Dunkerton High School: Ashamed To Be An Alumnus

One of the reasons I don’t post a lot is because I am very careful about what I write.  I try to have as many facts as possible and not to write about something because the subject hits my emotional buttons.  So, I do many rewrites and there are tons of “articles” that never get posted.  The controversy surrounding Dunkerton High School and its decision to use the group Junkyard Prophet to put on a “motivational” assembly is one of those subjects that hits a lot of my emotional buttons.

I am an alumnus of DHS, Class of 1987.  It’s a small school (K-12 is in the same building), in a small town about 13 miles north east of Waterloo, Iowa.  I am not going to say that I remember all of my days there fondly, because that would be a lie.  I will tell you that overall I have a decent fondness of alma mater and my experiences there.  I had some great teachers who helped to harness my inquisitive energies and some teachers who saw me as nothing more than a disruption.  I also had some good friends and memories of those friends.

Even though we had many assemblies, including a couple “motivational” ones, I can’t remember any that claimed if I listened to a certain type of music or because I was gay that I would die by the time I was 42.  I definitely can’t remember any assembly where a Southern Poverty Law Center listed hate group was the featured “motivator”.  Mr. Smith (the Superintendent) and Mr. Murphy (the Principle), would never have allowed it.

It troubles me that the DHS administration didn’t do its homework and didn’t vet Junkyard Prophet and its parent organization.  It troubles me that they would allow such a hate filled assembly to go on for as long as it did.  It troubles me that an organization that was brought in to “motivate” the student body instead to say that if you are gay you will die by the age of 42.  How the fuck is that “motivational”?

It is bad enough that we have politicians who want to destroy public education.  It is bad enough that we have people who enjoy destroying the separation of church and state.  Why fan the flames?  Why choose Junkyard Prophet?

A terrible injustice was done to the students of Dunkerton High School last week and for the first time ever, I am ashamed to be an alumnus.