In their 1848 Communist Manifesto, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels famously stated communists seek to “rescue education from the influence of the ruling class” by changing the type of social intervention that informs instruction — later to be known as “re-education.”
Likewise, the revolutionary Black Lives Matter movement, co-founded by self-described radical organizers and trained Marxists, has given rise to a Black Lives Matter at School coalition whose activists seek to alter public-school curricula under the guise of promoting “racial justice in education.”
This week’s national BLMAS “Week of Action” aims to recruit educators, students, families and community members to join the mission of re-educating American kids, inviting local activism — and New York City has a particularly active BLMAS chapter.
But though the coalition says its goal is to transform US classrooms into “incubators for inclusivity, equity, and justice,” a glance at the curriculum resources it provides teachers gratis makes clear some instead degrade, discriminate and defame certain groups of people as a means of elevating others.
A prime example: the offerings in the “Black+Palestinian Solidarity” section of BLMAS’ Curriculum Resource Guide 2.0. They demonize Zionists and supporters of Israel with anti-Israel propaganda and anti-Jewish tropes, encouraging students to become boycott, divestment and sanctions activists against the Jewish state.
Examples of its resources include:
- An anti-Semitic campaign based on stoking political and racial tensions within America to blame Jews for what it calls “racist policing in the U.S.” Singling out exchange programs between American police, the FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Israeli law-enforcement agencies (and not similar programs with Mexico, Europe and other countries), the campaign falsely claims Americans are being schooled in “extrajudicial executions, shoot to kill tactics, police murder, and attacking human rights defenders.” The so-called “Deadly Exchange” campaign uses anti-Semitic tropes in its condemnation of mainstream American Jewish organizations it accuses of being “complicit” in programs that allegedly pervert non-Jewish Americans.
- Articles and videos promoting the anti-Zionist views of militant black-power organizations and leaders like Malcolm X, who promoted the fraudulent anti-Semitic “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”and coined the slur “Zionist-Dollarism”; Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee under the leadership of Stokely Carmichael, who notoriously declared, “The only good Zionist is a dead Zionist”; the Black Panthers, whose co-founder Huey Newton the material quotes: “Israel was created by Western imperialism and is maintained by Western firepower.”
These materials reflect BLM’s long affiliation with the anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic BDS movement. Many of these resources were contributed by Brian Ford, a teacher, anti-Zionist propagandist, BDS supporter and Democratic Socialists of America activist. With BLMAS’ open channel allowing anyone to post resources for the curriculum, there is little doubt similarly motivated activists will continue to use it as a platform for agitprop and hate rhetoric.
New York City’s BLMAS chapter’s website offers additional resources to develop a curriculum based on BLM’s ideology and mission. It advances its agenda through local councils governed by the city Department of Education. Each school district has its own Community Education Council composed of elected volunteer parents and community leaders tasked with “promoting student achievement, advising and commenting on educational policies, and providing input to the chancellor and the Panel for Educational Policy.” BLMAS is encouraging these councils to distribute its materials to classrooms during its Week of Action.
Concerned parents can run in the upcoming elections for their district’s CEC and provide oversight over the re-education of their children. (The application period closes Feb. 13.)
Local school boards, CECs, educators and parents, meanwhile, should be on the lookout for curricula that politically indoctrinate children with defamatory content. Such resources are filled with unjust accusations that promote hatred and exclusion — a far cry from inclusion, justice and equity for all.
Ricki Hollander is a senior research analyst for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis.
