This year on May 17 we recognize and honor the impact of the landmark Supreme Court ruling of Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka which occurred 70 years ago, in 1954.  

Brown paved the way for school integration, with the decision that struck down the prevailing doctrine known as “separate but equal.” 

Delivered by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Earl Warren, Brown was endorsed by a unanimous 9-0 Supreme Court decision that sent a powerful message across the country that school segregation was unlawful and violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14^th Amendment of the Constitution. 

The ruling overturned the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson court decision that held that separate but equal was legal as long as facilities and staff were substantially equal in quality.

But Plessy was nothing more than an effort to keep segregation alive and essentially ignored the inherent racism at its core.   

The 1954 Brown case rested upon the ability of a Black student to attend a white school close to the student’s home, while the school for Black children required busing — even though busing was free and the quality of both Topeka, Kansas schools was said to be basically equal.

A class action lawsuit was filed by the Brown family and other families affected by separate but equal, claiming it was segregation at its most basic. A Kansas U.S. District Court ruled against the Browns, citing Plessy, and the case was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The case was brought to the Supreme Court by Thurgood Marshall, who later served from 1967 until 1991 as the first Black Supreme Court Justice. 

Before the 1954 decision, integration was forbidden in 17 southern states.

Brown v. Board of Education was a consolidation of five lawsuits, all of which were sponsored by the NAACP, against school districts in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Kansas, South Carolina and Virginia. 

According to the Legal Defense Fund, “The Kansas case was unique among the group in that there was no contention of gross inferiority of the segregated schools’ physical plant, curriculum, or staff.”

Launched under the leadership of Marshall in 1940, the Legal Defense Fund is a civil and human rights law firm that was created “at a time when the nation’s aspirations for equality and due process of law were stifled by widespread state-sponsored racial inequality.”

The five cases representing communities from across the country were: Briggs v. Elliott, Bolling v. Sharpe, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County (VA), and Gebhart v. Belton.

On May 31, 1955, another unanimous court decision, referred to as Brown II, instructed states to begin desegregation plans “with all deliberate speed,” according to the National Archives.

Despite widespread resistance at the time to full integration, the Legal Defense Fund calls Brown “the case that changed America” and was “a major catalyst for the civil rights movement, making possible advances in desegregating housing, public accommodations, and institutions of higher education.” 

According to the fund, “The decision gave hope to millions of Americans by permanently discrediting the legal rationale underpinning the racial caste system that had been endorsed or accepted by governments at all levels since the end of the nineteenth century.” 

Yet civil rights organizations including the fund acknowledge that there is still much work to do.

Many factors still exist today that provide less than adequate educational opportunities for underserved populations, one of many is segregation by zip code.

“Even today, the work of Brown is far from finished,” according to the Legal Defense Fund. “Over 200 school desegregation cases remain open on federal court dockets; LDF alone has nearly 100 of these cases. Recent Supreme Court decisions have made it harder to achieve and maintain school desegregation.  

“As a result of these developments and other factors, public school children are more racially isolated now than at any point in the past four decades.” 

Moving forward means recognizing and learning from the past. 

To assist students, parents and educators, the San Diego County Office of Education offers online resources, reading lists, teaching tools and lesson plans.

SDCOE has compiled a number of resources to help parents and educators discuss this historic event with their children and students, including: for grades 5-12, for grades 5-12, for grades 6-12, for high school age.

This is not just Black American history — it’s American history. We as a society have an obligation to teach all children — of all colors, backgrounds and religions – about the critical importance of this Supreme Court decision.

Brown v. Board of Education was a milestone moment for our country. Its significance in understanding our country’s past struggles cannot be overstated.

Where we were before Brown, where we were after the ruling, and where we are headed now continue to define its relevance to America’s past and future. 

Opinion columnist and education writer Marsha Sutton can be reached at suttonmarsha@gmail.com.

Amid the pro-Palestine encampments at many universities, Jewish students at UC San Diego demonstrated Wednesday to highlight the atrocities committed by Hamas on Oct. 7 against women and girls in Israel.

The demonstration, organized by the Jewish student group Hillel of San Diego, was part of Peace in Israel Week at UCSD, which runs from May 13 to May 17.

As several dozen students and supporters marched along the campus’s Library Walk to the Geisel Library, one sign read, “Imagine people calling your rapist a freedom fighter.”

The march included a dozen women with their faces covered and bound together by a rope with red paint on the genital area of their clothing to symbolize the sexual atrocities committed by Hamas.

As they came through Library Walk and passed by a number of fraternity and sorority tables, where the spirited cacophony was unrelated to Peace in Israel Week, the raucous groups grew silent.

The marchers stood silently in front of Geisel Library, holding signs indicating the identities of the women who were killed, mutilated or captured.

As they stood in silence while other students observed, a person, who said he was a UCSD student, began circling the group repeatedly with his cell phone, apparently recording.

He was restricted from approaching the demonstrators by a Hillel security guard.

He continued circling for several dozen times. Before he left, I asked him why he was circling and recording.

“Zionists have came here [sic] and made many Muslims feel uncomfortable,” he told me, indicating his intent was to make them feel the same by recording them on his phone.

 He would not identify himself by name but said he was exercising his constitutional right to record the demonstration.

A significant campus police presence was visible but no altercations occurred.

Karen Parry, executive director of Hillel San Diego, said she was proud of the school’s Jewish students, some of whom were in the front row of the demonstrators, and said how courageous they were to come on campus every day and face backlash.

“All students, including Jewish students, have the right to experience a campus free from intimidation and harassment,” she said in a statement.

“Addressing the Atrocities against Israeli Women on Oct. 7” was the headline for the demonstration. The purpose, according to Hillel, was “to shine a light on the grave injustices faced by Israeli women on October 7” and to focus “on those who were abused, raped, and kidnapped, and the plight of those still held hostage.

“We come together to bring these acts committed by Hamas, documented in horrifying videos, into the public eye, demanding actions and support for the victims.

“Together, we advocate for justice, support, and the dignity of all women.”

What’s frustrating about ethnic studies in California is that it should never have been necessary in the first place, had the state approved instructional materials all along that included complete history lessons of the contributions and struggles of under-represented cultures and ethnicities.

Nevertheless, that horse has left the barn — and here we are, saddled with a horse that’s run wild, with a mandate that’s controversial, costly and problematic to implement. 

Assembly Bill 101, signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October 2021, mandates that ethnic studies be a required course for high school graduation beginning with the class of 2030. That means that high schools across the state must have in place an ethnic studies course by the fall of 2026.

