The fall semester has just begun in California. It’s pretty much
all online, distance learning. This has been enormously helpful –
in an awakening kind of way – for parents, also still stuck at
home, to observe the increasingly anti-American, antisemitic, and
frankly Marxist curricula being force-fed to their children.
The flagship courses for that indoctrination go under the label
of “ethnic studies”. Governor Gavin Newsom justsigned
a bill into law on 17 August 2020 that makes an ethnic studies
course a requirement for graduation from any California State
University, beginning with the 2021-2022 academic year. Lest anyone
think that ethnic studies in California will be just a broad-based
neutral overview of American diversity (the E Pluribus Unum kind),
a look at what is actually contained in such curricula already this
year will be instructive.
Let us begin by recalling what former FBI agent W. Cleon Skousen
told us about Communist Goals for America back in 1958, the year he
published “The
Naked Communistâ€. The content of that book, and especially
those 45 Goals found in Chapter 13, were compiled from testimony by
former Communists before Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Subcommittee
and the counterpart House on Unamerican Activities Committee in the
1950s. Number 17 of that list of Communist Goals for America
stated: “Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission
belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the
curriculum. Get control of teachers’ associations. Put the party
line in textbooks.â€
Now, fast forward to the English 9 Ethnic Studies curriculum for
the Santa Barbara Unified School District (SBUSD) at the high
school level. The colorful syllabus for the course was sent to
students as a Power Point in mid-August 2020. In the first slide,
an image of a cheerful “Ms. Powers,†who wears sneakers and a
T-shirt with the black power-communist fist salute, waves to the
students in front of a backdrop that features the Black Lives
Matter logo and a rainbow flag. In the next slide, she tells the
students a bit about herself: “My name is Nicole Powers. I am a
bi-racial, Asian-American cisgender female who uses she/her/ella
pronouns.â€
Below the introductory slide are listed the “Units of Studyâ€
for the August-December 2020 semester. Week One is devoted to
“Community Buildingâ€. Weeks 2-5 are about “My Place in the
Community.†Weeks 6-9 are dedicated to “Protest.†(The
syllabus doesn’t specify if that will include extracurricular
activities on-site in Chicago, Portland, or other field trip
location.) Weeks 10-12 are for “Intersectionality,†and Weeks
13-15 are about “Stereotypes and Internalized Racism.†Yes,
this is an English class. But don’t be too sure about any actual
“English language†content.
The Conference on College Composition and Communication, which
is part of the National Council of Teachers of English, released
a document in July 2020 that demands something called “Black
Linguistic Justice.†Its rallying cry, apparently in its
preferred style of “English†states: “This Ain’t Another
Statement! This is a DEMAND for Black Linguistic Justice!
PeriodT!†[sic]. Among its demands are that “teachers stop
using academic language and standard English as the accepted
communicative norm, which reflects White Mainstream English!†and
“…teach Black students about anti-Black linguistic racism and
white linguistic supremacy instead!â€.
Back in Santa Barbara, it seems they have taken that cri de
coeur to heart (as it were) with images of several books the
English 9 Ethnic Studies class will be reading. One of them is
entitled “If
I Was [sic] Your Girlâ€, by Meredith Russo. It’s about a
“girl†who used to be a boy at her old school. “Moby Dick,â€
“The Deerslayerâ€, and “Wuthering Heights†are not to be
seen. But “A
Young People’s History of the United States,†by the
communist Howard Zinn is there. So is “A
Queer History of the United States for Young People†by
Michael Bronski. The Fall 2020 Semester Course Outline delves into
topics like “beneficiaries of privilege†in society, the
“role of protest in society,†“Intersectionalityâ€,
“Stereotypes,†and “Social Justice.†A student writing
guide instructs them to describe ways they are privileged or
oppressed; concepts of race, and cultural and social identity; and,
what it means to be an American and whether there is an American
culture.
So, where did all this come from?
A good place to look is the online Black
Lives Matter Resource Guide as published at the website of a
group called “The
Peahce Project.†(No, that’s not a typo.) Its list of
resource categories includes: “White Privilege,†“Police
Brutality,†“Intersectionality,†“Feminism,â€
“LGBTQ+,†“History of Slavery/Racism,†“Asian
Allyship,†“Anti-Racism,†“How Media Affects Our
Perspective,†and “White Privilege.†If it sounds familiar,
it should. There are articles, books, and videos listed for each
category.
And just to be sure that everyone understands under whose
domination our schools now operate, there’s this. The Vermont
Essex Westford School District Board voted unanimously in early
August 2020 that all of its schools will fly a Black Lives Matter
(BLM) flag throughout the 2020-2021 school year. The BLM flag will
fly alongside LGBTQ flags. No mention of whether an American flag
or Vermont State flag will also be flown.
Parents and other community members in Vermont as well as the
Santa Barbara Unified School District are none too pleased. A group
called “Fair
Education Santa Barbara†that was formed in 2019 to counter
this sort of Critical Race Theory, divisive identity politics, and
implicit-bias training has argued in a series of court declarations
that such training is not only divisive, but “discriminatory
toward white people, men and Christians.†The group, with growing
support from Santa Barbara families, argues that this curriculum
has been promoted under contract with the SBUSD by an organization
called Just
Communities. Unfortunately, an Ethnic Studies Community Forum
that was planned for 4 August 2020, and would have given a platform
for families’ concerns to be heard, was postponed
indefinitely.
One set of parents summed up their dismay this way: “We were
horrified to see a dangerously deceptive, radical political agenda
disguised as an English + Ethnic Studies class. The SBUSD is
deceitfully and purposefully recruiting our children behind our
backs with symbols of communist hate. We are in disbelief that
four weeks of this class focuses on “Protest†followed by three
weeks of “Intersectionality.†Clearly, they are recruiting our
sweet, innocent children for radical rioting like we see it Seattle
and Portland and grooming them for lawlessness behind portals made
accessible only to the students.â€
Now, multiply that many times over for those parents who are
likewise concerned but do not (yet) speak out. Until then, others
must be their voices.
The post
How California Schools are Force-Feeding Black Lives Matter’s
Marxist Agenda to Children appeared first on Harbingers Daily.
