Extremism is Poisoning California’s Ethnic Studies
Ethnic Studies should build bridges of understanding, celebrate the accomplishments of ethnic groups, confront racism and other hatred, and expose students to multiple perspectives
But some school districts are unwittingly adopting rogue curricula that do the opposite, in the form of a politicized brand called “Liberated” Ethnic Studies. Liberated activists are pushing their agenda and selling their radicalized curricula and training to unsuspecting districts, using material that was rejected by the State Board of Education.
How could this happen?
Liberated Ethnic Studies was developed by activists and their followers who wrote the rejected draft of California's Ethnic Studies Model Curricula. Governor Gavin Newsom was so alarmed by this draft that he stated it should "never see the light of day.”
Unfortunately, the same activists are now promoting the rejected materials to districts, and some schools are falling prey to their efforts. Parents, community members and educators are often shocked when they discover what is creeping into the classroom. Several lawsuits have already been filed across the state, with more pending.
Concerned about these rogue curricula, Governor Newsom and the State Board of Education recently issued a letter referring to Assembly Bill 101, the law requiring Ethnic Studies and specifying that rejected content should not be used in Ethnic Studies courses. The letter warned that some vendors are promoting inappropriate materials and encouraged districts to ensure that they align with legislative and State Board of Education guidance.
The below chart summarizes the differences between effective K-12 Ethnic Studies and the politicized, “Liberated” version. Click here to print the below chart.
“Liberated Ethnic Studies is what happens when education devolves into indoctrination, rendering the goal not the search for truth or the cultivation of critical thinking, but the call to revolution and the glorification of hatred.”
—Dr. Erec Smith, President, Free Black Thought
| Effective K-12 Ethnic Studies | Politicized (Liberated) Ethnic Studies | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Encourages students to develop opinions based on inquiry and analysis of multiple perspectives | Imposes a specific Liberated oppression lens through which all history is filtered. Questioning it is not allowed | ||
| Considers multiple causes for disparities, including racism, income, language, education, and individual agency | Views disparities as evidence of racism, ignoring individual agency and all other causes | ||
| Explores the multiple mechanisms for societal change. Chooses broad range of representative role models | Attributes social change solely to resistance movements, minimizing the impact of running for office, peaceful social movements, and working within the system for change. Praises violent role models and dismisses Civil Rights leaders like Martin Luther King as passive and docile | ||
| Upholds liberal democratic principles | Invalidates liberal democratic principles (individuality, free speech, independent thought) | ||
| Teaches students to think critically about all economic and social systems | Insists that capitalism is a system of white supremacy, and ignores freedoms lost under communism | ||
| Does not place any group of people above another – values the humanity in everyone. Holds that multiple perspectives and experiences should be taught/learned | Seeks to de-center or ignore narratives that do not align with Liberated ideology |
“I witnessed first-hand the effects of this [Liberated] type of curricula. After only weeks, I saw more clique-ish behavior, definitely more polarization, heightened verbal aggression, and even bullying.”
— 9th Grade Ethnic Studies Teacher, Northern California (Name withheld due to fear of retribution)
“I write this letter to you with great dismay, and great concern for the perversion of history that is being perpetrated by the [Liberated-based ESMC]. If this [model curricula] is approved, it will inflict great harm on millions of students in our state.”
— Dr. Clarence Jones, Speechwriter, Legal Counsel, and Advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“If your child’s school is employing the Liberated/Critical Ethnic Studies model, the resulting curricula is likely to focus on radical political activism.”
— Journal of Free Black Thought
Beware of Toxic Curricula: Liberated Ethnic Studies
Liberated Ethnic Studies dictates a narrow, politicized ideology, divides students into powerful oppressors and disempowered victims, and elevates violent role models. Much of this content comes from the state-rejected ESMC drafts.
The following outlines key harmful aspects of Liberated Ethnic Studies. Click on the text below to read specific examples.