The coursework, according to the law, is to focus on four subgroups: Native Americans, Latinx Americans, Black Americans and Asian Americans.

A previous Times of San Diego column outlined the problems with the state’s first model curriculum, which was withdrawn and re-created after strong objections were raised about the original version’s biased content.

The revised Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum includes “guardrails” which state that ethnic studies courses “must not reflect or promote, directly or indirectly, any bias, bigotry or discrimination against any person or group of persons.

Because the state neglected its duty for decades to provide instructional materials that teach kids the complete history of our country, warts and all, we’re stuck with a law aimed to rectify inadequate history lessons — forcing districts to expend precious resources, time and money to do what the state should have done all along.

No student should be made to feel guilty for the sins of others, but it’s not society’s role to shield students from feeling uncomfortable with the truth.

Teach the Truth

So, teach students about the horrors of slavery, the Civil War, the Tulsa massacre, the civil rights movement and ongoing conditions that continue to discriminate against Black Americans, including the appalling display of symbols of the Confederacy.

Teach about Supreme Court decisions like Plessy vs. Ferguson, the seminal 1896 Supreme Court case that enshrined legal segregation for nearly 60 years. And Brown vs. Board of Education.

Students should learn that indigenous people were massacred mercilessly in the name of manifest destiny.

Kit Carson was a legendary figure celebrated as a brave frontiersman. But he was a brutal leader, commanding attacks on Native Americans across the west, destroying food sources and murdering innocent women and children.

Yet we have a local park in Escondido named after him.

“Revered” Junipero Serra established a string of Spanish missions in California in the mid-1700s, among other accomplishments.

Although he was later accused of suppressing Native American culture through forced conversions to Catholicism and condemned for decimating tribes through disease, overwork, starvation and torture, he was beautified in 1988.

The San Diego neighborhood of Serra Mesa is named for him.

Facing intolerable discrimination, California’s farm workers, primarily Hispanics, struggled mightily to earn a decent living in the state’s agricultural fields.

Corporate agribusiness overworked and underpaid farm workers, engaging in rampant child labor practices, providing inadequate food and shelter and exposing workers to toxic chemicals.   

After raising public awareness through boycotts and marches, finally, in 1962, under the leadership of Cesar Chavez, farm workers were allowed to form a union.

Let’s teach kids that during the building of the transcontinental railroad in the 1860s Chinese immigrants provided vital labor but were abused and suffered under deadly working conditions, no housing and low wages. 

Japanese internment camps created during World War II are a stain upon American history. After the Pearl Harbor attack, the Roosevelt administration rounded up nearly 120,000 Japanese Americans and forced them to leave their homes and property.

Intolerable Omissions

These are just some examples these four ethnic groups faced, and continue to face in some cases. If students had been learning about them all along, perhaps ethnic studies wouldn’t be needed.  

The issues ethnic studies are designed to remedy reveal the intolerable omissions in our children’s state-endorsed history lessons.

In a recent San Dieguito Union High School District board meeting, board president Rimga Viskanta spoke about ethnic studies lessons the district plans to teach, saying, “It’s a shame [for these lessons] to be in an ethnic studies class and not integrated into regular coursework.”

Exactly right.

Opinion columnist and education writer Marsha Sutton can be reached at suttonmarsha@gmail.com.

With dozens of offerings at last month’s Equity Conference, sponsored by the San Diego County Office of Education, I was particularly interested in the session titled “Students of Color: Promoting Equity Through the New Ethnic Studies Graduation Requirement.” 

Unfortunately, this session was a major disappointment, unlike the previous equity conference session I attended.

Ethnic studies will be a required course for graduation for all California high school students, starting with the class of 2030, thanks to state Assembly Bill 101.

Signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom in October 2021, the bill calls for providing students with a better understanding of the contributions and struggles of four ethnic groups: Native Americans, Latinx Americans, Black Americans and Asian Americans.

The ethnic studies session was led by Pamela Low, policy analyst with Oakland-based Education Trust-West.

Low said ethnic studies is about communities of color and that districts should involve their own students of color in creating the coursework. She said courses should focus on social justice.

After her brief introduction, Low had attendees gather into small discussion groups and then report out. There was concern about inadequate teacher training and frustration with district policies. Some participants said they were confronting opposition from parent groups concerned about white fragility, which elicited suggestions on how to skirt parental resistance. 

Although some comments were interesting, the session felt unorganized, with no facilitator summary and little educational value. 

Embedded Barriers

One point was noteworthy though.

Low opened the session by saying that Education Trust-West is “committed to advancing policies and practices to dismantle the racial and economic barriers embedded in California’s education system.”

Since the program was about implementing ethnic studies — which is, after all, a curricular matter — I wanted to know what in California’s existing curriculum included “embedded racial and economic barriers.”

Mariel Matze, associate director of communications at Education Trust-West, said that statement is part of the organization’s mission statement and sent me a link to a 62-page report titled “Segregating California’s Future.” 

The report detailed the inherent inequity in student achievement stemming from housing and isolation issues that affect academic success, primarily for low-income students.

No argument. Certainly segregation and the disproportionate allocation of educational resources severely impact educational success. There’s plenty of work to be done to address this chronic problem.

Perhaps this might have been a better topic for Education Trust-West.

But since the presenter spoke about what’s being taught in the classroom, I assumed the reference was to racial and economic barriers embedded in California’s curriculum, not in demographic disparities.

So I asked Matze again for examples of racial and economic barriers in the state’s curriculum. After three requests, no response. 

I then twice asked Talisa Sullivan, SDCOE’s executive director for equity, for her view on the matter, but received no reply.  

No Bias or Bigotry

After the law passed, the state created an Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum that was strongly opposed for its inclusion of antisemitic and anti-Zionist content, which was not only offensive to many but also veered far afield from what was supposed to be a focus on the four specific ethnic groups.

Since the onset of the Israel-Hamas war, California Department of Education spokesperson Liz Sanders said state guidelines are clear: “The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a recommended topic for discussion in world history courses, but not in ethnic studies,” according to a Feb. 15, 2024 New York Times article.

The ethnic studies requirement itself has become highly controversial and has been mired in debate and criticism.

Critics say the mandate can divide the world into oppressors and victims, triggering “white guilt” and pitting student against student.  

Recognizing the flaws of the original model curriculum, the state created a revised Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum and put in place  “guardrails” which state that ethnic studies courses must not reflect or promote, directly or indirectly, any bias, bigotry or discrimination against any person or group of persons.

