In the first step, all of society is split up into two groups, one good and one evil. (Page 2 of the Model Curriculum). The “evil” group is cast as white, dominant, oppressive, or colonial, while the “virtuous” group is framed as people of color, nonwhite, indigenous, marginalized, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, or decolonial.
Before addressing how Jews are categorized, let’s examine the third step in more detail to discover how Ethnic Studies renders judgment with complete disdain for the dominant group. It practically creates a religious obligation on behalf of the student to adopt the “correct” viewpoint and take action to reverse the manifold injustice conducted by the dominant group:
The dominant group must be rejected to build a “society free of racism and other forms of bigotry associated with white supremacy, white nationalism, and institutional racism.” (P. 56).
Dominant groups “harm oppressed groups” through “oppression,” which is “unjust treatment of and control.” (P. 98).
Dominant groups benefit themselves by telling narratives “in service of the dominant social group’s interests and ideologies” (P. 98) that “target nonwhite ethnic groups who face oppression at the hands of the dominant social group.” (P. 104).
The dominant narrative “achieves dominance through repetition, the apparent authority of the speaker (often accorded to speakers who represent the dominant social groups), and the silencing of alternative accounts.” (P. 98).
In this religion, it obviously seems pretty bad to be in the “dominant” group. Let’s return now to the second step, to ask how does Ethnic Studies analyze whether Jews are “dominant” or “marginalized?” This seems to be a pretty important, or perhaps the most important question about the entire course, that should be at the forefront of our analysis, yet it is one that our Jewish leaders don’t appears to be asking.
As you might guess, Jews and Israelis, in this religion, are arbitrarily deemed to be in the “dominant” group. The “analysis” is limited to the following: Regarding Jews in America, the model curriculum teaches that although Jewish immigrants were once considered nonwhite, Jews climbed up American society to join the white dominant group, not by merit, but by adopting the practices of the “dominant majority” and pushing down other minorities. Calmly describing Jews’ duplicity Ethnic Studies teaches that “Light-skinned” Jewish people have come to resemble the dominant group by adopting the practices of the majority. (P. 381). In doing so, Jewish people “change[d] their position on the racial hierarchy from that of their immigrant parents[.]” (P. 381).
After portraying Jews as part of the dominant white group in America, it is unsurprising that the curriculum also frames Israeli Jews as colonial oppressors. Recently disclosed curriculum from San Mateo Union High School District demonstrate that Israelis are taught to be Zionist colonizers in stolen Palestinian land through the modern state of Israel. Conduct that is labeled “colonial” (such as Israel’s) is especially pernicious. Ethnic Studies equates “colonial” behavior as “racist, bigoted, [and] discriminatory” on “multiple levels.” (P. 57). Ethnic Studies — like any religion — requires action, teaching that decolonization of Jews from their homeland in Israel is necessary to achieve justice.
Therefore, in three simple steps, Ethnic Studies creates a religion based on a conspiracy theory that Jews are guilty of committing the cardinal sin. Although the theology portrays membership in the marginalized group to be of paramount importance, Jews betrayed their fellow marginalized people just to get ahead for themselves, using unjust tactics, and intentionally joining the dominant, evil group. Ethnic Studies portrays Jews perhaps worse than any other minority. Not only are Jews in the dominant group, Jews chose to join. All of the celebration and centering of marginalized and minority groups taught by Ethnic Studies does not apply to Jews because they committed Ethnic Studies heresy and chose to join the dominant group.
This depiction of Jews pretending to be white to achieve unearned privilege can be traced directly to Nazi propaganda. “Just as it is often hard to tell a toadstool from an edible mushroom,” according to a Nazi children’s book, “so too it is often very hard to recognize the Jew…” Dr. Pamela Paresky writes that “Depicting Jews as imposters and appropriators of privilege — people who pose as something to which they have no legitimate claim — has been a frequent anti-Semitic theme throughout history.” This conspiracy theory is broadly believed by twenty-first-century anti-Semites.
There is no confusion that Jews are not to be celebrated in Ethnic Studies. Listen to the flowery language used to depict non-Jewish minorities, such as for “Native People/s and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC),” Ethnic Studies instructs to “[c]ultivate empathy, community actualization, cultural perpetuity, self-worth, self-determination, and the holistic well-being of all participants,” “Center and place high value on the pre-colonial ancestral knowledge, narratives, and communal experiences of Native People/s and people of color and groups that are typically marginalized in society” and “Celebrate and honor…their intellectual and cultural worth.” (P. 78). Compared to these celebrated groups, remember, Jews came to resemble the dominant group by adopting the practices of the majority. (P. 381).
Placing Jews in an evil, controlling, dominant group is just a classic antisemitic trope in a new form. While we may debate our skin tones, it is blatantly antisemitic to teach that Jews are part of the dominant group that oppresses people of color. Not only is it offensive, it is totally inaccurate. Even accepting the simplistic framework that society can be split into oppressors and oppressed people, the narrative is false. Jews are not oppressors. Jews have worked to improve civil rights for all Americans, not to oppress others. Jews, as a historically persecuted minority, do not fit the oppressor-oppressed binary that Ethnic Studies promotes. Teaching that Jews are associated with “whiteness” as a central tenet of Ethnic Studies is unabashed antisemitism. It is not a big leap to see why public educators so easily accept teach the idea that “white Jews” are also oppressing “black Palestinians” in Israel and Gaza.
Read More in Part 3: Why does JCRC Continue to Support the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum Even After October 7?