New Jersey businessman William Sanders is encountering resistance to his one-man campaign to get the nation's schools to hang a portrait of George Washington because such a move would not be sufficiently inclusive.
The resistance is coming from teachers' unions like the New Jersey Education Association, whose spokeswoman Nancy Volte says that requiring legislation to honor one person does a disservice to many individuals — and that there are “so many others who were also instrumental in securing our country's freedom.”
Currie Ballard, historian in residence at Oklahoma's Langston University, also opposes such a move because, as he says, “America was not a pretty place for black people when George Washington was president.” Ballard says he wants new symbols — perhaps a collage.
But Sanders believes Washington would inspire patriotism among the kids. He says American children need to understand the principles on which their nation was founded, and to value such qualities as honesty, integrity and loyalty. He says these are important lessons, and if we forget, “we're nothing as a country.”
(This update courtesy of Agape Press.)