Divides the world into us vs. them, victims vs. oppressors, and encourages students to identify as victims (to avoid being labeled oppressors).
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Students are instructed to fill out a “Social Identity Chart” listing their Gender, Sexual Orientation, Emotional Developmental Ability, Race, Religion, and Socio-economic status, and to define themselves as an "Agent" or "Target” of oppression. Students report that, since no one wants to be an agent of oppression, they strive to find as many ways as possible to qualify as a victim of oppression.
Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District, Ethnic Studies, Unit 3, Intersectionality & Positionality
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A Chicano Movement lesson chastises Mexican Americans who want to assimilate as lacking pride and respect for their heritage. While expressly rejecting assimilation, it calls for a “just struggle.” “The Mexican American (or Hispanic) is a person who does not have respect for his cultural and ethnic heritage. Unsure of himself, he seeks assimilation (being absorbed into the dominant culture) as a way out of his low social status. In contrast, Chicanismo reflects self-respect and pride in one’s ethnic and cultural background, Thus the Chicano acts with confidence and with a range of alternatives against assimilation.”
Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District, Ethnic Studies, Unit 5, Chicano Movement
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“Interpersonal Racism” is defined as: “what some white people do to people of color up close.” Rather than condemning all discrimination regardless of the source, the above definition misrepresents the concept, using a definition explicitly rejected by the California Department of Education (CDE). (The CDE-approved Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum defines "interpersonal racism" as "what some members of an ethnic group do to members of a different ethnic group up close.”)
Pajaro Valley Union School District, Ethnic Studies, The 4 I’s of Oppression
Elevates violent role models and ignores non-violent leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr.
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In an initial Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum draft, written by Liberated Ethnic Studies leaders, many role models of color listed were violent or promoted violence, while peaceful change agents were omitted. Some of those included were Oscar López Rivera (responsible for 130 bomb attacks in US cities), Lolita Lebrón (led attack on the US congress that wounded 5 Congressmen), Assata Shakur, and Mumia Abu-Jamal (each convicted of 1st degree murder). A list of 154 role models of color omitted non-violent leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, and Thurgood Marshall.
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Liberated curricula champions John Brown, an abolitionist, who “beheaded male enslavers” and “hacked their bodies into pieces.” It explains that he "believed violence in a righteous cause was a light to purification.” Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum teaches that the ends justify the means, and that violence is a valid form of resistance.
Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, Chapter 6, Slide 8, John Brown
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Liberated curricula choose to highlight Yuri Kochiyama, a Japanese reparation activist who was an admirer of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. She is highlighted INSTEAD OF Japanese role models such as Congressmen Norman Mineta and Robert Matsui, and Senator Daniel Inouye, who successfully introduced/advocated for reparations legislation.
Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum
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Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum: Gang violence, Black on Black/Brown on Brown violence are examples of “internalized oppression” that “always begins from outside of the oppressed group.” This “horizontal violence means the colonized turning on each other… instead of directing our resistance/violence upwards to free ourselves...”
Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, Chapter 3, The 4 I’s of Oppression, Slide 12, Teacher’s Note
Promotes specific ideology rather than inquiry, presents opinions as facts, and trains teachers to be “grounded in the right politics.”
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The Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (LESMC) is clear that the Liberated brand of “Ethnic Studies does not feign neutrality.” Rather than encouraging students to question and verify information, the LESMC insists that “the dominant narrative found throughout mainstream education and curriculum is biased, presenting a false or selective account of our his/herhxstories and realities.” Students are instructed only to reject all mainstream facts and history, not to evaluate them.
Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, IIntroduction to Chapter 1, Page 12i
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“Teachers needed to be grounded in the correct politics to teach Ethnic Studies.” – Jorge Pacheco at a 2020 teacher training by the Ethnic Studies Initiative. Pacheco, one of the original authors of the rejected Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum drafts and leader in the Liberated Ethnic Studies Consortium, continues to lead these teacher training sessions throughout Santa Clara County, CA.
