Random Thoughts

Lets keep the Kid‘s Parade innocent

Does the topic of abortion belong in a kid‘s parade?
How about gay marriage, white supremacy or views pro & con on the war in Iraq? Do these causes belong in a kid‘s parade?
What about the fanatical street preachers who show up at every Cherry Festival, casting an ugly vibe on the event with their posters of Jesus dying on the cross? Do they belong in a kid‘s parade? They‘d probably love to march in it, ranting the whole way through town.
How about Joe Camel and his instruments of death, so tantalizing to youth? Does he belong in a kid‘s parade? Does Captain Morgan belong, or the Swedish Bikini Team?
Should there be religious floats or an entry by the Michigan Atheists?
If the Ku Klux Klan wants to march its skinhead kids in the Junior Royale Parade, should they be allowed to display their beliefs to children lining the route? What if the gay-bashing Rev. Phelps returned to town and wanted to march with his “God Hates Fags“ sign in the Junior Royale? Does PETA belong, marching with gruesome photographs of mangled animals?
Getting back to abortion -- does the most divisive issue in America belong in a kid‘s parade?
Or, should a kid‘s parade be kept innocent and free of the issues and anger that divide the minds of adults?
You know, limited to just kid stuff -- clowns, bikes, pets, marching bands -- and that‘s it. No exceptions.
Currently, the National Cherry Festival is embroiled in a controversy over its decision to reject an entry of the Grand Traverse Area Students for Life to march in the Junior Royale parade. The Students have marched in the Junior Royale for the past several years, but this time around, the Cherry Festival decided that national issues such as abortion aren‘t appropriate for a festival that celebrates cherries.
Four local pro-life lawmakers believe, however, that abortion is a fitting theme for the Junior Royale Parade. State Senators Michelle McManus and Jason Allen and Representatives David Palsrok and Howard Walker have approached the Cherry Festival on behalf ot the Students for Life, urging the acceptance of their entry next year.
It would be interesting to know if the representatives would be just as open-minded if Planned Parenthood kids wanted to march, but were refused. Or, what if our local chapter of gay and lesbian teens wanted to have a float in the kid‘s parade? Would McManus, Allen, Palsrok and Walker be as even-handed for those causes?
Parades are ticklish things. On Memorial Day, the veterans group in Harbor Springs said no thanks to an offer by Northern Michigan People for Peace to march in their parade, even though the anti-war protesters promised that they wouldn‘t carry signs and would march silently in black clothing. Isn‘t that a puzzler?
In Boston, gay activists fought for years to gain access to the St. Patrick‘s Day parade. For some odd reason, the Irishmen backing the event didn‘t want to mix shamrocks and leprechauns with gay politics. Imagine.
And, oddly enough, the Italian-Americans of the New York area didn‘t want members of the “Sopranos“ in their parade because the show celebrates mob violence and extortion. Go figure.
I guess if you‘re an absolutist on free speech, you would have to say that anything goes, even in a kid‘s parade like the Junior Royale. A large number of people in Traverse City are apparently absolutists when it comes to touting their views on abortion. Would they be just as accommodating for all of the other divisive causes out there?
It‘s an all or nothing thing, this matter of causes. And the Cherry Festival pursued the wisest course in its decision. The only thing we should see at the Junior Royale Parade is kids having fun, unspoiled by the ugly nature of issues projected on them by adults.


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