Video: Childrens' Obama Song Draws Protest Outside School

Toward the end of last month, a video appeared on YouTube showing schoolchildren at Bernice Young Elementary School in Jersey chanting two songs in praise of President Obama. It was immediately pounced upon by the embittered demagogues-in-exile at Fox News, and their coverage of this important issue finally bore indignant fruit yesterday, when dozens of protesters recited their own chant outside the school: "Educate, don't indoctrinate; Educate don't indoctrinate."

The children performed the songs last March, and it's kind of hard to tell from this video (below) exactly what they're singing. But what is clear is that their love for our most awesomest president is sooo cuuuuute! The complete lyrics are on the YouTube post, but they include lines such as "Mm, mmm, mm! Barack Hussein Obama / He said that all must lend a hand, to make this country strong again. / He said we must be fair today, equal work means equal pay." It would be outrageous if they were singing about President Bush, but this is Nobel laureate and unicorn-tamer Barack Ohhhhbama we're talking about!

But dozens of New Jersey adults are angry, and a couple of them even have children enrolled at the school. Parent Gina Altokova tells WCBS, "I came from former Soviet Union as a kid. I was singing songs to the leader Brezhnev and all the others. They were bigger than God. Millions of us were singing songs to Great leaders. This is a shame. This must stop." School officials say the song was not intended to make a political statement or promote a political agenda, and the teacher who was in charge of the class has since retired.

The school also says they sent the lyrics home to parents for them to review. But mother Gina Pronchick says, "These words never came home. Obama. Say yes to Obama. Find your inner Obama. That's brainwashing. This is not America. This is a communist country." It's believed that all the protesting parents were immediately rounded up and sent to reeducation labor camps in northern Minnesota as punishment for their disloyalty. Below, the indoctrination video.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By John Del Signore in News on October 13, 2009 12:15 PM

Comments [rss]

invisibleman

when is Panya on Stuyvesant St gonna reopen?

hubcap

lol communism. i feel like i'm in the 40s. who's up for another red scare???

karl kastle

it would be like communist russia, except THE GOVERNMENT DIDN'T REQUEST THE SONGS BE SUNG.

i'm all for keeping these stupid songs out of the schools, but don't turn this into a communist thing. this is just a reflection of some stupid teachers. obama had nothing to do with it.

Past Taliban

Actually, Obama has nothing to do with ANYTHING because he's just Goldman Sachs puppet.

Past Taliban

Judging by the little blond boy 'singing' in the vid, it looks like besides being indoctrinated these kids are being taught to be faggy too.

snickerdoodle

Yawn.

JacqueMehoff

couldn't this be considered patriotic?

why is God Bless America on that sign?

longacre

No, it is not patriotic. We don't even worship the founding fathers. Why should we sing songs about a guy these teachers probably hadn't heard of 18 months ago?

JacqueMehoff

USA! USA! USA!

I am a REAL AMERICAN,

Fight for what's Right,

fight for what's right.

Past Taliban

Of COURSE you're a "Real American"

... you take it up the azz everyday, don't you?

Billiamsburg

lol @ impoverished white people. keep clinging to those dreams!

longacre

"I came from former Soviet Union as a kid. I was singing songs to the leader Brezhnev and all the others. They were bigger than God. Millions of us were singing songs to Great leaders. This is a shame. This must stop."

You can ignore the quotes from the Fox News watching moms, but you cannot ignore this one. Unfortunately, the teachers involved here are simply imbeciles, so they can't blame "dear leader" for what they did.

ckl

obaaaaama

you're breakin my heart

you're shakin' my confidence

daily

JacqueMehoff

don't these people have jobs, GET a JOB!

if not, was there anyone who paid money to these people to either get there or pay them for their time to protest the school?

what a bunch of losers.

etypical

you'd think they have the jobs that Obama saved and yet...

Look, swap Obama with Bush and the country would be apoplectic, that being said, it's not cool, it serves no purpose and it shows a teacher too lazy to teach.

JenChungsBaby

I would bet there were schoolkids in Wyoming or wherever deep in the heart of red state country singing songs to Bush. But the media didn't go apeshit over it.

NannyState

This whole thing is a tempest in a teabag.

SimonLok

i'm sorry, but the teacher that wasted class time with that should be disciplined. first for the wasted time, 2nd for politicizing a class which at that level should be spending time on learning to read, write and add. I would be pissed if my kid was involved in that for any politician and on top of that the video is a little creepy.

santijose

these people need is to get jobs. they have too much time

on their hands to watch endless FOX news. talk about brain washing.

airtech1

You're right. They should be watching someone fair like Keith Olbermanan

rasputinsghost

there's nothing wrong about songs praising the president, a person who (rightly or wrongly) is supposed to be a role model for the country

Mordicai

Next you'll be indoctrinating children by having them start the day swearing oaths the serve Mother USA & pledging to some heathen, Judaic god!

Wait, Pledge of Allegiance WHAT.

hotstepper

didn't anyone notice that the song sucked anyway? where is the soul kids? where's the drum and bass? Simon Cowell says get the fuck out.

Mattachine

I remember watching the news last night regarding this non-issue and one of the protesters (a republican, nonetheless) said that schools should not be indoctrinating politics into children because children are so impressionable. Don't want to sound like an HSBC commercial but don't children mimic our parent's values and perhaps/including political views? Again, the school is not our babysitter and guardian. It's up to the parents to re-enforce religion, politics, and to be closed minded (lol), etc.

Let's have some common sense. Don't schools sing about other presidents? I'm sure there are lots of songs out there about Abe Lincoln and George Washington.

Qraymond

I'm sorry, is that the cover of Wolverine #1?

What were we talking about now?

henryhamilton

The singing seems like something kids in North Korea would be forced to do. Its a little gay, but nothing to break stride for.

Aveais Essex

In all fairness, if this happened two years ago and you replaced "Obama" with "Bush", plenty of Bush-bashers would be sickened, including me. So I understand how it's an issue for people who do not support Obama (Fox News, et al)

TheCowman

At least it's better than that song those kids in Kansas sang about W. Let me think it goes something like "Bush is God/He Kill Arabs/Death to Black People/Oh and Democrats/Bus is God/He talk to God/No wait God Sucks/Bush kill God too!"

Something like that...it was a real barn burner, er, I mean, cross burner.

jibbly

Didn't the Daily Show already make fun of this non-issue already?

jibbly

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-september-28-2009/america--target-america

Chillinoncentral

(blink)... (blink)...

oh jeezzz... nothing to see here... move along please

nurserachet

People just love flipping the fuck out. I guess I can see why this can make people uncomfortable, but if you take Obama out of the song it's all perfectly rational and good things they're singing about.

I suppose singing about the president is a little creepy, but I don't see it as being that far from singing My Country Tis of Thee and other patriotic songs.

JenChungsBaby

Look at the women in that picture. They look beat up, and their clothes are thrown together and cheap, with a lot of pantsuits and double-knits. And they talk about beating their kids with broom handles and how the kids still don't listen...

moonbeam

I bet the vast majority of those protesters not only don't have children in that school, but aren't even from NJ. They were likely bussed in to create this "news" story.