Offensive letters to the editor are the norm in my hometown paper, The News Star of Monroe, LA. I occasionally google the writers' names to see just who these folks are. Well, this white-supremacist letter turned up more than I expected. Any Louisianians out there, and any others concerned for the state of our schools, please help me put pressure on the school board to get this white-supremacist plagiarist fired from her job of teaching freshman and sophomore English and Journalism in Caldwell Parish High School. Email exchanges below the fold.
Here is the letter to the editor, published January 25, 2007 in The News-Star:
Country built by Europeans
Illegal immigration is a problem all over America, and soon it will be in your face right here in Louisiana. Many Mexicans claim America was stolen from them. But it was not they who turned America into the great civilization it is. It was Europeans who settled here, who had thousands of years of advancement behind them.
Land is not the issue. If land meant something, all oil rich nations would be First World. It's not the land; it's the people, it's the culture, it's the knowledge. Europeans have built not only the richest, most powerful, most successful civilizations on earth, but everywhere these civilizations came into being, there was always a group of uncivilized countries trying to destroy them out of jealousy.
Islamic countries had more than 1,500 years to create good civilizations. Africans and South Americans had even longer. While the Europeans and Asians were cultured, with philosophy and science, the rest of the world was still involved in primitive tribalism. While Europe and Asia were developing into artistic, enlightened societies, there was little change in Africa or South America.
The politically correct claim all of humanity contributed equally, that all civilizations are equal. Yet history books tell the facts.
Americans owe nobody anything. It's not that the illegals want the land because they feel it was once theirs. They want it because Europeans made yet another successful civilization, and they desire a piece of the pie because they are incapable of building a successful civilization.
Molly Folds
Grayson
I confirmed by email that the English and Journalism teacher of the same name was, in fact the "author". The following are my emails to Superintendent John Sartin of Caldwell Parish Schools. They tell the rest of the story. Please help get this plagiarist bigot out of our classroom by making some noise.
Dear Superintendent Sartin,
Though I have not yet heard back from you regarding Molly Folds, Ms. Folds has, herself, confirmed that she was the author of the white supremacist rant published in Thursday's News-Star. I include the entirety of our email exchange below. While I hesitate to do so, given the rather personal information she volunteers, I think it raises additional concerns regarding her fitness to teach. Not only does Ms. Folds lack the necessary moral and intellectual authority, I fear she also lacks in professionalism and emotional stability.
Quote, David Lowe:
Dear Ms. Folds,
Are you by chance the same Molly Folds who authored the letter to the letter in The News Star today?
Thanks.
David
Quote, Molly Folds:
Yes. I do not want any trouble over this. I was merely expressing my opinion, which is my constitutional right. I have already been harrassed enough over this. Thank you.
Quote, David Lowe:
Ms. Folds,
It is not your constitutional right to speech that I challenge, but your qualifications, as an educator. Your grasp of history is demonstrably lacking (philosophy and science are European developments?). But more to the point, how can you be entrusted to educate young people whom you have already dismissed very publicly as "primitive" and "uncivilized" based on nothing other than the origins of their ancestors? Freedom of speech does not come without responsibilities; you are free to publicly espouse white supremacy, but that does not guarantee you a platform in our public schools. And for you to claim victimhood after labelling billions of people as brutes is, frankly, embarrassing, cowardly and pathetic.
David
Quote, Molly Folds:
You should write a letter to the editor yourself instead of looking me up on the Internet like some stalker and invading my privacy by writing to me at my work e-mail. Your first e-mail was friendly, because you were intending to blast me with the second. You were trying to get your foot in the door.
[irrelevant personal information redacted].
I am blocking you from my e-mail address. I hope you have no intention of harming me, or I will have to resort to calling the police.
Quote, Molly Folds:
To stalk a person on the internet and get that person's e-mail address and write them at work is ... frankly, cowardly and pathetic.
At least I signed my last name, unlike you. Coward.