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"Students will understand how normalization, implicit bias, common sense and consent work together to create hegemony…First, we need to understand common sense the way that [founder of neo-Marxism] Antonio Gramsci, an Italian philosopher, understood it…" This Liberated objective imposes the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum’s narrow ideology (i.e., that common sense and normalization create hegemony), then forces a dogma-based, atypical definition of “common sense” to sell the ideology. Students are not asked whether normalization and common sense create hegemony; they are forced to internalize that idea, seeing the world only through Gramsci’s Liberated / neo-Marxist philosophy.
Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Lesson Plan Draft, Unit 1, Page 7
Teaches that all power systems, and those who hold power, are inherently oppressive and racist.
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“Who has power over you at school? Brainstorm some people, institutions, etc. that can control what you do in school.” School “exerts control and dominance, this is done through force or ideology.”
Mountain View Los Altos Union High School District, Ethnic Studies Pilot Course, Systems of Power Worksheet
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The introduction to the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (LESMC) lays out this flawed fundamental premise, which students are forced to accept throughout the course. It asserts that all systems are racist and oppressive “Because white people designed all of our institutions, schools, courts, government, etc. and made sure that only white people would benefit from white supremacy.”
Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, Introduction to Chapter 1, Page 3, Why?
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“The laws and practices in the United States continue to treat African peoples in a manner similar to slavery - maintaining dual systems in virtually every area of life…”
Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, Redlining to Reparations, Slide 29
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The San Mateo Union High School District curriculum includes hundreds of slides and pages. Of those, only ONE two-page worksheet refers to contributions/accomplishments of ethnic groups - however, even that one worksheet is in the context of “resistance.” The rest of the contents is almost 100% related to oppression, colonization, resistance, and hegemony. Specifically, students focus on “power and oppression and explain in [their] own words, how power is connected to hegemony.”
Elevates some ethnic groups but mis-represents and denigrates others.
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Numerous offensive antisemitic stereotypes were included in the original Liberated draft of California’s Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC). The Legislative Jewish Caucus stated that “In the few instances where the [draft] ESMC actually acknowledges Jews, it does so in a denigrating and discriminatory manner… It would be a cruel irony if a curriculum meant to help alleviate prejudice and bigotry were instead to marginalize Jewish students and fuel hatred against the Jewish community.”
California Legislative Jewish Caucus in a July 29, 2019 letter to California Department of Education Instructional Quality Commission
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Groups such as Sikh Americans expressed their dismay with the Liberated curriculum found in the initial drafts of the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC). The Sikh Coalition and the Jakara Movement submitted a letter on behalf of 52 gurdwaras (Sikh houses of worship) to the California Department of Education and the ESMC Advisory Committee in favor of Sikhism’s meaningful inclusion in California’s ESMC.
Encourages educators to be secretive and "fly under the radar."
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When teaching material that has been specifically rejected by the California Department of Education, the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum teacher training specifically directs: “Is the administration likely to be supportive if you tell them about your plans? Or are you better off trying to fly under the radar or growing strong enough as a group to pressure them?…administrators usually hate controversy, so it’s a lot easier for them to say no or institute a process that delays your work forever rather than support you moving forward.”
Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum on teaching controversial curricula
In colleges, Liberated Ethnic Studies is an openly politicized subject – one that Liberated activists explicitly state is rooted in specific politics and activism. This is why the ESMC draws the important distinction:
“At the college and university level, Ethnic Studies and related courses are sometimes taught from a specific political point of view. In K–12 education, it is imperative that students are exposed to multiple perspectives, taught to think critically, and form their own opinions.”
—Ethnic Studies Model Curricula
Educator Resources to Empower Your Students
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Examples of K-12 Ethnic Studies
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Professional Development
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Courses that Meet Graduation Requirement
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
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K-12 vs. Liberated Curricula Comparison Chart
Let’s Work Together
Please contact us for any questions, a sample for the full Constructive Ethnic Studies Curriculum, or to discuss professional development opportunities.
