In essence, they want a sanitized and curtailed curriculum taught to the soundtrack of “God Bless America” by teachers with their hands over their hearts and the mouths of anyone seeking a true telling of U.S. history.
That this campaign found a willing audience in a county where Donald Trump won nearly 69% of the 2020 vote shows the power of misinformation, innuendo and exaggeration when expertly delivered and packaged. Any small sign of tolerance in Cherokee schools was treated as a sign the woke mob was breaching the walls — even a Woodstock High School diversity week flyer about wearing T-shirts in assorted colors to raise awareness about disabilities, gender, racial and LGBTQ rights.
The election today in Cherokee will either validate the power of political manipulation or repudiate it. Even more importantly, the election will speak to whether Republican voters are willing to sacrifice their district to a political agenda that overlooks the significant improvements in their schools and treats teachers as dangerous influences to be contained and corralled.
