Here, listen to this:

“When children are told what and how to believe whether in verbal, in writing or through visual symbols, they miss out on the freedom to think for themselves and use the skills they are learning in the classroom.”

That sounds pretty cool, doesn’t it. Obviously, we DO NOT want to tell our children what and how to believe. We DO NOT want to limit their freedom to think for themselves. Right?

Except the woman who said that, Melissa Dungan, a trustee of the Conroe, Texas Independent School Board, totally wants to tell children what and how to believe AND limit their freedom to think for themselves. In a recent meeting of the school board, Dungan brought up an ‘incident’ in which a child in the first grade was so traumatized by seeing a poster of people of different races holding hands they had to change classrooms. I am NOT MAKING THIS UP.

Who the hell is Melissa Dungan? This is how she introduced herself when running for the position of school board trustee:

“I am first and foremost a Christian. My faith guides every aspect of my life including my roles as wife and mother – and will also influence my decisions as a school board trustee.”

As we all know, Jesus didn’t want little kids of different races holding hands with each other. Dungan’s Christian values also means she wants to ‘keep personal ideologies out of classrooms‘ and limit flags in schools to ‘the American flag, Texas flag, school flags and college pendants.’ Pride flag? Nope. Environmental justice flag? Nope. Because those flags inject a personal ideology, unlike the flags of the US and Texas, which, of course, are ideologically neutral. Not only can classrooms display those flags, they’re actually required to display them. Because those visual symbols surely don’t tell children ‘what and how to believe.‘

Does Melissa Dungan actually represent the community of Conroe, Texas? Well, consider that in 1922, when a 20-year-old Black man, Joe Winters, was accused of sexually molesting a 14-year-old white girl, the citizens of Conroe chained him to a post in the courthouse square and burned him alive. And in 1941, when African-American Bob White was accused of having a sexual relationship with a white woman, he was not allowed to have a lawyer and was tortured into giving a confession, and the all-white jury convicted him. He actually won an appeal based on the lack of legal counsel, but was convicted again. That conviction was overturned because the confession was a result of torture. During his third trial, White was killed by the alleged victim’s husband–shot in the back of the head IN THE COURTROOM in front of the judge, jury, courtroom personnel, and witnesses. The husband was arrested and tried the following week, and was acquitted.

So yes, maybe Melissa Dungan does, in fact, represent Conroe, Texas. The people of Conroe who elected her are apparently terrified by the notion that their children might be told that it’s okay for people of different races to be friendly with each other. That’s certainly an improvement over those earlier Conrovians who felt racial relations were best handled by non-judicial immolation.

Baby steps.