Epic accuses State Senator of slander, and sues..

   An article in the Tulsa World - Epic Charter Schools sues state senator who questioned student attendance and funding, accusing him of slander details the great lengths a shady racket will extend to protect its millionaires. Another article in the DO - Epic Charter Schools suing state senator alleging libel, slander relates that the Epic attorney, Bill Hickman, filed the slander and libel lawsuit Monday, and is "seeking at least $75,000 in damages" from State Senator Ron Sharp (R) of Shawnee.
   Senator Sharp's plight (as he stands up for our public schools and students in the fight against corrupt racketeers) reminds one of the oft-quoted message by Martin Niemoller - "Then They Came for Me". Martin Niemoller was a prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolph Hitler in the days before and during World War II. His famous message was given later in life. Despite his ardent nationalism, Niemoller spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. He was one of the earliest Germans to talk publicly about broader complicity in the Holocaust and guilt for what had happened to the Jews.
   Here is that message that causes us to think deeply for the welfare of our fellowman:
"First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out-
          Because I was not a Socialist.
"Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out-
          Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
"Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out-
          Because I was not a Jew.
"Then they came for me-
          and there was no one left to speak for me.
   The quotation is from Niemoller's many lectures during the early years following the end of World War II. His point was that Germans - in particular the leaders of Protestant churches - had been complicit through their silence in the Nazi imprisonment, persecution, and murder of millions of people (LEADING WITH INTEGRITY, Clarence G. Oliver, Jr., Ed.D., 2015).
   As public school officials, and more importantly as Oklahoma taxpayers, we should be speaking out against the unethical acquisition of taxpayer dollars by private management firms like Epic - and speaking out in support of those like Senator Sharp, who've had the courage to stand up and do what's right.