Twenty-two Words: Exposing the Loss of Decency in American Schools – II

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Welcome everyone to Family Talk. It’s a ministry of the James Dobson Family Institute supported by listeners just like you. I’m Dr. James Dobson and I’m thrilled that you’ve joined us.

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Well, welcome back to Family Talk, the broadcast ministry of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute. I’m Roger Marsh, and today we’re diving back into one of the most important issues facing our nation right now, and that is the education and well-being of our children. Our guest here on the program once again is Pastor John Amwanchukwu. who’s become a powerful voice for both educational excellence and biblical values in our public schools. He’s traveled to school board meetings all across America, standing up for academic achievement and traditional values. Recently, John released a documentary called 22 Words. In it, he takes a close look at a turning point in American education, the removal of prayer from public schools based on a New York court case stemming all the way back to 1962. In our conversation, John Amonchukwu will reveal how this decision still affects children today and offers real solutions for parents and communities who want to create positive change. By the way, if you’re interested in hosting a screening of this powerful documentary called 22 Words, You’ll find that information at drjamesdobson.org forward slash family talk. During our conversation today, you’ll hear Pastor John Amonchukwu’s vision for returning to core principles in education. He will share how parents and communities can work together to make sure every child gets the quality education they deserve. When we left off on yesterday’s program, our own Gary Bauer was talking with Pastor Aman Chukwu, who was sharing how he was physically removed from school board meetings. His offense? Simply reading aloud from books that children can find right now in their school libraries. Many of them are assigned reading projects. Today, he’ll continue his remarkable story, starting with the time Baltimore officials declared a citywide emergency, all because a conservative black pastor wanted to discuss student test scores.

SPEAKER 02 : 2:15

For them to try to arrest me and to grab me by my arm, I’ve been kicked out of six school board meetings by police officers.

SPEAKER 03 : 2:21

Incredible.

SPEAKER 02 : 2:22

Right? I went to Maryland. Let me share this. I went to Maryland and spoke at a school board meeting. Maryland has a black governor. A black mayor in Baltimore, predominantly black school board, a CEO of schools that makes four hundred and seventy nine thousand dollars a year. The CEO of schools. But watch this. The kids can’t read on grade level and they can’t do basic math on grade level.

SPEAKER 03 : 2:49

But Pastor, can they name the 52 genders? That’s the important thing.

SPEAKER 02 : 2:53

They can do that. They can talk about being gender fluid and all of that stuff. You know, they can talk about intersectionality and critical race theory, but, you know, they can’t read and do basic sound math. And so I spoke of this. I went to that school board meeting to speak. And do you not know that they called a citywide emergency on me?

SPEAKER 03 : 3:15

Really?

SPEAKER 02 : 3:16

They said I was a threat. And so in comes law enforcement, and they say we have to shut this school board meeting down because there’s a threat in this room.

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In Baltimore.

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In Baltimore. And here’s the thing. What was the issue? You know, I guess I was the right color in Baltimore, but I had the wrong values, the wrong belief system. And so therefore, they don’t want to hear from a black Christian conservative pastor who And so they shut the school board meeting down and said that we have a citywide emergency. I can’t say that I’ve seen it all, but I’ve seen a lot.

SPEAKER 03 : 3:53

Well, in the book that you released earlier this year, Hoodwink, you obviously deal with this issue of what’s going on in our schools. But in the broader sense, you outline I think it was 10 lies that are infecting the American debate that sort of insinuated themselves into our culture. Can you name some of those for us? Because I think you hit a lot of the things that the nation is so divided about.

SPEAKER 02 : 4:22

First and foremost, the title of that book is Old Foggy, right? You know, the term hoodwinked, that’s an old foggy term, you know, but it means to be blindfolded to the point where you can’t see any light. And that’s where we are in this culture. So many people are duped and have been hoodwinked solely because they are in a position where they can’t be exposed to truth or they have rejected truth. And so the first lie that I deal with is that the lie that America is a racist nation. And we can simply dispel that by first acknowledging that, yes, America had a rocky start. Slavery was evil. The Jim Crow era was evil. However, since then, we’ve had our first black president. Barack Obama was elected to office in 2008 and in 2012. Blacks make up only 13% of the overall population in America. So in order for a Black man to win an election, a presidential race, it’s going to take a lot of white people voting for them. Number one.

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Yes.

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And then when you look at the income earning potential in America, Indians are the highest earners in America.

