January 17, 2012

The Cranston West Banner Can't be Required to Just Disappear

Carroll Andrew Morse

If the Cranston West banner has to be destroyed or removed or if certain words have to be redacted so as to comply with Judge Ronald Laguex's Federal Court decision, there is no reason why a Soviet-style disappearance without explanation from history must occur, or that the public cannot be informed that they are looking at a version 2 of the banner, or at a space where the banner used to be. If the minimum modification option is pursued, various utilizations of the space on top or to the side of the banner are possible for displaying an explanation that would respect the history and original message of the banner without violating any Supreme Court "endorsement of religion" tests.

Here's one proposal...

In 1963, David Bradley and the Cranston West community chose the imperative mood, to express a request they believed would help people live and grow together.

In 2011, Judge Ronald Laguex ruled that the state forbids mentioning to whom or what the request is addressed.

Judge Laguex's ruling should not prevent anyone's lifelong consideration of all of the reasons why we aspire to be better on our next day than on our last,

nor imply that the state can decide the answer to this question for us.

*** ******** *******
Grant us each day the desire to do our best,
To grow mentally and morally as well as physically,
To be kind and helpful to our classmates and teachers,
To be honest with ourselves as well as with others,
Help us to be good sports and smile when we lose as well as when we win,
Teach us the value of true friendship,
Help us always to conduct ourselves so as to bring credit to Cranston
High School West.
****

In the meantime, a note should be added to the tarp covering the present banner saying "The Federal Government forbids you from seeing what is behind this covering".

Comments, although monitored, are not necessarily representative of the views Anchor Rising's contributors or approved by them. We reserve the right to delete or modify comments for any reason.
Post a comment









Remember personal info?

Important note: The text "http:" cannot appear anywhere in your comment.