However, there seems to be no state oversight to ensure compliance.

The Department of Education’s Sanders, in the New York Times article, said there is “no mechanism to enforce the guardrails and no consequence for breaking them.”

Because the mandate allows districts to create their own versions, many worry that districts may take advantage of the lack of teeth in the law by creating ethnic studies that overtly violate state guidelines and detour around the guardrails to promote political agendas, specific ideologies and generalizations about race.

The San Diego Unified School District already offers a number of ethnic studies options. The district’s graduation requirement began with the class of 2024. But most districts are still in the process of design work. 

The San Diego County Office of Education encourages local districts to use the state-approved curriculum to fulfill the mandate, rather than older versions, said SDCOE’s Sullivan.

SDCOE has information for educators on how best to serve all students, especially historically underserved populations, and the office offers its Equity Blueprint for Action that outlines needs and approaches in more detail.

Unintended Consequences

I’ve tried to like the idea of ethnic studies, at first hoping it would bring students from all cultures and ethnicities together in a sort of kumbaya experience. The idea was good but the devil is in the details, as they say.

Worrisome is the lack of punitive measures that ensure that the spirit and intent of the law are followed. This opens the door for bad actors with personal agendas to hijack the process.

Ethnic studies was created to focus on four ethnic groups that have been historically overlooked in classrooms, so let’s stick to that without injecting unrelated, politically-motivated matters into the mix.

It’s a well-meaning idea that may fall victim to unintended consequences by being divisive rather than cohesive, the opposite of the mandate’s goal. And that makes ethnic studies problematic.

Opinion columnist and education writer Marsha Sutton can be reached at suttonmarsha@gmail.com.

Choosing among dozens of options was perhaps my biggest problem at this year’s third annual equity conference, sponsored by the San Diego County Office of Education.

Held at Mission Valley’s Town and Country Conference Center last month, the event attracted about 1,350 attendees, mostly from San Diego County, and offered countless presentations.

Topics included: how belonging is connected to academic achievement, socially conscious leaders, celebrating Black student culture, psychological safety for students, improving Native American visibility, human-centered leadership, disrupting systemic inequities — and other sessions offering a variety of tools for educators.

“It’s an opportunity to share best practices, highlight what’s working, network and inspire people to keep up their equity efforts,” said Steven Baratte, SDCOE’s communications strategist.

I was only able to attend one day of the conference, so I narrowed down the early morning sessions to two. Since the session titled “It Begins and Ends with the Leader” was full, I attended “Best Practices for Implementing Effective Gender Support Plans in Educational Communities” — which turned out to be a great choice and was loaded with valuable information.

“In today’s diverse educational landscape, fostering an inclusive environment that supports students of all genders is paramount,” read the description.

Policies, procedures and guidelines were discussed, with an emphasis on gender-affirming practices, including privacy and safety concerns, for LGBTQ students.

Led by Tonya Moore, a veteran educator with the Los Angeles County Office of Education, the session focused on the positive impact a Gender Support Plan can have “on student well-being, academic performance and overall school climate.”

Developing a Gender Support Plan is crucial, Moore said, and must ensure student privacy. She said this right to privacy is grounded in California and federal anti-discrimination laws. For instance, the level of parent involvement is determined by the student. If the student objects, don’t share.

Despite anti-transgender policies passed by school boards, which is occurring in a number of California school districts, she predicted that these policies would not stand, saying districts violating the laws are losing in the courts.

Nevertheless, Moore advised educators to follow their districts’ bylaws and policies, even if the policies are anti-trans, until such policies are reversed or successfully legally challenged.

“Other states look to us to lead the way,” because California has the strongest laws in the country supporting LGBTQ students, Moore said, noting that 10.3% of California students, according to the state’s 2017 Healthy Kids Survey, identify as LGBTQ.

She introduced what for many was a new acronym: SOGIE, which stands for sexual orientation, gender identity, and expression (how individuals present themselves) — and said educators need to understand each of the three components.

Gender fluidity “should not be thought of as a problem,” said Moore, emphasizing that a special education designation is not appropriate just because a student is transgender. She said that is not a disability.

Why This Matters

The Trevor Project is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1998 focused on suicide prevention of gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning youth.

According to The Trevor Project, LGBTQ young people are not inherently prone to suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity but rather placed at higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society.

The Trevor Project’s 2023 national survey on the mental health of LGBTQ young people ages 13 to 24 describes the experiences of more than 28,000 LGBTQ individuals across the country.

The survey reveals alarming statistics:

• About 41% of LGBTQ young people seriously considered suicide in the past year.
• About 56% of LGBTQ young people who wanted mental health care in the past year were not able to get it.
• Only 38% of LGBTQ young people found their home to be supportive.
• Roughly half of transgender and nonbinary young people found their school to be gender-affirming, and those who did reported lower rates of attempted suicide.
• A majority of LGBTQ young people reported being verbally harassed at school.
• Nearly one-third of LGBTQ young people said their mental health was poor most of the time or always due to anti-LGBTQ policies and legislation.
• Nearly two-thirds of LGBTQ young people said that hearing about potential state or local laws banning people from discussing LGBTQ people at school made their mental health worse.

Supporting LGBTQ Students

Tonya Moore has played a pivotal role in organizing professional development for educators on sensitive topics aligned with California Education Code, including the California Healthy Youth Act and LGBTQ inclusive practices.

The CHYA’s purpose, as explained by State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond in a letter dated Dec. 10, 2020, is “to provide every student with the knowledge and skills necessary to protect their sexual and reproductive health from unintended pregnancy, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).”

The letter was sent state-wide to all county and district superintendents and high school principals.

Moore is heavily involved as a coordinator in a statewide project called PRISM which stands for: Providing Relevant, Inclusive Support that Matters, for LGBTQ students.

She said state law requires districts to provide professional development for school personnel on cultural competency, and PRISM’s course work provides LGBTQ-related training.

PRISM has completed three of six courses, with more to come, for California educators that will be free and accessible to all next year, she said. These are:

• LGBTQ+ 101 and Intersectional Identities
• The History and Humanity of LGBTQ+ Individuals
• Anti-Bullying, Harassment and Resiliency (including GSPs)
• Strategies to Provide Safe and Supportive Spaces for LGBTQ+ Students (affinity clubs and peer organizations)
• Suicide Risk Factors, Warnings Signs and Prevention
• Inclusive Pedagogy and Facilitation

The California Department of Education has a number of other resources designed to support LGBTQ students.

Sample Plan

The San Diego County Office of Education refers interested districts to Gender Spectrum for a sample Gender Support Plan.

