The largest teachers’ union in the country recently proposed that its summer 2022 reading list for students include a book that defends the act of disrespecting the National Anthem by kneeling for it before sporting events.
As reported by The Daily Caller, the National Education Association (NEA) lists the book “Why We Fly” on its website for suggested reading in August of 2022, as students prepare to return to school. The book includes marijuana use by teenagers and focuses on two cheerleaders who decide to kneel for the National Anthem after being inspired to do so by a football player who did the same, a reference to how the real-world protest of the Anthem was started by disgraced NFL player Colin Kaepernick.
The NEA’s website also lists several discussion questions that would be asked after students finish reading the book, including: “What does it mean to be an ally? An accomplice? When are good intentions not good enough? What examples of discrimination, racism, or racial privilege can you identify from the book? From your own experiences?”
Also listed on the website is an article titled “Understanding #TakeAKnee and Athlete Activism,” which further supports the act of disrespecting the Anthem and even compares Kaepernick to civil rights icon Martin Luther King Jr.
“How do you think players deciding to boycott games could lead to social change,” students are asked in relation to the article.
Other books suggested by the NEA include “The Year We Learned to Fly,” which features a black family using their imaginations to escape their anger over alleged “racism,” and “Black Boy Joy: 17 Stories Celebrating Black Boyhood;” the latter book features stories from “black male and non-binary authors” about the “power of joy and the wonders of black boyhood.”