Quote, David Lowe:
Ms. Folds,
I fail to see how contacting a public employee at her publicly published email address to address concerns about her professional qualifications- concerns raised by public statements she made of her own free will- amounts to "stalking". Further, I fail to see the connection between your unfortunate experience with [reference to redacted info, above] and your evasion of responsibility for your white supremacist views you chose to make in public.
David Lowe
Then, I googled the text, itself.
Dear Superintendent Sartin,
I have determined that the letter published in the News Star over Molly Folds' name was not, in fact written by her. It was plagiarised. This adds still deeper concerns. On her page on the Caldwell Parish High School site, she claims to have studied, and to be certified to teach Journalism. As such, she no doubt knew exactly what she was doing wrong when she passed off a stolen text as her own. Below you will find a comparison of "her" text with a text copyrighted by United Patriots of America:
Molly Folds: Quote:
Country built by Europeans
Illegal immigration is a problem all over America, and soon it will be in your face right here in Louisiana. Many Mexicans claim America was gerbered from them. But it was not they who turned America into the great civilization it is. It was Europeans who settled here, who had thousands of years of advancement behind them.
United Patriots of America:
Quote:
It was not the Mexicans who turned America or Europe into the civilizations they are.
It is thousands of years of European culture and advancement that made America and Europe what they are today.
MF: Quote:
Land is not the issue. If land meant something, all oil rich nations would be First World.
UPoA: Quote:
If land meant something, then all those oil rich nations would be 1st world countries.
MF: Quote:
It's not the land; it's the people, it's the culture, it's the knowledge. Europeans have built not only the richest, most powerful, most successful civilizations on earth, but everywhere these civilizations came into being, there was always a group of uncivilized countries trying to destroy them out of jealousy.
UPoA: Quote:
No one can deny that Europeans have built not only the richest, most powerful, most successful, and most cultural civilizations on earth, but that everywhere these civilizations came into being, there was always a group of uncivilized countries trying to destroy them out of jealousy for what they had.
MF: Quote:
Islamic countries had more than 1,500 years to create good civilizations. Africans and South Americans had even longer. While the Europeans and Asians were cultured, with philosophy and science, the rest of the world was still involved in primitive tribalism. While Europe and Asia were developing into artistic, enlightened societies, there was little change in Africa or South America.
UPoA: Quote:
The Islamic countries had over 1500 years to create a good civilization.
The Africans had even longer.
The South Americans had thousands of years.
While the Europeans and the Asians were cultured, with philosophy and science, the rest of the world was still involved in tribalism.
While Europe and Asia were developing into an artistic, poetic, cultured, philosophical, enlightened societies, there was no change in Africa or South America.
MF: Quote:
The politically correct claim all of humanity contributed equally, that all civilizations are equal. Yet history books tell the facts.
Americans owe nobody anything.
UPoA: Quote:
You can be as politically correct as you want.
You can act like all of humanity contributed equally, that all civilizations are equal, you can say and believe anything you want.
But lies, they cannot last forever.
The truth is right in the history books, but everyone is afraid to admit it. Americans owe nobody anything.]
MF: Quote:
It's not that the illegals want the land because they feel it was once theirs. They want it because Europeans made yet another successful civilization, and they desire a piece of the pie because they are incapable of building a successful civilization.
UPoA: Quote:
It's not that they want the land because they feel it was once theirs. It's that they want the land because Europeans have made yet another successful civilization, and they want a free piece of the pie because they are just incapable of ever building a successful civilization and sustaining themselves.
Please contact:
Superintendent of Caldwell Parish Schools, John Sartin: johnsartin@nls.k12.la.us
Caldwell Parish High School Principal Sherry B. Jones: sbjones@caldwelledu.org,
Asst. Principal Clovis E. Christman: cchristman@caldwelledu.org,
Guidance Councellor Kristy Wells: kristyw@caldwelledu.org
Louisiana Dept. of Education: 1-877-453-2721
State Superintendent of Schools Cecil Picard: SuperintendentPicard@la.gov
and/or write a Letter to the editor, The News Star
Thanks. Let's get this bigot out of our schools.