The Brandeis Center, a pro-Israel "lawfare" group, has sued California in a first-of-its-kind case against a state, alleging antisemitism in its public schools. The filing follows Brandeis Center suits against individual California districts and universities that made similar claims. 1/n 🧵
St. Louis is now the largest city in the nation to have passed an ethical investment resolution. Doing so is just the latest win for the St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee, which told me it "shows what’s possible when organized people act together." ✊
A broader look at how efforts to censor speech critical of Israel in classrooms is reshaping public education. This one quotes Plaintiffs in the suit against AB 715:
This one is on AB 715, which passed and is quoted in the new Brandeis Center suit against California:
Here's what I've written on previous iterations of this attack on California's ethnic studies rollout. This one is on a raft of bills introduced in 2024:
Unfortunately, this isn't a future possibility; it's already happening.
AB 715 was part of a years-long legislative attack on ethnic studies in CA's K-12 schools, and the Brandeis Center has sued to stop ethnic studies classes in some districts. Last year, it succeeded in Santa Ana Unified.
Oh, here's the new Brandeis Center complaint filed at the end of February: brandeiscenter.com/wp-content/u...
Here's the one challenging AB 715, filed back in November: adc.org/wp-content/u...
9/9 I’ll be following both of these lawsuits. If you want to stay up to date, please subscribe to my newsletter. Like I said up top, the free tier gets you my reporting; the paid tiers get you an added thanks as I struggle to scrape out a living doing this work.
8/n There’s another lawsuit challenging AB 715 on the basis that it will be wielded to silence First Amendment-protected speech. A judge said that argument was not convincing and denied the Plaintiff’s motion for an injunction in the case back in January, but it is ongoing.
7/n Proponents of AB 715 claimed it was an important tool to combat rising antisemitism in public schools. Critics warned it would expand the state's authority to ban instructional materials based on ill-defined standards and give groups like the Brandeis Center ammunition to attack educators.
6/n Notably, the suit quotes from AB 715 to claim that “inappropriate instructional materials” are contributing to antisemitism in schools. That bill passed last-minute in a process that even assembly members characterized as undemocratic. I covered that here and in an Instagram explainer.
5/n Examples of supposed antisemitic conduct in the complaint include reading aloud from the children’s alphabet book "P is for Palestine"; having a "Free Palestine" poster in the classroom; and a student using the terms "genocide" and "war crimes" in a presentation on Palestine for a class project.
4/n The suit was filed on behalf of a handful of parents and students and a coalition of about 400 Brandeis Center members that have "experienc[ed] anti-Semitic harassment or discrimination, not only on the basis of religious practice, but also...shared ancestry and ethnicity, including Zionism."
3/n Much of the suit is predicated on a conflation of anti-Zionist or pro-Palestine content with antisemitism, claiming that "today’s version" of antisemitism hides in "veiled references to Israel or 'Zionists'" and that "'Zionist' [is used] as a code word for 'Jew'" in California schools.
2/n Before I get into this, if you’re keen on updates, please hop over to my newsletter and subscribe.
The free tier gets you my reporting; the paid tiers get you an added thanks as I struggle to scrape out a living doing this work.
newsletter.mariannedhenin.com
The Brandeis Center, a pro-Israel "lawfare" group, has sued California in a first-of-its-kind case against a state, alleging antisemitism in its public schools. The filing follows Brandeis Center suits against individual California districts and universities that made similar claims. 1/n 🧵
ich habe absoluten negativrespekt vor calibri
McMaster university is hiring an Associate Professor or Professor with Tenur of History and Medicine.
They are looking for someone whose work bridges humanities-based historical inquiry and contemporary infectious diseases scholarship.
#histmed #histstm
and it is glorious!!
I have acquired the package!
"cooking has its place" is uh a subtle way of phrasing that
We can take solace in the fact that Elana Meyers Taylor kicked her ass to take home gold. She's been outspoken about racism in sport and an advocate for Black athletes in sliding.
If you read about the 11 families who were forced from their homes in the West Bank and are hoping for a way to help here's your chance: this money goes directly to those families.
Donate and share:
www.gofundme.com/f/urgent-aid...
I covered research on this out of Germany last year
truthout.org/articles/exp...
Speaking of, I just spent my Thursday wrapping up an application for grant funding to help me report on how the housing affordability crisis can drive people to the right. Fingers crossed that comes through because, uh, there's a lot to unpack.
A historic settlement returns $8.5 million and land to Black families in Portland, Oregon, who were displaced by a decades-old redevelopment scheme — and sets a precedent for cities nationwide.
Today is the 36th anniversary of the Capitol Crawl and disabled people are still fighting for basic rights in a society that's actively working to undermine them, surrounded by systemic disablism.
(This is a corrected thread TY to the person who flagged that I said 26th, not 36th!)
damned if I know lmk if you figure it out 🫠
