Safety through solidarity! No on SB 1277, SB 1287, and AB 2925

JVP California and others have been plugging away for months in an effort to defeat four education-related bills in the state Legislature .  Each one in its own way attempted to promote the conflation of criticism of Israel/support for Palestinian rights with antisemitism. Along with allies, we have opposed this false narrative by visiting the offices of most legislators, submitting letters of opposition and testifying at committee hearings. Last week, we were thrilled to learn that one of the bills, AB 2918, meant to place obstacles before implementation of inclusive and progressive ethnic studies curriculums, was withdrawn in the face of opposition, including from teachers unions. Our efforts do make a difference. The other three have all been amended, some significantly, in response to our and others’ objections, making them “less bad.” They may well pass – the votes will be any day now –, but we are still making a final effort to defeat them. Will you take a minute now to contact your California legislators and tell them to vote no on all three bills? The first, SB 1277, is a dangerous bill that would put teacher training and curriculum development about genocide education for grades 7-12 in the hands of outside, anti-Palestinian groups that deny the genocide being carried out by Israel in Gaza. Genocide education should be unbiased and inclusive. It should be overseen, with the transparency required of public agencies, by educators working directly for or with the state Department of Education. It should not be outsourced to private groups, let alone ones with their own problematic political agenda. The two additional bills also up for floor votes any day are:: SB 1287, meant to stifle college student protests by ordering the CSU system to adopt new, vague “codes of conduct” and enforce them in unspecified ways. (The bill requests the same of UCs, while community colleges were relieved of the obligation in a last-minute concession.) Such enforcement could well be challenged and found unconstitutional, costing the state boatloads of money it doesn’t have.Though several flagrantly unconstitutional provisions were amended out along the way, SB 1287 still sends a chilling, implied message to campus defenders of Palestinian rights/critics of Israel, who already face enhanced scrutiny and are more likely than others to be silenced and harshly disciplined. AB 2925, which would require public higher education institutions to train students on various forms of bias and discrimination, but based on unreliable law enforcement data to determine which are most common. Unsurprisingly, using current statistics, it would make optional the inclusion of Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian sentiment and discrimination against both groups, widely known to be underreported – in itself an indication that they need to be included. Will you help defeat these bills by calling and writing your Assembly member and senator as well as Assembly speaker Robert Rivas, Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGwire and Gov. Newsom?