Rhode Island Israel Supporters Alarmed At Proposed Legislation Mandating “Ethnic Studies” Statewide

Rhode Island Israel Supporters Alarmed At Proposed Legislation Mandating “Ethnic Studies” Statewide

Pending legislation in Rhode Island would impose a year-long Ethnic Studies requirement on students statewide, raising fears that such curriculum would be weaponized against Israel and inject Critical Race Theory into schooling, as happened in California.

If we are to believe news reports, prodigious RI high schoolers came together to agitate for an ethnic studies curriculum because they didn’t see themselves represented in history classes, but the activism likely is astroturfed. The effort has been years in the making by far-left activist groups using superficially student groups as their staking horses.

H5836, the new bill introduced before the RI General Assembly by Providence Democratic Rep. David Morales would make a year-long ethnic studies course a graduation requirement in the New England state. The proposed bill has all markings of a law that, like California’s embattled Ethnic Studies Curriculum, is destined for litigation. I covered the California mess recently, Anti-Israel Activists Still Pushing Poisonous Ethnic Studies Curriculum in California.

The Rhode Island bill would require the study of the experience of what it deems racialized communities — Black, Indigenous, Latin American, Asian American, Pacific Islander and Arab American. Notably absent is ethnic diversity within the white population even though it’s particularly pronounced in the north east of the country. Non-whites like Jews and Armenians are evidently not racialized despite the fact that, according to the FBI data, antisemitic hate crimes constitute 15% of total hate crimes and the majority of anti-religious crimes.

It is no surprise that Jews are specifically excluded from the racialized communities. Ethnic Studies curriculums, especially the so-called Liberated Ethnic Studies, routinely push libelous antizionist narratives, propagating antisemitism among high school students. From antizionist point of view, Jews are settler-colonialists and don’t deserve to live in peace.

Although Morales insists that the text of the proposed bill was drafted by the eleventh graders, dark money influence is all over it. The students are organized into NGOs — Providence Student Union (PSU), Alliance of RI Southeast Asians (ARISE),  OurSchoolsPVD, Providence Youth Student Movement (PrYSM), the Rhode Island Urban Debate League (RIUDL), Youth In Action (YIA), Young Voices (YV), RI Center for Justice (CFJ), and the Center for Youth & Community Leadership in Education (CYCLE).

According to InfluenceWatch, the 2020 budget of PSU was $301,097. ProPubluca lists the 2023 revenue of ARISE as three quarter million dollars. In 2023, PrYSM operated on the budget of $1,164,027 whereas the 2019 budget of RIUDL was mere $90,737. YIA is another million-dollar operation and YV grosses over $700,000.

The kids serving as figureheads of the movement might not fully understand its significance, but Rhode Island teacher Ramona Bessinger does. She told me why Ethnic Studies are a corrosive idea and why the process used to push it on RI is abusive:

This bill should not pass as it will codify divisive activism and racial division in classrooms throughout Rhode Island.

Additionally, Ethnic Studies has no measurable teaching and learning goals so educators will be given the freedom to advance hateful discriminatory rhetoric to impressionable children without academic oversight.

The senate has a responsibility to all children, and not a specific group of children or left leaning educators.

The  classroom should be a politically neutral zone so that all children from all cultures and religions can feel safe.

Sadly, Ethnic Studies seeks to do the opposite and will radicalize children against Christians, Europeans, Jews, White people, and Israel.

It is an absolute disgrace for Morales to use his power as an adult over children who are not qualified to make curriculum decisions of any nature , especially to advance hateful anti-American content.  Curriculum should be studied and vetted and should never be codified into law just because political activists deem it so.

The Rhode Island Coalition for Israel (RICI) is organizing against the legislation, providing this statement:

The Rhode Island Coalition for Israel (RICI), together with many pro-Israel community members in RI, stand in opposition to the H5836 Ethnic Studies bill in the RI House, which would require ethnic studies in K-12 education. Ethnic studies curriculum often teaches anti-zionism and a narrative of Israel being a colonial state. It’s already been used in California schools and other states with disastrous consequences. StandWithUs, an international Israel education organization, warns “there are interest groups that relentlessly try to exploit ethnic studies courses as a platform for anti-Israel propaganda, antisemitism, and other forms of bias. They are pushing slanderous curriculum materials to teachers, schools, school districts, and education officials. On the one hand, we cannot allow this hatred to be institutionalized in our public education system. On the other, we have an opportunity to dramatically increase quality education about Jews and antisemitism in public schools.”

If you live or work in Rhode Island, please take action by filling out this form to show your opposition to this harmful bill.

The legislation is on a fast track, with an Education Committee hearing scheduled on April 23, 2025:

Because of the contested nature of the subject matter, we can expect community organizations to fight the RI Ethnic Studies tooth and nail. Ethnic Studies are a well-oiled machine; they will not give up easily.

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