Gender Spectrum’s PDF version of its GSP offers tools and a video on how to use the plan and includes sections on parent/guardian involvement, privacy, confidentiality and disclosure, student safety, names, records, facility use, extracurricular activities and a GSP review plan.

Moore emphasized that each student’s GSP should be kept under lock and key and should never be placed in the curriculum file which is public.

For official school documents, such as an Individualized Education Plan which is a legal contract between the student and the school, the student’s legal name must be used.

However, most printed material at schools is unofficial, so a student’s chosen name and pronouns can be used, if so desired. Examples, she cited, include yearbook, diplomas, awards, school pictures, photo captions, credits, bylines and any other school-generated material.

Responding to questions about how to handle parents and outsiders opposed to transgender rights, Moore said, “I’m focused on the moveable middle,” referring to those either unaware or open to greater understanding of the reality of transgender concerns.

Her emphasis was on how to help schools support their LGBTQ students who are vulnerable and at risk.

“I want to teach you all to be that safe person on campus,” she said to attendees, with a plea for educators to open their hearts to LGBTQ students and be their ally.

Opinion columnist and education writer Marsha Sutton can be reached at suttonmarsha@gmail.com.

California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond recently hosted a webinar on ethnic studies, a new course requirement for school districts serving students in grades 9-12 who will graduate high school in 2029-2030.

The webinar’s purpose was to inform attendees about the reasons for a course in ethnic studies, provide background information, and suggest how to move forward with professional and curricular development.

Assembly Bill 101, which requires the one-semester course, was signed into law in October 2021 by Gov. Gavin Newsom. California is the first state to require this course.

“America is shaped by our shared history, much of it painful and etched with woeful injustice,” wrote Newsom in approving the AB 101 legislation. “Students deserve to see themselves in their studies, and they must understand our nation’s full history if we expect them to one day build a more just society.”

San Diego’s Shirley Weber, current California Secretary of State and founder in 1972 of the Africana Studies Department at San Diego State University, said ethnic studies gives white students “a better perspective of the importance of Black history” and helps them become “a different kind of professional.”

“When you teach basic white history, you’re teaching them to love their country,” said Weber on the webinar. “When you don’t have that in your own history, you wonder if you made a contribution to the world or made a difference.”

She said the class can create “a different sense of ownership and pride” and “will empower our students immensely. They learn a greater sense of purpose in their lives.”

Jose Medina, a state Assemblymember from 2012 to 2022 who authored AB 101, said on the webinar that ethnic studies has “the power to transform students’ lives.”

“Students are hungry to know their full history,” and those who see themselves “reflected in the curriculum do much better,” he said.

Other leaders who spoke on the Webinar were:

• Dolores Huerta, president of Dolores Huerta Foundation and co-founder of United Farm Workers Association
• Karen Korematsu, executive director  of the Fred T. Korematsu Institute
• Manufou Liaiga-Anoa’I, executive director of the Pacific Islander Community Partnership

Rejected First Draft

In 2016, Newsom authorized development of an ethnic studies model curriculum. But the first effort was met with fierce objections and was rejected by the State Board of Education due to concerns related to bias, bigotry and discrimination. Most often cited was its inclusion of blatant antisemitic and anti-Zionist views.

“A model curriculum should be accurate, free of bias, appropriate for all learners in our diverse state, and align with Governor Newsom’s vision of a California for all,” wrote Board President Linda Darling-Hammond in an Aug. 12, 2019 letter. “The current draft model curriculum falls short and needs to be substantially redesigned.”

After several revisions, a final model curriculum was adopted by the Board of Education in March 2021.

Jennifer Bentley of the Curriculum Frameworks and Instructional Resources Division of the California Department of Education, stressed during the webinar that old drafts of the model curriculum should not be used.

“There is one Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum that is approved by the State Board of Education,” according to curriculum division. “The (board) will continue to specify this in all of our trainings, workshops, and communications around ethnic studies implementation.”

An Aug. 23, 2023 letter written by Brooks Allen, education advisor to the governor and executive director of the Board of Education, advised school districts that some vendors “have begun promoting curriculum for ethnic studies” that “may not meet the requirements of AB 101.”

The letter warned districts to “closely scrutinize” their course materials to be sure they conform with the established criteria.

Despite objections from a number of Jewish organizations that remain concerned about approved ethnic studies content, the local Anti-Defamation League is not one of them.

Fabienne Perlov, Regional Director of the San Diego ADL, said in an email, “[T]eaching ethnic studies is an important part of a student’s learning experience and promotes equity and inclusiveness by deepening their understanding of American history.”

But she emphasized that districts’ courses must be “free of antisemitism and anti-Israel bias.”

“Adopting curricula drawn from the final state-approved (model curriculum) ensures that overt and subtle anti-Jewish and anti-Israel bias does not make its way into classrooms,” Perlov said.

San Diego County Office of Education

Thurmond, in the webinar, mentioned the state’s close collaboration with the San Diego County Office of Education. The county office was awarded a contract from the state to lead professional learning in ethnic studies.

Talisa Sullivan, the county office’s executive director of equity, said the goal was to help educators support and expand ethnic studies courses, and to curate, develop and expand ethnic studies resources.

“We are currently vetting resources … so that schools and districts can access [those] resources to support their ethnic studies implementation,” she said.

The county office hosted three professional learning opportunities and will host four more this year, she said.

About earlier versions of the model curriculum, Sullivan said the county is utilizing and promoting only the state-adopted version and is the only one that should be used.

The San Diego Unified School District school board voted in April 2019 to require an ethnic studies course as a high school graduation requirement. Professional development was offered to staff in the summer of 2020.

SDUSD currently offers more than 10 courses in ethnic studies that fulfill the graduation requirement. Courses are offered in three departments: English language arts, history and social sciences, and electives. 

Four Disciplines

California’s model curriculum focuses on four disciplines, identified by the Education Department as “African American, Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x, Native American, and Asian American and Pacific Islander studies.”

According to California Education Code, using a course aligned to the model curriculum is one of four ways the graduation requirement can be met. Another way is using an existing ethnic studies course.

A third option is for school districts to adopt an ethnic studies course taught as part of a course that meets admittance requirements at University of California and California State University colleges.

Fourthly, districts can use the approved model curriculum as a guide in developing their own course best suited to each district’s particular demographic needs.

However, a locally developed ethnic studies course must first be presented at the district’s open board of education meeting to allow for a review and public input. A second board meeting must then be scheduled for trustees to vote whether to approve the course.