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Folks that migrated here or were born here from India, the nation, right? Yes.

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Yes, indeed, they are. And then for the middle class, you know, your main average earners who supersede everyone else are Asians. And so why is it in whites? Could it be that what’s stressed at home oftentimes dictates the success of a child? And so one of the things that has truly impacted the black community and put us on a slippery slope has been the fact that when Lyndon B. Johnson came along with the Great Society Plan, to remove the black man from the home and replace him with a $300 to $400 check, that’s what broke the back of the sound structure in the black community from the 1890s all the way up to the 1950s. The black marriage rate rivaled that of whites.

SPEAKER 03 : 6:51

Pastor, this is so important. Yes. not have a father at home who goes to work every day, but nobody in the neighborhood has that. And if you don’t have that to see and to have as a role model for the importance of work, it doesn’t matter if you are white, Asian, whatever you are, that child is going to struggle to be successful. Now, single parents can do an incredible job and beat the odds. And two parents can fail. But if you just look at the overall averages when you’re making public policy, we should want every child to have a mom and dad at home.

SPEAKER 02 : 7:47

Yes, I agree. We definitely should. And, you know, I’ll say it this way. The Bible says that if a man doesn’t work, neither shall he eat. And if you can’t take care of your family, you’re worse than an infidel. We hear about the wealth gap so much in America, and there are impacts there stemming from the past. There’s a modicum of that, but the main thing that has positioned the Black community in a place where many are economically disadvantaged. It’s because of the fact that 70 to 80% of Black homes are led by a single parent, oftentimes a mother. Black women make up 8% of the overall population in America. Black men make up 5%. So that means that the black community is a matriarchal community. Interesting. And a matriarchal community cannot compete with a patriarchal community. You know, even when we have this conversation, I have to bring up the fact that I was very upset with the Black Lives Matters movement and how they sought to destroy the nuclear family. And they did that primarily because BLM was founded by three women who were of the lesbian persuasion. Yes. At the end of the day, they don’t want any man, let alone a black man, right? Yeah. And so within their organization, they set up a structure where they sought to destroy the nuclear family. Well, if you’re going to further decimate the black community, destroying the nuclear family is going to do that. Why not empower the nuclear family? And that’s why I’m excited right now because President Trump and his administration, they’re going to defund Planned Parenthood. You know, an organization that is known, it’s documented, its own record that their founder was a racist and that she wanted to destroy the black population. You know, in my book, I deal with the lie that if you are pro-life, then you have a white evangelical worldview, you know? Yes. And so why is it that whites have to be labeled as, you know, having a white evangelical worldview? Because they are pro-life. That makes no sense. The main people who are being killed at abortuaries around this country are Black babies. 28 million Black people are missing since the inception of Roe v. Wade.

SPEAKER 03 : 10:38

The numbers are almost impossible to get our arms around. Outgoing President Biden just the other day gave the highest civilian honor that can be awarded by the United States to Cecilia Richards, who was for 12 years the president of Planned Parenthood. And here he gave her this great civilian honor because she – he said for her leadership in human rights. Human rights, he’s oversaw the denial of the most basic and important right of all, the right to life. If you don’t have the right to life, the other rights are sort of beside the point. But – Pastor, your documentary is just fantastic. And am I correct about this? It’s called 22 Words?

SPEAKER 02 : 11:27

That’s right. That’s right.

SPEAKER 03 : 11:27

Okay. So it’s an attention getter, you know, and I want to be sure we have a chance to talk about that. 22 Words, well, what in the world is that about? Well, it ends up that when all this junk was coming into the classroom— At least in part, it was coming into the classroom because a vacuum had been left. And that vacuum was when our country, all the way back in the 60s, decided to take voluntary school prayer and then the next year Bible reading out of the classroom. And so tell us about that original case and why you referred to 22 words. I think most people— think that those school prayers decades ago were, you know, Bible-thumping, praise the Lord, Jesus is my Savior prayers. But they weren’t, were they, Pastor? That was not what school prayer was.

SPEAKER 02 : 12:23

You’re right. You hit the nail on the head. In 1962, because of the Engel v. Vitale court case where the Supreme Court ruled to ban school-sponsored prayer, there was a simple, non-denominational, non-proselytizing prayer that was removed. You know, every day kids would be led to recite this in their classroom. And the prayer says, Almighty God, we acknowledge our dependence upon thee. Hmm. And we beg thy blessings upon us, our parents, our teachers, and our country. Just a simple prayer. The prayer does not invoke the name of Allah, the name of Buddha, or Reverend Sun Yung Moon, or even the name of Jesus, although we do know as Christians who Almighty God is. Right. But this prayer was banned. And according to former Secretary of Education William Bennett, he said that as a result of school-sponsored prayer being banned, divorce doubled from 1960 to 1990. Teenage pregnancy went up 200%. Teen suicide increased by 300%. And violent crime went up 500%.

