Parents reportedly pleaded with the California Superior Court to remove chants and prayers to Aztec deities from the state’s curriculum.
CBN News reported that the Thomas More Society filed the temporary restraining order in the court in behalf of the parents and of Californians for Equal Rights last September 24 against the Department of Education to end the saying of the said prayers in the classrooms.
Thomas More Society Special Counsel Paul Jonna said there’s a difference between teaching about Aztec practices and from actually mandating to pray to their deities, which is already “offensive,” and which makes it “unconstitutional.”
“Our clients are not opposed to having students learn about different cultures and religions, including the practices of the Aztecs. But the California State Board of Education’s approved Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum goes far beyond that by directing students to pray to Aztec deities. This portion of the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum is not only offensive but blatantly unconstitutional,” Jonna said in a statement.
As previously reported, plans of the California Department Education to implement the 800-paged “Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum” came out in March. The Department of Education explained that the “Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum” intends to promote America’s “decolonization” through lessons on it, as well as, promote “unity” among the youth through through chants to Aztec Gods.
Parents then in August requested the State Board of Education through Limandri & Jonna LLP to remove Chapter 5 of the said curriculum, which particularly instructs the students to do the chanting and invoke the Aztec deities.
The Thomas More Society then followed-through with the filing of the lawsuit in September being a violation of the Establishment Clauses of the United States and of California’s Constitution. While the Californians for Equal Rights, an organization that advocates against discrimination, joined the lawsuit against the Department thereafter.
The Temporary Restraining Order, entitled “Californians for Equal Rights Foundation, et al. v. State of California, et al.”, raised the “harm’ the invocation of the said prayers and chants will do to the public schools. It also sought a block in the promotion of the said chants and prayers in the public schools of the state.
“Plaintiffs seek an order enjoining and prohibiting Defendants from authorizing, promoting, or permitting the use of Aztec prayers and the ‘Ashe’ chant in California’s public schools and also requiring Defendants to direct those under their authority not to use the Aztec prayer or ‘Ashe’ chant in public schools,” the Temporary Restraining Order said.
“This Application is made on the grounds that use of the prayers and chant violate the Establishment Clauses of both the U.S. and California Constitutions. (U.S. Const., amend. I; Cal. Const., art. I, § 4.) Further, immediate and irreparable harm will occur when the prayers and chant are used in California’s public schools,” it added.
The Thomas More Society disclosed that the California Superior Court agrees that public schools are to make children become aware of their religious neutrality since religious liberty is protected by the Constitution. The court pointed out that such protection given to religious liberty by the Constitution becomes “abridged” when the State itself sponsors a particular religious practice.
Californians For Equal Rights President Frank Xu echoed the said sentiments of the Superior Court in a statement, stating that the “Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum” is “alarming” for it “irresponsibly glorifies” the Aztecs whose religious rituals involved human sacrifice and dismemberment.
“The ESMC’s unequivocal promotion of five Aztec gods and the Yoruba religion through repetitive chanting and affirmation of their symbolic principles constitutes an unlawful government preference toward a particular religious practice. This public endorsement of the Aztec and Yoruba religions fundamentally erodes equal education rights and irresponsibly glorifies anthropomorphic, male deities whose religious rituals involved gruesome human sacrifice and human dismemberment. Alarmingly, this is only the tip of the iceberg with the ESMC being California’s trojan horse of CRT!” Xu stressed.
School Board Group Asks Biden’s Help with Anti-CRT ‘Domestic Terrorist’ Parents
The National School Boards Association (NSBA) has written a letter to President Joe Biden, requesting “federal law enforcement and other assistance” to cope with angry parents concerned about their children wearing masks in school all day and learning concepts of Critical Race Theory (CRT).
The NSBA “respectfully asks for federal law enforcement and other assistance to deal with the growing number of threats of violence and acts of intimidation occurring across the nation,” the letter reads, and continues:
NSBA believes immediate assistance is required to protect our students, school board members, and educators who are susceptible to acts of violence affecting interstate commerce because of threats to their districts, families, and personal safety … Coupled with attacks against school board members and educators for approving policies for masks to protect the health and safety of students and school employees, many public school officials are also facing physical threats because of propaganda purporting the false inclusion of critical race theory within classroom instruction and curricula.
“This propaganda continues despite the fact that critical race theory is not taught in public schools and remains a complex law school and graduate school subject well beyond the scope of a K-12 class,” NSBA asserts, one month after the United States Conference of Mayors adopted a resolution during its annual convention in which its members pledged to support the teaching of CRT in K-12 schools.
“NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, the nation’s mayors support the implementation of CRT in the public education curriculum to help engage our youth in programming that reflects an accurate, complete account of BIPOC history,” the mayors stated.
NSBA, however, continues the narrative of American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten and numerous superintendents of schools throughout the country who have denied CRT is being taught in their school districts despite partnering with companies that train teachers in the tenets of CRT so that they are equipped to indoctrinate their students.
Turning to mask mandates in schools, NSBA first thanks Biden profusely for his “leadership to end the proliferation of COVID-19 in our communities and our school districts.”
The group also introduces its comments with the statement: “Local school board members want to hear from their communities on important issues and that must be at the forefront of good school board governance and promotion of free speech.”
But, then NSBA makes its request:
Citing threats to school officials and local school board members that have been received in the mail and via social media, NSBA “asks that a joint collaboration among federal law enforcement agencies, state and local law enforcement, and with public school officials be undertaken to focus on these threats.”
“NSBA specifically solicits the expertise and resources of the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Secret Service, and its National Threat Assessment Center regarding the level of risk to public schoolchildren, educators, board members, and facilities/campuses,” the school board group states in its letter signed by Viola M. Garcia, Ed.D., the group’s president, and Chip Slaven, Esq., NSBA interim executive director and CEO.
NSBA also asks Biden to issue an executive order that would serve to protect school officials and school board members from parents by reviewing “appropriate enforceable actions against these crimes and acts of violence under the Gun-Free School Zones Act, the PATRIOT Act in regards to domestic terrorism, the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the Violent Interference with Federally Protected Rights statute, the Conspiracy Against Rights statute.”
The school board group provides these incidents as examples of “threats or actual acts of violence against our school districts”:
“Other groups are posting watchlists against school boards and spreading misinformation that boards are adopting critical race theory curriculum and working to maintain online learning by haphazardly attributing it to COVID-19,” NSBA continues.
According to Education Week, NSBA CEO Slaven responded to a question about whether his group thought local law enforcement intervention was insufficient to address situations that arose in the districts, by stating, “These incidents are beyond random acts. What we are now seeing is a pattern of threats and violence occurring across state lines and via online platforms, which is why we need the federal government’s assistance.”
On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said the Biden administration is exploring its options in response to NSBA’s letter, and added, “We’d encourage individuals to report any threats they face to local and state law enforcement agencies.”