Biden administration sends clear message on anti-Semitism

[Behind the Aegis]

Days ago, the U.S. Education Department’s civil rights office, OCR, resolved a major anti-Semitism case at Kyrene School District #28 in Arizona. Not only did OCR call out anti-Semitism in this one school district, it used this primary school case to fire a shot across the bow of higher education administrators who have not taken sufficient action to protect their own Jewish students, suggesting important nationwide implications for a civil rights agency that has faced congressional pressure for delays in processing anti-Semitism cases.

The federal investigation concludes that the Kyrene District, which comprises K-8 schools, violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by failing to respond appropriately to harassment of a Jewish student by numerous classmates over a period of several months, both in school and on social media. Other students called the girl a “dirty Jew,” “stinky Jew,” and “filthy Jew.” They said, “I hear you are good at head because Jews are so good at gasping for air” and asked her “How do you get a Jewish girl’s number?” then “lift her sleeve,” referencing the location of tattoos which were used to identify inmates in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust. They created a pervasively hostile environment that too sadly resembles the situation students are facing around the country.

This case is a wakeup call. Under the new Resolution Agreement, the school district must, at a minimum, overhaul its policies and procedures. They should also hold the responsible administrators accountable. Other districts should take this as a signal to review their own policies.

It is conspicuous and rare that OCR announces a case with a press release. Having headed the agency during two prior presidential administrations, I can say that such announcements are intended to send a nationwide signal.

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[central scrutinizer]

1. Vile

Especially the holocaust references, which happened many decades before these little assholes were born.

[JudyM]

2. This is an important story and an important case. So much of this is under the radar.

I didn’t know there was a civil rights division in the Dept of Ed.

The background needs to be more widely grasped, IMO.

Significantly, Assistant Secretary of Education Catharine E. Lhamon, used the release to identify a “distressing rise in reports of anti-Semitism on campuses across the country.” Lhamon is right to highlight the historic rise in anti-Semitism. Last year the Anti-Defamation League recorded the highest number of anti-Semitic incidents that it has ever seen in the United States. Internationally, other organizations found that worldwide anti-Semitism had also reached record levels. And the Louis D. Brandeis Center, the organization I head, found that 65 percent of strongly self-identified Jewish students surveyed have felt unsafe on campus and 50 percent have felt the need to hide their Jewish identity.

[JudyM]

3. Kicking for visibility about the background stats and action taken by Biden administration