To the Editor:

I just resigned from the Girl Scouts after more than 25 years in the program. The organization is not supposed to be political, but I recently got an email with the request to sign their Anti-Racism pledge, a policy I assumed was already covered in the Girl Scout Promise and Laws. I didn’t feel it was necessary as the laws state that we should “respect myself and others” along with “being a sister to every other Girl Scout.”

So, this seemed redundant. Since this new pledge was accompanied by a letter from Joanne Crepeau CEO of Girl Scouts of Maine, which stated that we would be supporting Black Lives Matter, I wanted clarification: do we support the slogan Black Lives Matter, or the organization? The response specifically states that we are supporting the movement BLM, and that is where my issue with Girl Scouts lies. We are not supposed to be supporting any political entity

I did my research, and when you read the platform of BLM, you can see it is a political movement. At BlackLivesMatter.com (they are not a .org, or a 501-c-3), you can read their latest manifesto about defunding the police. You can watch reports on the nightly news. At the end of June, the BLM President of the Greater New York chapter, Hawk Newsom told a cable news station “If the country doesn’t give us what we want, the we will burn down this system, and replace it”. Does that sound like something Girl Scouts should be supporting? Not for me.

I believe that Girl Scouts should not be involved with any movement or association that has a political agenda, from BLM to The Three Percenters, from Democrat to Republican, from the Tea Party to the Coffee Party. Girl Scouts have plenty of ways to support their sister scouts, the community and our country without delving in to any political philosophy.

I believe we should look to respecting all life, and go back to the Golden rule. “Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you.” (Matt. 7-12) Yes, black lives do matter, but so does every other human being, and maybe that’s where we need to start. Girl Scouts should go back to their roots, and focus on their foundation. When they stop their activism, I might go back, as it’s all about the children we work with.

Susie Mosca

Lovell


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