By H. Applebaum
SAN DIEGO — If you are reading this, you are probably Jewish and live in California. Even if you’re not, you should do the right thing. There is an August 15th deadline to protest the proposed anti-Semitic California schools curriculum.
The people who wrote the curriculum do not know (or don’t care) that there used to be signs all over the country that said: “Whites Only, No Jews Allowed.” They don’t know that the Jewish community had to build their own hospitals because no hospital would hire Jewish doctors. They don’t know that Jews weren’t allowed in many professions because anti-Semitism was rampant in America. They should know that anti-Semitism has made a comeback, but they left that out of the curriculum. They did include: Islamophobia, Homophobia, White Supremacy, Xenophobia, even Transphobia, but not anti-Semitism.
They don’t even want to admit that Jewish people are an ethnic group like Hispanics or African Americans.
What You Can Do:
Submit your objections to the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC) using the public input template on the California Department of Education website. Download the Public Input Template, fill it out using Microsoft Word, and submit it as a MicrosofWord file (.DOC or .DOCX) via email to ethnicstudies@cde.ca.gov.
The Jewish Caucus stated in its letter objecting to the curriculum:
“It would be a cruel irony if a curriculum meant to help alleviate prejudice and bigotry were to instead marginalize Jewish students and fuel hatred and discrimination against the Jewish community.”
The curriculum:
- promotes the anti-Semitic, anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Movement
- Singles out Israel – for special criticism.
- Doesn’t recognize Jews as an ethnic group
- Doesn’t mention Jewish contributions to the growth of the country
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Applebaum is a freelance writer based in San Diego.