatred of Israel and America?

We all know the sad, pathetic, one-way multicultural answer to that.

IN 2007: THANKSGIVING IS A TIME OF MOURNING IN SEATTLE PUBLIC SCHOOLS

When Teachers Forget the True Meaning of Thanksgiving, Our Children Suffer and Our Nation is Imperiled

This year, Seattle public school teachers were reminded by their administrative authorities that Thanksgiving is "a time of mourning" and "a bitter reminder of five-hundred years of betrayal returned for friendship." Seattle school teachers were directed to learn even more horrible "truths" about Thanksgiving: that no one knows when the first Thanksgiving occurred, that the people who came across the ocean on the Mayflower were not really Pilgrims, that the colonists who came to the new land were not really seeking freedom of religion.

In her November 2007 letter to all Seattle Public Schools staff, Caprice D. Hollins, Director of Seattle Schools Department of Equity and Race, wrote: "With so many holidays approaching we want to again remind you that Thanksgiving can be a particularly difficult time for many of our Native students. This website (http://www.oyate.org/resources/shortthanks.html) offers suggestions on ways to be sensitive of diverse experiences and perspectives and still make the holiday meaningful for all students. Here you will discover ways to help you and your students think critically, and find resources where you can learn about Thanksgiving from a Native American perspective. Eleven myths are identified about Thanksgiving, take a look at Myth #11 and begin your own deconstruction. Myth #11: Thanksgiving is a happy time. Fact: For many Indian people, Thanksgiving is a time of mourning, of remembering how a gift of generosity was rewarded by theft of land and seed corn, extermination of many from disease and gun, and near total destruction of many more from forced assimilation. As currently celebrated in this country, “Thanksgiving” is a bitter reminder of 500 years of betrayal returned for friendship."

Does that make you choke on your turkey? It should. When teachers forget the true meaning of Thanksgiving, our children suffer and our nation is imperiled.

Here is the truth: There is a generally accepted "First Thanksgiving" and its meaning is clear.

In 1621, the Plymouth colonists and the Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast which is now known as the first Thanksgiving. The most detailed description of the "First Thanksgiving" was written by Edward Winslow in "A Journal of the Pilgrims at Plymouth," in 1621: "Our harvest being gotten in, our governor sent four men on fowling, that so we might after a special manner rejoice together after we had gathered the fruit of our labors. They four in one day killed as much fowl as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week. At which time, among other recreations, we exercised our arms, many of the Indians coming amongst us, and among the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men, whom for three days we entertained and feasted, and they went out and killed five deer, which they brought to the plantation and bestowed upon our governor, and upon the captain, and others. And although it be not always so plentiful as it was at this time with us, yet by the goodness of God, we are so far from want that we often wish you partakersof our plenty."

The meaning of Thanksgiving was clear to the colonists: a time to thank God.

The meaning of Thanksgiving has always been clear to all Americans: President George Washington and President Abraham Lincoln made sure of that.

In his October 3, 1789, "Proclamation for a National Day of Thanksgiving," President George Washington wrote: "Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor, and Whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness. Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be."

In his March 2, 1863, "Proclamation for a National Day of Humiliation, Fasting, and Prayer," President Abraham Lincoln wrote: "We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved, these many years, in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand that preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. Now, therefore...I do, by this my proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting, and prayer."

So, why do the administrators of the Seattle Public Schools not know the true meaning of Thanksgiving? Why don't they teach the truth? Why do they insist on a curriculum designed to instill guilt and shame?

I don't know. But, I decided to do something about it.

My name is Michael Class. I live in the Seattle area with my wife and two children. I am a retired "dot-com" executive who just couldn't sit by and let the mis-education of America's youth go unchallenged anymore. I'm tired of seeing America's next generation being fed a curriculum of politically-correct misinformation, guilt, and shame.

I was appalled at how some teachers presented American history to my children. My son and daughter learned that Thomas Jefferson had slaves - before they learned that he wrote the document articulating our rights and duties as free people. European settlers killed Native Americans with blankets infected with smallpox, they found out. That allegation upstaged the stories of courage, perseverance, and curiosity that defined the pioneers. While folding paper cranes in the classroom, my children were told that a hundred thousand people died when the atomic bomb was dropped on Japan - but they were not made to understand the moral context of World War II in which the atomic bomb story fit. My children were instructed to equate illegal aliens with legal immigrants, devaluing the story of their own ancestors who came to America through Ellis Island. And, classroom discussions always seemed to cast businessmen as villains, instead of as people to be emulated.

