Ok, Jeane, her parents, and I ate lunch Friday at one of our favorite Claremore haunts, El Azteca. It was great as usual.

As we stood at the counter to pay, however, we witnessed something I still cannot believe. There were a group of high school students wearing red t-shirts (Claremore Zebras are red and white instead of black and white). The t-shirts are emblazoned with “Red Army” across the front, which to me is bad enough. Beyond that, these shirts had a white star on the chest with the Soviet hammer and sickle logo inside it. Something similar to this: http://kpp.aksios.de/bilder/stern2.gif. I was shocked.

I realize that today’s high school students were born after the Soviet threat was annihilated by Ronald Reagan. But their teachers weren’t. Their parents weren’t. The screen printer wasn’t. I mean, first of all, kids of the age I saw there should by now have some basic understanding of the history of the evils if the Soviet Union, enough so that they would choose not to call themselves the “Red Army” and wear Communist symbols on their chest. Second of all, the parents, teachers, and even the t-shirt maker should have warned these kids that this is not just a little joke. If was supposed to be a joke, it was in really poor taste. I mean, I am willing to give these kids the benefit of the doubt and assume they made the choice to wear Soviet propaganda out of ignorance. What I cannot excuse is people who know better not educating thses kids. I am not in favor of them being censored. I am sure that if the kids knew what they were doing, they would voluntarily choose to wear something else. If they knew what they were wearing, and chose to do it anyway, I find it inexcusable.

And so, do we have little commies running around Claremore? Or is it ignorance run amok?

Compare this with the recent story of the high school coach who put signs on his players’ lockers saying, “Work will set you free.” Harmless enough, wouldn’t you say? Of course, the coach was suspended for a game. Why? Well, the German translation of that phrase is, “Arbeit macht frei,” which was used by the Nazis and posted at the entrance to concentration camps. So, the coach, in his ignorance, posts a pretty motivational phrase for football players, in English, and he is suspended because the Nazis used the same phrase, in German, to do some awful things.

I guess where I am going here, is that the Claremore “Red Army” needs to know the consequences of emblems, slogans, and symbols of evil. They need to realize that there is a history that automatically attaches to them when they are seen publicly weaing the symbols of the evil empire. In short, they need a solid history education. This does not speak well for the education they are receiving at Claremore High School. Just ask yourself, would we see a group of homeschool students out about town in the same garb? I think not.