‘Jingle Bells’ Teaching Eliminated Nearby – Is New Jersey Next?

The radical cleansing of many long-held people, places, things and traditions in our society is a deeply disturbing trend.

We’ve witnessed the evolution of removing Confederate statues … extend to “canceling” George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and many other Founders and historically significant figures in American history.

We’ve even witnessed a partial cancellation of namesake Richard Stockton at Stockton University.

Several years ago, a New Jersey School district moved to “cancel” the singing of Christmas carols at school.

Now, upstate New York State residents are outraged over a school ending the teaching of “Jingle Bells” to students.

Their justification is that the origin of the song may have ties taken to 19th-century blackface minstrel shows.

The Rochester Beacon reports that school administrators have reached a decision not to teach the song over concerns that "slaves with bells" may have held a part in the song's origins.

The school is named Council Rock. The assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction with the school … which is part of the Brighton Central School District, Allison Rioux … wrote that:

Some suggest that the use of collars on slaves with bells to send an alert that they were running away is connected to the origin of the song Jingle Bells. While we are not taking a stance to whether that is true or not, we do feel strongly that this line of thinking is not in agreement with our district beliefs to value all cultures and experiences of our students.

Radicals continue to use the unacceptable period of slavery in American history as the predicate to “cancel”anything they wish in this modern century.

It’s wrong.

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Boston University professor Kyna Hamill, whose research into the song has inspired the decision, says that she was "actually quite shocked the school would remove the song from the repertoire."

"I, in no way, recommended that it stopped being sung by children," Hamill stated according to the New York Post.

"My article," she adds, "tried to tell the story of the first performance of the song, I do not connect this to the popular Christmas tradition of singing the song now."

"The very fact of ("Jingle Bells'") popularity has to do (with) the very catchy melody of the song, and not to be only understood in terms of its origins in the minstrel tradition. … I would say it should very much be sung and enjoyed, and perhaps discussed."

Here are a string of quotes to show you the roadmap they employ and exactly how these radicals get away with “canceling”anything that they wish.

Despite Rioux's claims of "not taking a stance" of the song's origins being true or not, for Brighton Central School District Superintendent Kevin McGowan, who defended the decision not to teach Jingle Bells, the performance of the song in blackface minstrel shows "actually does matter."

"It may seem silly to some," McGowan stated, "but the fact that 'Jingle Bells' was first performed in minstrel shows where white actors performed in blackface does actually matter when it comes to questions of what we use as material in school."

"I'm glad that our staff paused when learning of this, reflected, and decided to use different material to accomplish the same objective in class," he added. "Our staff found that their simple objective could be accomplished by singing any one of many songs in class and therefore they chose to simply choose other songs."

"This wasn't 'liberalism gone amok' or 'cancel culture at its finest' as some have suggested."

"Nobody has said," he added, "you shouldn't sing 'Jingle Bells' or ever in any way suggested that to your children. I can assure you that this situation is not an attempt to push an agenda."

What is it then?

This practice of cancelling our Founders and others of their choosing … Philadelphia icons such as Mayor Frank Rizzo and Kate Smith should serve notice that this practice is very dangerous and comparable to the era of McCarthyism in America.

New Jersey shares a common border with (New York) the most recent example of “cancel culture.” We must find the way to stop this, or, nothing will be safe from this insidious practice.

SOURCES: Rochester Beacon, Boston University, New York Post & Brighton Central School District.