I wrote, photographed, and published an American history book designed to set the record straight, to teach the real lessons of American history, and to prepare our children for the future. My book is called Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame.

In the book, my real-life son, twelve-year-old Anthony, time-travels into the great events of the 20th Century. Advanced digital photography places Anthony in the cockpit of the Spirit of St. Louis with Charles Lindbergh, on the moon with Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, in the laboratories of Thomas Edison and Jonas Salk, and on Normandy beach on D-Day. Anthony "meets" and "talks with" Thomas Edison, Jonas Salk, FDR, Lou Gehrig, Charles Lindbergh, Audie Murphy, and many others. But historical accuracy rules every page of Anthony's adventure in time: Anthony’s conversations with America’s heroes are based on things they really said. My Web site, www.MagicPictureFrame.com, displays some of the book's amazing photographs.

But the book goes beyond dazzling photography and solid historical facts: The book presents the moral lessons of American history. Anthony learns valuable lessons from what he sees in the past. Anthony compares the people and events of the past with the people and events of his own time. Anthony discusses the nature of good and evil, right and wrong, war and peace, what it means to be an American, honor and discipline, success and achievement, courage and destiny, marriage and family, God and purpose.

The chapter about Lindbergh’s flight is really about choosing one’s destiny. The story of Lou Gehrig is really about living a virtuous life. The chapter about Thomas Edison is really about the benefits of business leadership and hard work. The story of Apollo 11 is about wonder, taking risks, and courage. The story of Dr. Jonas Salk is really about dedicating one’s life to a higher purpose. When Anthony meets his immigrant great-grandfather at Ellis Island, it’s really a story about what it means to be an American. Anthony’s observation of D-Day and the liberation of the death camps during the Holocaust is a testament to the reality of evil and the need to fight it.

The book is written for kids in Grade 6 to Grade 12, and for parents and teachers who want to remember the truth.

We can't afford to raise a generation of Americans who do not value their country, their heritage, and their place in the world. As Abraham Lincoln said: America is the "last best hope of earth."

Please join me! Take some time now to reflect on the past, and to remember our history and our heroes. Bring forth in your mind the real lessons of our history - and share them with your children. Help America's next generation to hear the voices of the great men and women of the past calling them to greatness.

It's time to remember the truth and share it with our children.

(You can read more about why I wrote the book here: www.magicpictureframe.blogspot.com.)

Michael S. Class
Author / Photographer / Publisher

E-Mail: class@MagicPictureFrame.com

Anthony and the Magic Picture Frame: The History Book with a Message for Today's Young Americans

Read the book. Remember the truth. Share it with your children.

Web Site: www.MagicPictureFrame.com

yes, michael...let's keep the myths and lies alive. Kids don't need truth, they need fairy tales. After all, that's precisely what this country is founded on.

Keep up the good work, Michael!

Anonymous strikes again...

Anon, did you pay ANY attention to what Michael wrote?
Everything that he wrote in his reply on the First Thanksgiving is based on the firsthand account of someone who was THERE!
And, as he discusses, the events and individuals he talks about in his book are all based on things that the historical figures in question actually said.
The Indians were treated pretty horribly by white men, but pretty much all of that occurred LONG AFTER the first Thanksgiving. If it were a holiday celebrating George Custer, John Chivington, or one of the other military leaders who actually had a direct hand in the oppression and genocide of the Indians, I could absolutely understand people being outraged, but the first Pilgrims at Plymouth treated the Indians pretty well.
I almost feel bad for the ultra- liberals, since they'll have very few holidays to celebrate for a while. They hate Thanksgiving, they hate Christmas, it'll be a while before they reach their two most sacred holidays: Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (Which has been twisted by liberals from a day honoring the life of a great man who made a really positive difference on society and sought to promote unity and harmony among people of all races, into a divisive, "Blame Whitey for everything" guilt- fest), and Earth Day (Which has been twisted by liberals from a day in which people are taught reasonable ways they can help conserve the environment, into a day which gives dirty, dope- addled hippies the excuse to howl about the government, spin amateurish poems/ performance art, and yell at people who eat meat/ drive cars/ don't pray to Gaia).

michael class,
Admirable work! Don't listen to the idiots.

yes, i agree..I hope there is nothing in your book about slavery, for example. That's a really unpleasant hundred years of american history that we would all rather forget. Kids don't need to hear those kinds of stories. Forget the bit about segregation too. I mean why disturb the kids. They need uplifiting stories about how great we are. simple as that....they should have something to feel good about...

