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EXCERPT
On Dec. 2, following the announcement of the teach-in, Oakland’s superintendent sent an email to all educators and families stating that she was “deeply disappointed” by “the harmful and divisive materials being circulated and promoted as factual.” She also dusted off a rarely cited 2004 board resolution with a lengthy list of expectations for teachers tackling controversial topics in class. The school board president escalated the superintendent’s “disappointment” by effectively threatening to fire anyone who participated in the teach-in, saying to the press “you can’t show up and do whatever you want and not face any consequences.” Their intimidation tactics and media strategy made it clear that our district sided with those seeking to suppress Palestinian perspectives in the curriculum.
We noted two types of criticism of the teach-in: Some critics raised concerns about individual resources. We took this critique seriously and viewed the curriculum bank as a living document. Based on feedback from parents and educators, we edited documents and corrected inaccuracies, vague language, and misquotations, especially anything that ran the risk of being interpreted as antisemitic. But some critics sought to frame Palestinian-centered study as inherently antisemitic and issued statements and threats to prevent the teach-in and to prompt retaliation against participants. Following the Oakland superintendent’s email expressing “disappointment” and the board president’s threat to punish educators, the Deborah Project, a Zionist law firm, sent every principal in the district a cease and desist letter, stating that teachers do not have the legal right to exercise free speech in the classroom. Then media outlets cherry-picked quotations from the teach-in resources to make it seem as if the lessons and materials underplayed antisemitism or the interests of Jewish people. For example, a Dec. 5 Fox News report falsely claimed that the teach-in resources “don’t mention the Holocaust by name,” and cited as evidence one quote, “During World War II, many Jewish people were killed and mistreated,” taken from a worksheet for upper elementary students.
We vehemently oppose antisemitism. Several of the teach-in organizers are Jewish, even Israeli, and are from Holocaust-surviving families. We also oppose the weaponization of antisemitism against the Palestinians, who are denied human and civil rights and are being murdered by the Israeli military. We reject the idea that critique of political Zionism and of Israel as a de jure Jewish state is antisemitic, as well as the idea that winning Palestinian civil rights would negate the rights of Israeli Jews. In the lead-up to the teach-in, we regularly discussed and reflected on the criticism we were receiving — both to differentiate between legitimate critiques and unsubstantiated attacks and to maintain unity and solidarity against the backlash.
Source:
https://rethinkingschools.org/articles/what-we-learned-from-our-oakland-to-gaza-k-12-teach-in/