AB 101 states that the course must:

• Be appropriate for use with pupils of all races, religions, nationalities, genders, sexual orientations, diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, English learners, and pupils with disabilities.
• Not reflect or promote, directly or indirectly, any bias, bigotry, or discrimination against any person or group of persons.
• Not teach or promote religious doctrine.

Funding Concerns

AB 101 includes what’s known as a savings clause, which states: “These provisions would become operative only upon an appropriation of funds by the legislature.”

To date, that has not happened.

According to the Education Department, the Senate Appropriations Committee estimates the cost of ethnic studies to be approximately $276 million annually, which assumes the hiring of 1,686 teachers at an average salary of $83,000, plus benefits.

Indirect costs of about $37 million and an additional $54.3 million for instructional materials, as well as other expenditures, are anticipated.

To cover some initial costs, a one-time allocation of $50 million has been provided from the state to districts, based on $25.57 per student in grades 9-12.  

But the $50 million in one-time funding is less than one-fifth the amount the Education Department estimates it will cost the state each year for the course.

The requirement that the mandate for ethnic studies becomes operative only upon the appropriation of funds hints at legislators’ legitimate fiscal concerns.

If it Works

Districts appear to be turning a blind eye to the lack of funding for this graduation requirement and will undoubtedly incur expenses from the general fund to implement the mandate.

And how successful the course will be in meeting its worthy objectives is still being debated.

Yet … why not try?

Ethnic studies, according to the Education Department, can help students acquire a social consciousness and better enable them “to contribute to the public good and help strengthen democratic institutions.”

The Education Department’s Mike Torres said ethnic studies “affirms diverse students’ identity and brings students together.” It also “increases attendance and test scores and GPAs.”

If ethnic studies does no harm (besides the expenses inflicted on the public), then there’s a chance to create a better and more civil society — assuming it does not, as some fear, increase divisiveness and white guilt.

Newly minted citizens who come out of high school with a better appreciation for both themselves and for others, who respect diversity and the contributions of historically under-represented groups, might surely be worth the price.

If it works.

Opinion columnist and education writer Marsha Sutton can be reached at suttonmarsha@gmail.com.

At its May 10 board meeting, the San Diego County Office of Education adopted a resolution proclaiming May 2023 as Jewish American Heritage Month, and offered ways for school communities to observe JAHM.

This is not the first time SDCOE has passed this resolution, which seeks to “honor and celebrate the culture, history and contributions of Jewish Americans.”

According to SDCOE, “Celebrating Jewish American Heritage Month in classrooms and schools can help students and families feel seen, heard, and valued — and it creates space for all students to learn about the contributions of Jewish Americans to our country’s prosperity and spirit.”

The SDCOE website on Jewish American Heritage Month provides information and background on the contributions of Jewish Americans, as well as some history, noting that Jews first came to America in 1654, fleeing persecution in Brazil.

Today, according to SDCOE, San Diego County is home to more than 100,000 Jewish people, about 3% of all residents.

In addition to celebrating the nation’s Jewish heritage, the county office of education also recognizes the need to “address any barriers or challenges that Jewish Americans may face in their efforts to reach their utmost potential.”

As antisemitic hate crimes have increased dramatically nationwide, with crimes committed by individuals of all ages, SDCOE’s efforts locally are focused on where hate can start and where it can be stopped — in schools.

A recent FBI report found that more than half of religious hate crimes target Jewish Americans.

In its 2022 Audit of Antisemitic Incidents summary, the Anti-Defamation League reported 3,697 incidents of antisemitism in 2022, a 37% increase from the previous year and the highest number on record since the ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979.

Besides targeting Jewish schools and other Jewish institutions, the ADL report indicated that 494 incidents were reported at non-Jewish K-12 schools, which the ADL said was a 49% increase from 2021.

However, the ADL estimates that the number of incidents is under-reported, “given the insidious nature of bullying, compounded by the fact that many children may not feel empowered to report their experiences.”

Community Uproar

Local schools are not immune to this trend.

Just last week, dorm bathroom walls at the University of California San Diego were “decorated” with swastikas which authorities said appeared to be drawn with fecal matter — which is just about right considering that the hateful symbol belongs in the toilet.

The swastikas that in December 2021 vandalized Torrey Pines High School, in the San Dieguito Union High School District, triggered emotional testimony from students, parents and administrators — all condemning the graffiti. The local ADL also weighed in.

Then, last September it was learned that at another San Dieguito school, Carmel Valley Middle School, a seventh-grade world history class teacher included an image of Hitler alongside positive role models that included Gandhi, Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr. and other famous historical figures. 

After a student objected, the teacher, with shocking insensitivity, justified the display by allegedly saying, “Hitler may have done some bad things, but he also had strong leadership qualities.”

A major community-wide uproar resulted, with the ADL and leaders of many other local Jewish organizations criticizing the teacher’s misguided decision to equate Hitler with inspirational figures.

“Images of Hitler in the classroom without proper context can be deeply offensive and hurtful to members of the Jewish community,’ said the ADL in a statement. Not to mention the impression it gave to non-Jewish students.

Making these vile acts particularly egregious is that both Torrey Pines High and Carmel Valley Middle are designated “No Place For Hate” schools.

The No Place For Hate designation is a hallmark of the ADL’s national education department and is a student-led K-12 school climate improvement program that for more than 20 years has helped build learning communities of inclusivity, respect and equity. 

Being a No Place For Hate school means that students and staff are committed to fighting hatred and bigotry.

May 11 was designated No Place For Hate Day by the ADL, which acknowledges the commitment of more than 1.9 million students and 186,000 educators nation-wide who participated this year in the program.

According to the most recent information from the California Department of Education, there are 790 schools in San Diego County. Of those, 118 have been designated No Place For Hate schools, although Rachel Sato, the local ADL’s Associate Education Director, said schools have until the end of the school year to submit their paperwork, so she expects that number to increase.

Educator Guide

To address the lingering, pervasive and sometimes violent bigotry against Jewish Americans on school campuses, the county board of education is offering guidance to schools on how to tackle the discirmination head-on.

SDCOE created an educator guide to address ways to combat antisemitism in public schools, which includes a number of teaching resources, links to various lesson plans, and a list of museums for field trips, in person and virtually, for students.  

Books sorted by grade levels are also listed, for students in grades TK-3, 4-8, and 9-12.

One book aimed at high school students that is not listed, titled The Assignment by Liza Wiemer, is based on a true story and is worth reading, not just for young adults.