Anonymous:

Maybe you should visit Michael's site. It sure looks like his book tells both sides of the story. Here is what one book reviewer said:

"The author doesn’t shy away from controversial subjects such as the decision to end the war in the Pacific by dropping Atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 and the current War on Terror. The chapters are not merely descriptive, they come with a moral message, a homily, if you will. This is not a Howard Zinn, warts and all, "the U.S. is a horrible place" type of book. The author shows faults common to the human species, but offers his young readers hope."

Maybe you should check it out. Why do you hate your country so?

Just one point, America did not invent slavery, America invented the abolition of slavery. This is one thing the America haters and the culture of victimization will never acknowledge.

With all due respect to Native American Indians, who I believe got the raw end of the deal when the white man conquered their tribes, for a school system to cast a dark shadow on a time when most of us look forward to gathering with our families to give thanks for what we have, carries political correctness to yet another new level of absurdity. How about respect for the rest of us American families who may have lost our mother this past year, and want to give thanks for having had such a special Mom, and for still having our Dad. How about those of us who have lost friends to cancer and other illnesses, but wish to express our thanks for having had these people in our lives. How about those of us who are thankful for having food and a roof over our heads, and reasonably good health. Perhaps it isn't the young students that need a lesson in sensitivity, but rather those who made this ridiculous statement.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I can't believe my taxpayer dollars are going to paying this moron, Caprice D. Hollins, Psy.D., to spread this crap around our public school system. It's time we stopped apologizing for our great nation's history and heritage, and quit sucking up to special interests just so everyone will like us. This woman needs a new job

Thank God, Just when Berkley and Frisco, were probably thinking they'd never have another community to make fun of, Seattle comes to the rescue. This kind of politically correct garbage is nothing more than verbal syrup of epicac(/Ipecac)!

The limits of absurdity have been located, someone in Seattle, please get to the School District offices and get those condoms distributed!

Happy Thanksgiving America!
Greg

If you are reading these comments here and agree
with Michael why not at a min contact the superintendent of the school system.

Maria L. Goodloe-Johnson, Ph.D.
Contact the superintendent at

superintendent@seattleschools.org

jeez im a liberal. what a sad personal comment on thanksgiving. if you believe in apology at all times regarding all things you will become crazy. if you see no delight in life and kindred spirits you are in need of a psychiatrist.

seattle public schools does not need to apoligize for the world.

What is most amazing to me is that this "Educator" will likely not even be slapped on the hand for this. If it were a criticism of say, Earth Day, she would likely lose her job...

I sent this e-mail to the Seattle Public Schools' Superintendent yesterday.

Dear Maria L. Goodloe-Johnson, Ph.D.,

I live in Bangkok, Thailand and while pursing today’s headlines I came upon the story of your organization’s Thanksgiving message to your students and their parents. While I do not want to condemn you I do want to voice my displeasure and call for the dismissal of Caprice Hollins, the Director of Equity, Race & Learning Support, for disseminating her destructive, hateful and thoughtless view of our Thanksgiving national holiday.

One wonders what the schools are teaching our children today and to what end unthinking, mean-spirited administrators are spewing this type of drivel. You are well aware that the United States has become more diverse in race and culture however children need to become grounded in a belief system. Children should be given the information and allowed to form their own conclusions based on a wide range of knowledge.

Your employee, Dr. Hollins, behavior is unconscionable and reprehensible and at the very least should be fired. If there is an anti-American cabal in your organization it should be dealt with in an appropriate manner. The children are the future of the world and should not be subjected to a personal agenda by an obvious racist fanatic.

Your prompt attention in this matter is greatly appreciated.

Happy Thanksgiving!