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You know, Pastor, it’s interesting you would quote Bill Bennett because when Bill Bennett was Secretary of Education under Ronald Reagan, I was the Undersecretary of Education under Bill Bennett. I was the number two guy in the department.

SPEAKER 01 : 14:00

No way!

SPEAKER 03 : 14:01

Yes, and he and I did our best to get rid of that department because we could already see That the bureaucrats in that department were leftists and they were out to run the school districts all over America. We couldn’t get the votes in Congress to do it. But Bennett and I both felt very strongly about this. It’s not that little prayer would turn anybody into a Christian. Right. But what it did was signal that adults thought that finding God and seeking God was something important, and the child can make that journey on their own. It’s the same way that saying the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag doesn’t turn a child into a patriot. But again, it’s adults signaling that child that your country’s important, and we hope that you’ll love your country. Right. So it still leaves all of that up to the child. And we really made a colossal mistake in the 1960s, and we’re still paying the price for it.

SPEAKER 02 : 15:03

Yes, I agree. And much can be said about that decision. You know, we’ve gone from prayer in the public school system now to porn. Mm. We’ve gone from prayer to now transgenderism being pushed upon our children and men coming into schools, long wigs, fishnet stockings, with a beard, but given access to the tender plants of society. Yes. Right? Young image bearers. They are now confused. And this is why we see a spike in the number of children who are battling gender dysphoria. You know, I was just recently in Albuquerque, New Mexico on this past Wednesday, had to speak at a school board meeting there. And do you not know that Albuquerque, New Mexico, they have the worst test scores all across the board for education in America?

SPEAKER 03 : 16:01

That’s saying something. They got a lot of competition for that worst scores, unfortunately.

SPEAKER 02 : 16:07

There are young men who go to school with thongs on, with crop top shirts. Teachers reported this to me. And you can’t say anything on it. And they walk around school with their thongs showing.

SPEAKER 03 : 16:24

Unbelievable.

SPEAKER 02 : 16:24

Do you not know that there are secret systems within Albuquerque, New Mexico’s education database where kids who are being transitioned at school, where they keep their information separate from parents. You know, these things are criminal, but there’s a starting place for everything, you know? Yeah. And when we go back to the removal of God from the public school system, we understand the slippery slope that we are seeing today. And so my documentary takes you on a journey. It unpacks the history. I have wonderful people like Bill Federer and David Barton, renowned historians.

SPEAKER 03 : 17:10

Yes, yes. And friends of the James Dobson Family Institute Ministry and of Dr. Dobson. Yes. And it shows that you really went to the experts in putting the documentary together.

SPEAKER 02 : 17:22

Yes, indeed. I also have my good friend Kirk Cameron. Of course. He’s in the documentary, and attorney Bernadette Broyles, and Bishop Patrick Langwood, and senior. And so just many individuals are coming alongside me in this journey. And you’ll be able to see, as I go from state to state through this documentary— the impact that I’m having, but also the fight that I’m warring. And so I would ask everyone to go to 22wordsfilm.com and purchase this documentary. You can also do a screening where you show it to a large group of people. We will support you in doing so. Go to 22wordsfilm.com.

SPEAKER 03 : 17:59

And this is a great tool, Pastor, and this battle for the hearts and minds of our children. This is going to be an ongoing struggle. You know, both of the teacher unions are led by far-left ideologues. Yes, yes. And I believe at least one of them is a Marxist. The lady that’s head of the National Library Association described herself as, As a Marxist. So this really is a battle for whether this country is going to be one nation under God or whether the rising generation will be taught to reject everything the country was built on and embrace socialism and Marxism and all the rest of that. One of the good news things is that we’ve got three new Supreme Court people sitting on the court as a result of Donald Trump’s first term. And the result of all that is there’s now, for the most part, a six-vote majority on the Supreme Court in defense of religious liberty. So some of the damage done in 1960, we now are in a position, if we’ll just be bold like you’ve been and confront local school boards and school districts, we can get a lot more back into the schools than we could have, let’s say, 10 years ago. And then armed with the facts in your fantastic documentary, parents will go into these battles armed with the information that they need.

