I rarely say this, but thank you Governor Newson for pushing back against Anti-Semitism from the left.
On the other hand can't you guys believe that the phrase "Jews control the media" was about to be introduced into at the very least curriculum maybe even a textbook in California!!!
It was the latest twist in a fight that has lasted more than a year over whether California’s high school students should be required to take an ethnic studies class and, if so, what should be included. The bill’s author pulled it in 2019 after a similar dispute over the course material. This year a revised version of the bill easily passed the Legislature, but Wednesday night, Newsom vetoed it.
In his veto message, the governor said only that the curriculum still needed more work because it was “insufficiently balanced and inclusive.”
Newsom wrote in his veto message that he supports the concept of teaching students about the history of marginalized groups. But he said the latest draft of California’s “Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum” must be rewritten to ensure it “achieves balance, fairness and is inclusive of all communities.”
Newsom didn’t cite specific examples of bias in the course manual, but advocates and legislators said the Jewish community was the crucial source of concern about the curriculum.
Tyler Gregory, executive director of the San Francisco Jewish Community Relations Council, said concerns about the bill were reignited in recent weeks after Jewish leaders learned the draft curriculum had been updated to add lessons about Arab Americans and Pacific Islanders, but not Jews.
Gregory said Jewish groups and synagogues across the state sent dozens of letters to Newsom’s office urging him to intervene. Gregory said he wanted Newsom to direct an overhaul of the curriculum or veto the bill — Newsom did both.
“We think it’s imperative that education around anti-Semitism and Jewish identity be included in the context of ethnic studies,” Gregory said. “The Jewish community is more than a conversation about the Holocaust.”
“The Jewish community is a large and diverse community, with lots of different perspectives,” he said. “If anything, what I heard from the mainstream Jewish community leadership was not opposition to the bill, but was concern that the curriculum be developed in a way that was fair to the Jewish community.”
The revised curriculum encouraged teachers to add lessons that emphasize the history of ethnic groups in their community. But it kept the focus on four groups that ethnic studies courses traditionally emphasize: African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, and Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
The draft also removed content that Jewish groups said evoked anti-Semitic stereotypes, in particular a reference to Israel controlling the media.
Newsom vetoed high school ethnic studies bill after complaints from Jewish groups about curriculum
