Black Lives Matter And Walmart

Chuck Canterbury, the president of the Fraternal Order of Police, recently wrote a letter to Walmart, whining because their website sold T-shirts stamped with the words, "Black Lives Matter". This, he complained, offends police officers. Where's the eye-rolley when I need it? Walmart caved, and took the shirts and sweatshirts that have the slogan, along with the word "Bulletproof" off of their website. But merchandise stamped with the slogan "Blue Lives Matter" is still for sale on Walmart's website.

Walmart is a retail giant, and is apparently rich enough to take a loss on any merchandise it will not be able to sell online, now that the police's little feelings have been hurt. Walmart has just told the world that while policemen matter to them, minorities, especially the Black community, are not terribly important. Chuck Canterbury stated that he feels that the sale of clothing bearing the words, Black Lives Matter, is divisive to communities, but he fails to mention the division caused by the inordinate number of deaths of minority civilians at the hands of police officers.

Anyone who wants a shirt that says Black Lives Matter can purchase one here. The less we patronize racist retail giants, the better for everyone, in many ways.

Karen Spillman Vs. Banana Man

This is a GREAT story! A high school student, with lots of intelligence and a brilliant future, but also diagnosed with autism, (one wouldn't know it from his dialogue with news reporters, though) decides to don a Banana Man costume and run down the sidelines of his Stafford, Virginia high school during half time at a football game. An angry, heavy handed, authoritarian principal, Karen Spillman, gets on her high horse and suspends him for ten days! The average suspension for a fistfight in schools on the East Coast is three days....but I guess something as victimless as running in the sidelines in a costume is much more serious...........where's the eye-rolley when I need it?

Ok....making a long story short: the other children at Bryan Thompson's school thought this was assinine and completely wrong. So a large number of them got "Free Banana Man" shirts made, and wore them to school. But Free Banana Man is a terrible message for a young person to wear on a shirt, so these shirts were also banned, along with Banana Man. Enter the ACLU. The Free Banana Man shirts were reinstated as school appropriate apparel. But poor Mrs. Spillman just couldn't take any more. So she resigned. And Banana Man is back, his suspension cut short, because the heavyhandedness was finally deemed not fit for the situation. Here's the statement made by the superintendent:

"My staff, under my direction, has reviewed the recent actions at Colonial Forge High School relating to the wearing of yellow tee shirts and other activities in support of a student who had been recently disciplined. We have concluded that many of the actions that were taken by the school were inappropriate. We are sorry for any embarrassment or inconvenience incurred by the students who were appropriately exercising their freedom of speech and by the families of those students. This administration and the School Board fully support the First Amendment rights of our students."

And here's Bryan Thompson, in his unforgettable Banana Man get-up...

Just reading that a child diagnosed with autism has the self confidence and fun-loving sponteneity required to be such a great class clown is encouraging. Shame on Karen Spillman and anyone who supported her in her unkind, unteaching decision to punish this child for his commendable social skills. (yes; class clowning is a social skill) Anxiety often goes hand in hand with the different forms of autism, and Karen Spillman decided to compound this by calling the police and having this child handcuffed and thrown into a squad car after he did NOT commit a crime. This was reprehensible of her. I am so glad that none of those children have to see her every day, anymore.