A new video shows a Washington state middle school teacher comparing the Holocaust to Muslim discrimination in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
The footage obtained by The Ari Hoffman Show and reported by The Post Millennial, depicts teacher Jordan Balhorn discussing “push factors” among communities.
“People are also forced to leave when they face religious or political persecution, and so we will talk more about this when we talk about the Holocaust in January or in the winter,” the teacher told the class. “But many Jewish people during the Holocaust were forced to leave their homes and cities and even countries because they were facing religious persecution or discrimination, and the same thing just recently or not recently, but what we just talked about earlier this week is 9/11. So many Muslims in the United States faced mass discrimination after the 9/11 events, even though they were not responsible for the attacks that happened, and so that could force people to leave a city or a state because they don’t feel comfortable or safe to live there.”
The lesson echoes action taken by a Virginia school district. According to guidance from Fairfax County Public Schools, teachers must confront “anti-Muslim bias” in classrooms and refrain from linking the terror attacks with radical religious motivation. The material, obtained by Fox News, contains directives for creating “safe spaces for Muslim and Middle Eastern students,” and provides tips for educators to manage “emotional responses” to the lesson.
The material only references first responders once, the report said, in which the guidance reads, “Many families of military personnel and first responders experienced loss and hardship.” It does, however, contain 30 references to Islam, “Muslim families,” “Muslim students,” “anti-Muslim racism,” “anti-Middle Eastern” rhetoric, “Islamophobic rhetoric,” and “Middle Eastern students” and families.
