Examples of Minnesota Rude

NOT Minnesota Nice

By Ramblin’ Rose

Minnesota is not one of the states frequently mentioned on national media sites…until the end of the last academic year and again recently. The location for the noteworthy comments was the same—school board meetings.

Last spring, a student called out the school boards for racist instruction in classes. Another called the school board for the hypocrisy of establishing policies for students while ignoring those same policies when they were inconvenient for administrators.

While the focus has been on the parents in Virginia (state) challenging school boards, administrators, and politicians for trying to silence parents about academic and safety concerns related to their children, parents/citizens were also threatened in Minnesota.

In Fergus Falls, a surgeon was fired nine days after addressing the school board. The grounds for the dismissal were not specified, but Dr. Horak suspects that his 40-year career was terminated because of his statements that parents, not schools, should determine if their children should wear a mask in school.

When an unnamed father refused to wear a mask at a school board meeting in Rochester, he was removed from the building, cited by the police, and banned for a year from school property. How does this father pick his children up after school?

A more blatant infringement of the First Amendment occurred in Mankato. Only persons who publicly state their name and home address may speak. That subjects those brave enough to express their opinions, possibly in contradiction to those of the administration, invite vandalism of personal property at that address or even worse, personal physical/emotional/mental abuse to self or family members. Additionally, residents may not speak on any non-approved topics and may not criticize administrators or school board members.

How many other instances have not been covered by media? By social media? What does the First Amendment of the Constitution say about “We the People” and our rights? Here's the text of the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

It seems that the Minnesotans mentioned here exercised their right of free speech to express their own opinions, their right to assemble at a public meeting, and the right to ask for redress of the policies set by others to control their actions as members of the community.

There is no age limit on the First Amendment rights—they are rights from the moment of birth.

“We the People” have protection against government-imposed limitations on our freedom of expression.

So what can “We the People” do when the government’s representatives attempt to limit or deny our freedom of expression? We must stand up and call out the abuse. It is illegal and even has a name—“the chilling effect.” The term refers to the reaction of individuals or groups when they refrain from speaking/writing freely for fear of being found on the perceived wrong side of a law or regulation.

In 1967, Justice William Brennan wrote in his dissenting opinion in Walker v. City of Birmingham: “…our overriding duty to insulate all individuals from the chilling effect upon exercise of First Amendment freedoms generated by vagueness, overbreadth and unbridled discretion to limit their exercise.”

Before seeking legal defense, gather data. One source is the nonprofit foundation, The Freedom Forum Institute’s First Amendment Center, with a focus on education and information about First Amendment issues.

The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, aka FIRE, defends students and faculty rights of free expression in postsecondary education. Similarly, The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education's High School Network works at the K-12 level of education.

Gather information from these and similar sites. Contact them about the limitations (bullying) that your local school board/administration are imposing. Ask if they can send a letter to the superintendent and the school board that their actions are illegal, as determined by the Supreme Count.

Contact the local media and place a spotlight on their illegal and chilling behaviors. If the local media won’t cover the story, contact people like the DailyWire.com. They’re the people who broke the story on the Loudoun County sexual assault against a freshman.

Attend school board meetings and stand with other parents and members of your district to determine the curriculum and policies that best serve the students. Your children's well-being depend on you being a caring parent.