Jones: Silencing students' protests is ungodly - and hypocritical
IN THE MIDST of the growing Colin Kaepernick-inspired protests against racism in America, the Camden Diocese has threatened to suspend student-athletes who sit or kneel during the playing of the national anthem at its sporting events.
IN THE MIDST of the growing Colin Kaepernick-inspired protests against racism in America, the Camden Diocese has threatened to suspend student-athletes who sit or kneel during the playing of the national anthem at its sporting events.
When I learned of this, I was livid, because the Camden Diocese, under the guise of being a private institution, is stepping on the constitutional rights of primarily black students who might decide to engage in such an action. And make no mistake: Peaceful protest is protected under the First Amendment, which says, in part, "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
And yet, while Diocese of Camden school Superintendent Mary Boyle claimed in a memo that, "Our schools are founded on . . . respect and honor for God, country and duly appointed authority," she went on to say that, "We are not public institutions and free speech in all of its demonstrations, including protests, is not a guaranteed right."
What sheer and utter hypocrisy. You cannot, in one breath, claim to respect and honor God, country and duly appointed authority and, in the next breath, take away the very rights that God, country and duly appointed authority put in place.
But wait, there's more hypocrisy. While the Camden Diocese claims the six high schools affected by the memo are private institutions that do not fully guarantee free speech to their students, taxpayers foot the bill to help students attend those schools, and the Camden Diocese is seeking even more money from the state.
In a June 9 blog post on the Diocese of Camden website, the Camden Diocese advocates for Gov. Christie to spend more money to help students attend its schools.
Specifically, they ask for $25 per student to pay for school security aid, $884 per student to pay for transportation, $94 per student to pay for nursing services and $40 per student to pay for technology aid.
I asked Camden Diocese spokesman Mike Walsh to explain how much state and federal funding the schools receive.
He said they don't directly receive the funding.
"Non-public school students benefit from various government programs that provide funds or services to student," Walsh said in an email. "This aid is directed to the students, not to the schools. The most common instance may be transportation . . . The parents can then use the money to pay for a privately-contracted bus, public transportation, their own gas money, or some other means of getting their child to school. Similarly, the other items you noted refer to funding for students."
All of which makes it easier to pay tuition, and, in my view, that is essentially a backdoor voucher program - using public money to direct parents to non-public schools.
How much public money do the students or schools in the Camden Diocese receive in total? I asked David Saenz, of the New Jersey Department of Public Education.
"The quick answer is that we do not readily have the complete state funding amounts that would follow students to schools in the Camden Diocese for things like transportation, or other funding, as we do with public schools," Saenz wrote in an email. "When it comes to non-public schools, the avenues for which they receive and apply for funding is a little complicated."
Saenz suggested I file an Open Records request, which I intend to do.
For now, though, I'm angry.
I'm angry that the administrators of these schools can pad their student enrollment numbers, thanks to public money. I'm angry that they can do so while still claiming to be private. I'm angry that they benefit from tax dollars, while denying black student athletes the rights they are granted by the First Amendment. I'm angry that they claim to honor God and country.
Perhaps next time Boyle sends a memo to the high schools recommending that they deny students the right to protest, she can include what the protests are all about. The fact that black men, while accounting for only 6 percent of the population, account for 40 percent of the unarmed people who are shot and killed by police. That African Americans are 2.5 times as likely as whites to be shot and killed by police. That no one seems to go to jail when these shootings happen.
That we all still do not, in the words of Boyle, "enjoy the gifts of . . . our country."
Solomon Jones is the author of 10 books. Listen to him mornings from 7 to 10 on WURD (900-AM).
@solomonjones1