When a well-liked teacher assigns his class a project that asks students to argue from the Nazi perspective in favor of the Final Solution (the genocide of European Jewry during World War II), two students decide they cannot defend the indefensible and refuse to do the assignment.

Although the teacher says the point is to try to understand how such an atrocity could take place, it instead brings out latent prejudice in many students and forces some to confront their own antisemitism and bigotry.

Besides asking students to take on an assignment that may make them uncomfortable, it also raises the question for students of whether getting a good grade and a positive college referral letter is more important than standing up for one’s principles by confronting a teacher, and risking losing friends in the process.

How many high school students would do this, and risk the consequences?

Liza Wiemer’s dedication in The Assignment speaks volumes: “For all the young adults across the globe who have the courage to speak out against any injustice, even when you are afraid, even when others are against you, even when you have to stand against those who should have been your role models … You are lights illuminating the darkness. The world needs you.”

The San Diego County Office of Education can be applauded for recognizing Jewish American Heritage Month by providing resources for students, teachers and schools to combat antisemitism, increase understanding of our differences, and foster greater appreciation of the valuable contributions every student has the potential to make.

Opinion columnist and education writer Marsha Sutton can be reached at suttonmarsha@gmail.com.

In 2021, Gov. Gavin Newsom made California the first state to mandate ethnic studies as a high school graduation requirement.

Newsom’s Oct. 8, 2021 letter to members of the state Assembly explained his signature on Assembly Bill 101, which made completion of a one-semester course in ethnic studies a public high school graduation requirement beginning with the 2025-2026 school year for students graduating in 2029-2030.

In his letter, Newsom wrote, “America is shaped by our shared history, much of it painful and etched with woeful injustice. Students deserve to see themselves in their studies, and  they must understand our nation’s full history if we expect them to one day build a more just society.”

Newsom further stated that ethnic studies courses should not include portions of the initial draft curriculum “due to concerns related to bias, bigotry and discrimination.”

So, ironically, this is a required course intent on addressing bias and bigotry while the original draft curriculum was itself rejected for containing bias and bigotry.

Newsom references “a number of studies [that] have shown that these courses boost student achievement over the long run — especially among students of color.”

Yet the connection between ethnic studies and increased academic achievement may be tenuous.

In a highly technical article written last March titled “Studies fail to support claims of new California Ethnic Studies requirement,” two professors claim that the law “mandating the course for all public high school students is based on two unreplicated studies that distort the data.”

The article’s authors — Richard Sander, distinguished professor of law at UCLA, and Abraham Wyner, professor of statistics and data science at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania — call the two studies “astoundingly shoddy works” that are based on “exceptionally messy experimental design.”

The two studies — “commonly cited by advocates to justify the measure” — attempt to show a dramatic increase in academic performance by students who took an ethnic studies course.

But Sander and Wyner contend that the studies’ authors “made multiple serious errors” and the work contains “data patterns that are unbelievable on their face.”

This, however, does not mean there is no value in students learning about other cultures. There is hope that many students will become more engaged in schooling if they are able to see themselves in history lessons. That has merit.

But claims that academic performance will increase for under-represented students if a class in ethnic studies is required may not be valid if those claims are based on flawed scientific studies.

Closing the achievement gap is a stubborn condition in education, but a strong desire to close that gap may be blinding proponents to the need to scrutinize data of questionable value.

The Purpose of Ethnic Studies

The Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum was adopted by the State Board of Education on March 18, 2021, according to the California Department of Education.

The model curriculum focuses on four disciplines — identified by the Education Department as “African American, Chicana/o/x and Latina/o/x, Native American, and Asian American and Pacific Islander studies.”

This “provides an opportunity for students to learn of the histories, cultures, struggles, and contributions to American society of these historically marginalized peoples, which have often been untold in U.S. history courses.”

The purpose of the model curriculum, which is offered only as a guide, is said to be “a step toward rectifying omission of the experiences and cultures of communities within California” by addressing “institutionalized systems of advantage and the causes of racism and other forms of bigotry.”

Ethnic studies, according to the Education Department, can help students acquire a social consciousness and better enable them “to contribute to the public good and help strengthen democratic institutions.”

“The role of our public schools to promote understanding and appreciation of its diverse
population must be an essential part of the curriculum offered to every student.”

The Education Department’s general principles suggest inclusion of “information of the ethnic studies movement, specifically the Third World Liberation Front and its significance in the establishment of ethnic studies as a discipline and work in promoting diversity and inclusion within higher education.”

The Third World Liberation Front was formed in 1969 by a multiracial coalition of UC Berkeley students, a movement that helped establish ethnic studies as an interdisciplinary field in the U.S., according to the movement’s website.

The purpose was to “demand that the university acknowledge the histories of communities of color.”

Funding Quandary

 There’s clearly a mandate by the state for educational agencies to develop an ethnic studies course. But can this be required before full funding has been allocated?

In an editorial featured on EdSource, author Tammi Rossman-Benjamin argues that AB 101, the bill that mandates ethnic studies, cannot be enacted until funding has been approved by the legislature.

In addition to providing details of the requirements for an ethnic studies class, the text of AB 101 also includes this: “These provisions would become operative only upon an appropriation of funds by the Legislature for these purposes in the annual Budget Act or another statute.”

As of this writing, the legislature has not yet approved the required funding, which the Senate Appropriations Committee estimates to be approximately $276 million annually.

Because the bill would add new duties to local educational agencies, it would constitute a state-mandated program, and the California Constitution requires reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for certain costs.

Insertion of the savings clause — that the requirement becomes operative only upon an appropriation of funds by the Legislature — “indicated legislators’ legitimate fiscal concerns,” Rossman-Benjamin said, especially in the face of “students’ abysmal academic performance and the prospect of severe belt-tightening.”

Rossman-Benjamin, a former lecturer at the University of California Santa Cruz and co-founder of the AMCHA Initiative to combat antisemitism, argues that expensive educational initiatives that don’t demonstrate academic benefits should not be implemented.

An Unfunded Mandate

The state’s analysis of the measure says the $276 million cost is for “adding a new graduation requirement in ethnic studies on top of other existing requirements, rather than replacing an existing course.”

“This estimate assumes that 1,686 additional teachers would need to be hired at an average salary of $83,000 (plus benefits). This estimate also assumes indirect costs of about $37 million and an additional $54.3 million for instructional materials.” Other unanticipated expenditures may arise.

Although ethnic studies is mandated as a graduation requirement for all public high schools, and is technically an unfunded mandate, $50 million has been made available from the state’s general fund for districts to begin development and implementation of an ethnic studies course.

