She's not being allowed to, as
"This is a fifth-grade student that wants to perform a song filled with lyrics about drug use, war, abortion, gay rights and profanity," said district spokeswoman Nadine Drew. "This is an elementary school that includes kindergarteners and pre-K students."
Now, there's one or two lies in that statement, as the news story above properly lists. For one thing,
The song does not mention abortion, and the profanity mentioned is the word "hell."
But believe it or not, I'm not completely deaf to to the concerns some parents might have about hearing such a song performed before such a young audience, much as I like it. If they'd asked me, I would have said she should go ahead and do it, but it's not what I see as a great newsworthy act of censorship that she's not being allowed to.
To me the more noteworthy part of all of this is...how cool is a 10-year-old girl who wants to get up in front of her entire school and sing a song about important subjects like speaking truth to power?
Molly said she liked the way the song addressed the president directly.
"He should try to listen to what other people say, not just himself," she said.
On the off chance that Molly and/or her mother are Yahoo! searching her name & come across this blog: Way to go, kid.
One thing does concern me, however. The last paragraph of the news story is:
Assuming the decision stands, Molly said she plans to select a new song for the show later this month with a message she thinks school officials wouldn't object to: A hip-hop song about two girls fighting over a boy.
I suppose it's always good to reinforce that "catfight" instinct as early and often as possible. The message, then: Speaking out on issues in which you believe=bad. Fighting over boys=good!
Don't you believe it Molly, wherever you are.
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