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Dispensation From the ACLU

© Frank Monaldo

KEVIN HAS A FUTURE. On the day of this sixth grade graduation, he was dressed in a pressed white shirt accented with a dark tie. His neck swam in a rigid collar slightly too wide for his build. Kevin was speaking for his class at the graduation ceremony. When his opportunity came he hopped to the podium with his characteristic smile plastered to his face. Kevin dutifully thanked the school's principal and teachers, as well as his parents. Finally, Kevin thanked God to uproarious applause and shouts of the gathered assembly. The enthusiasm of the response suggested satisfaction that a child uttered the word "God" in a public place.

In the same month, the Deputy Superintendent of Prince George's County Maryland schools addressed the 700 students and the parents, family, and friends of Eleanor Roosevelt High School's graduating class. The group had gathered in a sports arena for the matriculation ceremony.

The Deputy Superintendent rose before the audience with the assurance of a practiced public speaker. He began by congratulating the class of 1999. He went on to express his hopes for the graduates' future. Finally he warned that while he had no intention of offending anyone, he had some advice for the students for those times when they faced challenges or sadness. Speaking with the cadence and passion of a Southern Baptist minister, the Deputy Superintendent advised the class to "pray." If that did not work, they should "pray again." Finally, if that did not help he counseled them to say, "Praise the Lord." The arena arose in cheers and shouts of "Amen." In addition, there was a collective smirk that the assembly perhaps had gotten away with something it should not have.

In the spring of 1999, the best high school band players in Prince George's County gathered to give a concert at Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The group played a variety of pieces including a few religious songs, the sort of songs that have caused civil liberties consternation in other cases.

The point here is not to rehash the sort of religious liberty arguments these cases usually provoke. It is to observe and note the conspicuous "dog that did not bark." The sort of events listed above occurs regularly in Prince George's County generally unencumbered by the protests of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). You see Prince George's County is rather unique. It is one of the few middle class jurisdictions in the United States that has an African American majority. Indeed, the county is the home of many affluent minorities. This status has seemed to confer a special dispensation from the ACLU.

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