This is a direct apportionment of one-time funding to educational agencies with students in grades 9-12, according to Scott Roark, Education Department public information officer, referring to Section 132 of Assembly Bill 130, the education trailer bill for the 2021-2022 state budget.

But the $50 million in one-time funding is less than one-fifth the amount the Education Department estimates it will cost the state each year for the course.

Despite the funding dilemma, ethnic studies is likely a done deal.

School districts and county offices of education are gearing up for the new course, and both the University of California and California State University systems are expecting this as a requirement for high school graduation.

For many constituents, it’s a contentious issue that has little to do with whether or not it’s funded by the state. It’s the specifics of the content material and how the course will be taught that concerns many.

And that heated debate will undoubtedly continue, as school districts proceed with preparations for the class.

Opinion columnist and education writer Marsha Sutton can be reached at suttonmarsha@gmail.com.

It’s a chore these days to stay positive.

On Jan. 20, five depressing stories were featured in the San Diego Union-Tribune before I even got past page 2. And the report about the horrors taking place in Ukraine, as Russia continues to target and murder innocent civilians, was not even among them.

First, on page 1 above the fold, was the story about reaching the nation’s debt ceiling and how a handful of Republicans are refusing to raise or suspend the cap, forcing the Treasury to enact extraordinary accounting maneuvers to keep the government afloat.

This, despite the fact that both Republicans and Democrats are responsible for tax cuts and increased government spending for decades of programs using money that’s already been allocated and approved by previous Congresses.

In the cross-hairs are Social Security, Medicare and other essential programs that provide necessary financial aid to those in need.

Second, also on page 1, the transgender rights issue in Santee has blown up nationally into an ideological attack by anti-trans groups that have embraced the false narrative that individuals with male genitalia are using women’s locker rooms at YMCAs by “claiming” to be women in order to commit some kind of deviant act.

Trans women don’t come out as trans to stalk non-trans women. They just want to live their authentic lives in peace.

Are there exceptions? Possibly. But outliers certainly exist in the cisgender world also, where there are men who actually do stalk women.

This is naked (pardon the pun) fear, exposing a lack of knowledge of what it means to be transgender. It’s not a choice; it’s who they are.

After I pleaded for empathy and greater understanding on a Facebook page focused on the Santee incident, this was a portion of a response to me: “You are extremely uneducated and a joke of a straight female. Someone like you should be jailed for life or deported to China.” 

China? Is that where supporters of transgender rights should relocate to?

“Get a life and if you have children, they need to be taken away from you immediately and permanently for your lies and child abuse.”

It goes on and on, but you get the idea. Clearly, an abundance of hate and a closed mind make dialog impossible.

Undoing the Damage

Third, page 2 of the Jan. 20 paper featured a story about the state of Florida rejecting an Advanced Placement course on Black Studies for its public high schools. The Florida Department of Education told College Board, which administers all AP tests, that the course could not be offered — because it’s presenting material that’s not “historically accurate” and therefore violates state law.

“As presented, the content of this course is inexplicably contrary to Florida law and significantly lacks educational value,” the statement read.

No law was cited that the AP course allegedly violated or even what was objectionable in the curriculum.

Fourth, on page 2 was a story about the storm damage California has sustained these past seven weeks, and what climate change is doing to our planet.

How to undo the damage done and protect our planet for future generations seems a hopeless objective, given our present course.

Fifth, the story on page 2 about the death of David Crosby … well, you have to have grown up in the 60s to be totally teary-eyed over this news.

Crosby and his fellow musicians left a life-changing mark on rock history for many of us. He and fellow CSN members Graham Nash and Stephen Stills graced us with some of the best harmony, haunting lyrics and spiritual melodies the rock generation has ever provided.

So that’s the news from Jan. 20, 2023.

Then, on Jan. 21, the news media reported another mass shooting that killed 10 and wounded 10 more, at a celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year at a venue near Los Angeles.

“Once again, the nation wakes up to a despicable act of violence and a reminder that safe spaces do not exist,” said March For Our Lives in a statement on the killings. “There is no corner of America untouched by the trauma of our worsening gun violence epidemic.

“Young Americans don’t know any other world, but we know that this isn’t normal. We won’t just grieve; we will fight like hell for the living.”

This is our world today.

Remembering Roe v. Wade

Looking forward is no better.

Jan. 22, 2023 was the 50th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling by the Supreme Court that made abortion legal. It should have been a day of celebration for Americans who support a woman’s right to control her own body.

But the court’s conservatives overturned the landmark decision seven months ago, to much joy for those who are gleeful about taking away a woman’s reproductive freedom.

The anti-choice movement (please don’t call them “pro-life”) may have won at the high court but they didn’t win over the hearts and minds of the majority of Americans (it’s a majority, by the way, if that counts for anything) who support the rights of women to make their own choices about their bodies. 

This is best illustrated by the midterm elections last year that saw many pro-choice voters mobilized to ensure anti-choice politicians were defeated. It’s the only bright spot behind a very big dark cloud.

Lastly in my list of news for the week, but certainly not least in importance, is the recognition of Jan. 27 as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The alarming rise in virulent antisemitism, as documented by the Anti-Defamation League — and the number of young people who haven’t been taught the lessons of the Holocaust and others who deny it even happened — makes this day a sad remembrance of what can happen when negative stereotypes and conspiracy theories about Jews as scapegoats for the world’s problems are advanced.

I often think back to 2015 when terrorists stormed into the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo and murdered 12, injuring 11 more. French citizens bravely proclaimed “Je Suis Charlie” to show solidarity against the attack.

Because ultimately we are all Jews … or Muslims or gay or trans or Latinx or Asians or poor or Brown or Black. We are all of these. Because so little separates us from one another, except for invented divisions that force us to see “the other” as different, to be feared and despised.

A two-part documentary on the Holocaust, titled “The Assembly,” was produced by Hershey Felder and stars eight graduates of the San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts who traveled to Poland to visit the infamous Auschwitz concentration camp, Jewish cemeteries and ghettos.

According to a Union-Tribune review, the students admitted how little they knew about the Holocaust before traveling to Poland, which speaks to how this film could – and should – be integrated into high school history curriculum.

The Coming Dawn

And so, from Jan. 20 to Jan. 27, this is what we’ve got. We can despair, or we can come together and protest intolerance, hate and violence.

Even partisan politics can be overcome if we stop and listen to one another with respect.

