Do you think that Jewish American’s experiences and history should be added to the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum?

Our island has experienced so much more visible form of hate in the last 4 years – from the vandalism at the Temple Israel of Alameda, to racist, antisemitic and homophobic graffiti sprayed on our schools to the recent destruction of Black Lives Matters artwork. When you break it all down – it is about ignorance and hate – we need more understanding and love.

And yes, I agree that State-wide, steps need to be taken to ensure that the diversity and experiences of Jewish Americans are included in the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum. The intersectionality of the Jewish faith, race and ethnicity are exactly what students should be learning about. This year Alameda High and ASTI will have mandatory Ethnic studies for 9th graders – I hope you would agree that it should be available to Island and Encinal as well.

This comes down to correcting the wrongs of the past. We have so much work to do to make our community and education system equitable. There are simple and powerful statements that Alameda can do to make everyone feel like they belong here - like the renaming Haight Elementary to Love, or the renaming of our Goddfrey or Jackson parks to reflect and celebrate people who worked to uplift not divide. Adding Jewish experiences and history to Ethnic studies is another powerful and simple change.