The Massachusetts Lecturers Affiliation continues to face warmth for its “antisemitic list of resources” that have been highlighted throughout a current State Home listening to, together with a poster of greenback payments folded right into a Star of David.
Teams and elected officers are calling for the lecturers union’s leaders to tug the plug on these “vile antisemitic” academic sources after MTA President Max Web page was grilled throughout final week’s assembly of the Massachusetts Particular Fee on Combatting Antisemitism.
The listening to targeted on curriculum growth in native Ok-12 faculties and included testimony from Web page, who was peppered with questions on MTA’s optionally available academic sources on the Israel-Hamas warfare.
These “Resources on Israel and Occupied Palestine” for MTA members embody posters that glorify violence in opposition to Israelis, depict Israelis as snakes, and present a Star of David made out of greenback payments. The supplies additionally function a kids’s workbook that calls Zionists “bullies.”
“The MTA has set itself on a really troubling course, and there’s been no evidence that they’re willing to be pulled off of that course,” ADL New England’s deputy director Sara Colb instructed the Herald on Monday.
“The MTA leadership needs to strongly consider pulling these really troubling and antisemitic resources,” she added.
Rep. Simon Cataldo, a co-chair of the State Home fee, did a lot of the grilling throughout final week’s listening to.
He targeted on the MTA’s sources associated to the Israel-Hamas warfare, which the MTA had compiled collectively to “help educators engage with their students on this crucial and difficult topic,” in keeping with the useful resource sheet distributed to MTA members.
The sources embody 100 posters made by artists in solidarity with Palestine. One of many posters shared throughout the listening to was the Star of David made out of greenback payments.
“You’d agree that this is antisemitic imagery, correct?” Cataldo, a Democrat, requested Web page.
The MTA president responded, “I’m not going to evaluate that.”
Cataldo replied, “It’s a dollar bill folded up in the Star of David. Is it antisemitic?”
Web page didn’t reply.
“I think you nodded your head yes,” Cataldo stated.
Web page then spoke up: “I understand the back and forth, which is you’re trying to get away from the central point — which is that we provide imagery, we provide resources for our members to consider, in their own intelligent, professional way.”
“And it’s antisemitic,” Cataldo stated earlier than transferring on to the following poster.
The ADL New England chapter stated these sources “perpetuate some of the most vile antisemitic stereotypes we’ve seen in a while.”
This State Home listening to got here after the Massachusetts Educators In opposition to Antisemitism group has been preventing in opposition to these sources for greater than a yr.
Simply days earlier than the listening to, MTA rank-and-file members known as on the MTA Board of Administrators to toss the sources; the board determined to maintain the fabric.
“I am grateful for the many brave MTA teachers who blew the whistle on attempts to introduce into our kids’ classrooms a radically biased curriculum on a complex issue,” Cataldo stated in an announcement on Monday. “These teachers have withstood gaslighting and shaming simply for calling out what amounts to, at best, educational malpractice, and what can fairly be perceived as the intentional and context-free introduction of classic antisemitic tropes into schools.
“I hope that the MTA can see fit to respond with a modicum of contrition and reflection rather than defiance in the face of the indefensible,” the rep added.
Sen. John Velis, the opposite co-chair of the State Home fee, instructed the Herald that the antisemitic supplies must be “burnt and sent nowhere near a classroom.”
“I hope the MTA reflects on this and engages in serious introspection,” the Democrat stated. “They need to get rid of the antisemitic material, and add additional perspectives for the one-sided material.”
Velis burdened that schooling must be about instructing youngsters learn how to assume, not instructing youngsters what to assume.
The co-chairs stated they plan to place forth suggestions this fall, forward of the Fee’s deadline, concerning the significance of balanced sources.
Following the listening to, the MTA leaders dug in and known as out the fee members for “political grandstanding.”
“In meeting with the Special Commission on Combatting Antisemitism, the Massachusetts Teachers Association had hoped for honest dialogue and an exchange of ideas,” Web page and MTA Vice President Deb McCarthy stated in an announcement. “Instead, the president of the union and one of its members were subjected to two hours of political grandstanding that did not further the cause of combatting antisemitism.”
“The Special Commission on Combating Antisemitism has a willing ally in the Massachusetts Teachers Association,” the leaders added. “Yet, members and leaders of the commission chose instead to demonize our educators and their union through a selective presentation of material accessible only to union members via online resources about the war between Israel and Hamas. It was an inquisition that was beneath the dignity of the Legislature… We will not be bullied by special interest groups or by politicians looking to score points. Our union’s values are rooted in democracy and justice, and our goal is unwavering: ensuring every student in a Massachusetts public school, college and university can grow and thrive.”