The lyrics David Crosby sang in his famous song “Long Time Gone” echo for us today:

“Speak out, you got to speak out against the madness. You got to speak your mind, if you dare.”

We can change much of what’s wrong in the world by opening our hearts with compassion, letting go of unwarranted fear of others who are different from us, embracing the fact that so little separates us from our fellow humans, and speaking out against hate.

The only thing on my bad-news list that cannot be changed is that David Crosby cannot be undead. The rest is for us to decide.

The lyrics from “Long Time Gone” when Crosby sang these words — “The darkest hour is always, always just before the dawn” — offer hope that a new day is possible.

But only if we speak out against the madness … if we dare.

Opinion columnist and education writer Marsha Sutton can be reached at suttonmarsha@gmail.com.  

As more and more people beg for civility, it seems that verbal abuse continues unabated.

Think back on the reprehensible display of hateful comments by Jason Robo at the Nov. 2 San Diego County Board of Supervisors meeting.

Addressing supervisors Nora Vargas, Nathan Fletcher and Terra Lawson-Remer, Robo called Vargas “fat” and said, “I can’t wait for your arteries to clog; they’re not doing it fast enough. And Nathan, you should kill yourself. A dishonorable discharge would be you blowing your brains out. Let’s see you tweet that, blowing your birdbrains out. And then lemur, as I like to call you Lawson-Remer, you little monkey, I’d like to see you hang from a tree.”

It was when he called San Diego’s Public Health Officer Dr. Wilma Wooten “Aunt Jemima” that Vargas interrupted angrily, demanding an apology. 

One offensive human abuses the system. We all know a few people who have lost their marbles. But why are people applauding bad behavior and cheering for speakers making odious ad hominem attacks?

Heckling a Student

Objections last year over masks, vaccines and other health orders soured the free speech guarantee, as protesters came out to condemn, vilify and even threaten public officials.

Last year in Poway, school board members and staff feared for their lives after malicious public verbal attacks went well beyond accepted norms of civility and proper decorum.

A Clovis Unified student was booed and heckled by adults at a school board meeting last year after speaking in favor of a mask mandate.

The student came back to a second board meeting to speak, and this time his words were preceded by a warning to the audience from school board president Steven Fogg.

“It’s inappropriate for you to be speaking while someone else is speaking, be it a member on the dais or a person giving public comments,” Fogg said. “In the unlikely event that there is a disruption, we do have officers that will escort you out. But I’m asking you not to do that.”

If only.

Bad to Worse

In the San Dieguito Union High School District, the situation has intensified to a point where officers may soon be needed to clear the room.

Many members of the public have disrupted recent board meetings by shouting out at board members, particularly trustee Michael Allman, during the course of the board’s business.

The San Dieguito teachers union has targeted Allman relentlessly since his election in 2020 for his independent views, beginning with his support for reopening schools in early 2021, contrary to the union position. It has escalated since then.

SDUHSD’s Aug. 25 and Sept. 14 board meetings were at times out of control. The issue this time was Allman’s supposed support for a negative post on the SDUHSD Families for Students First Facebook page in a discussion on pronoun usage, suicide and transgender concerns.

The controversial message in the discussion read:

“People who are not male or female have gotten a raw deal and will never be able to live their best life. If they choose suicide as an answer then it is on them. Personally, there are some groups of people out there that I approve of suicide as their answer. Rapists, murderers, pedophiles, and this group. I’m not trying to be funny or unsympathetic, but rather humane.”

Over the shouts of an angry crowd, Allman explained that he did post laugh emojis to an earlier comment by this individual, but they were not connected to the suicide comment.

He also said he disagreed strongly with the content of the derogatory post and immediately asked the page authorizers to remove it after reading it.

While he was attempting to respond to the charges, Allman said trustee Katrina Young was claiming a response to public comment on non-agenda items is not allowed by the Brown Act.

But the district’s own bylaws — number 9323 — state that board members “may briefly respond to statements made or questions posed by the public about items not appearing on the agenda.”

If ever there was a need to hear Allman’s side, this was the time. But respect for whoever has the floor apparently doesn’t work both ways, with an angry crowd engaging in organized disruption while demanding that Allman listen to them.

Nazi Labeling

At the Aug. 25 meeting, 23 public speakers made comments on non-agenda items covering a variety of issues, but dominating the comments were those made against Allman for the transgender/pronoun issue.

Many were nasty, even angry, and some called for Allman’s resignation. All were tolerable, if extremely vicious, but one commenter’s words sunk to the lowest depths.

Chuck Leek is a self-described former neo-Nazi who, according to KPBS, now works with Life After Hate, which seeks to guide people out of the white supremacist movement.

But you’d never suspect Leek was distanced from the hate movement by his words at the board meeting.

He began civilly enough, saying that the Facebook posts “crushed my soul,” adding that he has a transgender son and one who committed suicide. He said he currently works “on violent far right extremism and deradicalization.”

But then he became more hostile.

He accused Allman of being anti-LGBTQ and said, “You are encouraging Nazism — that is Nazi behavior.”

He then said, “I know people, they’re gonna come for you.”

He ended with this: “You are no Christian sir, and that is what I have to say.”

Guilt by Association

It’s chilling and seriously threatening when a former neo-Nazi says he knows people and they’re “going to come for you.”

And asserting that someone is engaging in Nazi behavior when it’s not even close to that is a perfect example of Godwin’s Law, which states that in any discussion, online or in person, there’s the real probability that the speaker’s words will eventually degenerate into a comparison to Nazism or Hitler.

It’s related to “Reductio ad Hitlerum,” or “reduction to Hitler” — also known as playing the Nazi card. It’s an attempt to invalidate someone else’s position on the basis that the same view was held by Adolf Hitler or Nazis.

“Reductio ad Hitlerum” takes its name from “reductio ad absurdum,” a term used in logic referring to a reduction to the absurd.

The purpose for invoking such references is to convey guilt by association and is often used to distract and anger targeted individuals.

Finally, Leek implied that only Christians behave properly — i.e., believe as he believes — which is insulting to non-Christians. He also conveniently ignores the fact that many Christian sects openly oppose LGBTQ rights.

To those vocal opponents of Allman who speak against him at every board meeting, it’s shameful to use transgender issues to promote your own political agendas.

And lest anyone think I am anti-LGBTQ, know that I fly a transgender flag outside my house every day in support of a close transgender family member whom I love with all my heart.

It’s unconscionable to take an issue that’s very personal for many of us and distort it to make political points against your opponents.

Marsha Sutton is an opinion columnist and education writer and can be reached at suttonmarsha@gmail.com.