SPEAKER 02 : 19:33

Yes, I agree. And so that’s why I want everyone to go to 22wordsfilm.com and to see this film. But I’ve also put together some resources. This is my battle plan. It’s free on my website at iknowgod.us. This is my battle plan to reclaim schools and communities. You can sign up to receive this. Also, I have a toolkit on my website so that when you sign up, you’ll also receive my toolkit, which is the most comprehensive toolkit in America when it comes to explaining to parents just the basics of critical race theory, gender theory, and queer theory. It also teaches people how to coalesce and to build networks if they want to run for school board positions. It also shows you how to number board members to determine which one you should lobby towards voting out to make sure that we can reclaim schools and communities. So I have so much to offer. I’m not simply, as some have said, just cursing the darkness. Right. We’re making films. We’re providing free resources. You know, I’m sold out for this issue. I have three children, three children. And so I am concerned, greatly concerned.

SPEAKER 03 : 20:46

Well, our children are all adults now and married, but we have eight grandchildren. And all of their parents and us as grandparents, we’re all doing everything we can to make sure they’re exposed to the right information and the things that will uphold the values that they’re being taught at home. We can’t send our children out there You know, after telling them all the right things at home, but then putting them into the care of people that are going to tell them that all that’s junk and old fashioned and all the rest of it. So it’s good that you’ve created all this material here. that people can use. And it will make them more confident, I think, because a lot of parents, you know, oh, I’m going to go into that school board meeting. That school board’s going to know so much more than I do. I don’t want to be embarrassed. I’ll be by myself. But as you know, Pastor, when somebody shows leadership, a lot of times in the documentary that I saw, your documentary, There were audiences in that school board that heard you were coming, and they were there to provide you moral support and stand with you, which is a great sign that people are catching on.

SPEAKER 02 : 21:58

Yes, indeed. You know, there’s an army that’s raising up. My plan is to raise up 400 school board warriors. Wow. To replace me. You know, like I said, I’ve been to 16 states. I’ll be going to two other states. But I’m committed to making sure that we teach and train parents how to spot these Marxist ideologies.

SPEAKER 03 : 22:23

Pastor, we’re running out of time. Could I impose on you to praying for the revival of our nation and the saving of our children?

SPEAKER 02 : 22:32

Yes. Well, Lord, your word tells us in Proverbs 22, 6, to train up a child in the way that he should go. And when he’s old, he will not depart from it. God, we’re called to train kids up, not to mess them up. Your word said also that righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach against evil people. Your word tells us in Isaiah 520, woe to those who call evil good and good evil. Help us, O God, to be the church, to be the church triumphant, to stand boldly, against the evils of our day and to protect our children. Children are a gift that you have given unto us. Empower us to do our jobs and to lead well. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER 01 : 23:29

Amen. Now, of course, you heard Gary make reference to the fact that during his earlier years in public life, he served as Undersecretary of Education in the newly minted Department of Education in President Ronald Reagan’s administration. Well, both Gary and John are passionate about upholding biblical values and traditional values as well in the classroom. Pastor John Amon Chukwu’s passionate testimony, his firsthand accounts from school board meetings all across America, and his invaluable insights from years of educational advocacy and ministry all demonstrate why Christian parents must remain engaged in protecting our children’s minds and hearts. Now, to learn more about the ministry of Pastor John Amon Chukwu, his ongoing work in educational reform, and his documentary called 22 Words. Go to drjamesdobson.org forward slash family talk. You can host a screening of this film and you can find out more information about that on our website, drjamesdobson.org forward slash family talk. Well, here at the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute, we are dedicated to preserving and promoting biblical truth for families. Through these daily broadcasts and our comprehensive family resources, we’re helping parents navigate increasingly challenging cultural waters. If you’ve been encouraged by or equipped by our programs, we invite you to join us in this vital mission. Your support enables us to continue bringing you trusted voices and biblical wisdom for today’s families. Every donation makes a difference. So make a secure contribution online at drjamesdobson.org or call us at 877-732-6825. For Dr. Dobson and all of us here at the JDFI, I’m Roger Marsh. Thanks so much for being with us today. Be sure to join us again next time right here for another edition of Dr. James Dobson’s Family Talk, the voice you trust for the family you love.

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This has been a presentation of the Dr. James Dobson Family Institute.