{"id":84799,"date":"2025-12-30T17:56:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-30T17:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/84799\/"},"modified":"2025-12-30T17:56:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-30T17:56:20","slug":"nys-lawmakers-push-bill-mandating-public-schools-teach-lessons-on-jan-6-capitol-riots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/84799\/","title":{"rendered":"NYS lawmakers push bill mandating public schools teach lessons on Jan. 6 Capitol riots"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Capitol\t\t\t<\/p>\n

A rioter involved in the\u00a0Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, who President Donald Trump pardoned earlier this year, faces criminal charges again \u2014 this time for allegedly threatening to kill House Minority Leader US Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-Brooklyn), New York State Police announced Tuesday.<\/p>\n

REUTERS\/Leah Millis\/File photo<\/p>\n

New York public schools will be required to teach lessons on the violent Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol building<\/a> if a new bill goes into effect.<\/p>\n

State Sen. John Liu and Assembly Member Charles Lavine, both of whom represent NYC and Nassau County, respectively, called on Monday for the passage of their legislation requiring public schools to teach students about the infamous day in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n

The new legislation, known as S6123<\/a>\/\u00a0A3966<\/a>, was introduced just before the fifth anniversary of the insurrection. It would require schools to include the instruction of the event and its aftermath alongside existing required coursework in civic education and other historical events, such as slavery and the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

On Jan. 6, 2021, an angry mob of President Trump\u2019s supporters, militia members and white supremacists set upon the U.S. Capitol building in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election that Joe Biden won, and Trump lost despite his false assertions that the election was stolen from him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than 100 Capitol police officers were injured in the violence. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who had been injured on the Capitol steps, died the day after the vicious attack; an autopsy later revealed that he died of natural causes<\/a>, which led insurrection deniers to downplay the significance of his death<\/a>. Two other Capitol officers took their lives in the weeks that followed.<\/p>\n

The insurrection resulted in five other deaths, including that of Ashli Babbitt, a military veteran and Trump supporter<\/a> who was shot and killed when the mob, of which she was part, attempted to breach the office of then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Over 1,000 people were arrested, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned for their roles in the insurrection.\u00a0President Trump pardoned them all<\/a> upon taking office on Jan. 20, 2025, for his second and final term after winning re-election in 2024.<\/p>\n

Trump has denied being the catalyst for the Jan. 6 events. His speech earlier that day<\/a> called for his supporters to \u201cwalk down to the Capitol\u201d to \u201ccheer on\u201d some Congress members while opposing others; he had also said, \u201cWe\u00a0fight like hell. And if you don\u2019t\u00a0fight like hell, you\u2019re not going to have a country anymore.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite the violence, Congress was able to reconvene the evening of Jan. 6, 2021 and certify Biden\u2019s electoral victory. However, 147 House Republicans \u2014 including Brooklyn\/Staten Island U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis \u2014 objected to the certification of some swing state results<\/a> due to Trump\u2019s claims of voting irregularities.<\/p>\n

\"\"An officer injured in the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.Kent Nishimura \/ Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
\nCombating \u2018revisionist history\u2019<\/p>\n

Liu wants to pass the education bill in order to provide accurate information to students about the headline-making day.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn an age when conspiracy theories are able to inspire and incite such wanton political violence, it is more important than ever that our schools equip the next generation with the truth, free from bias, and without prejudice, in order to protect our democracy,\u201d the senator said.<\/p>\n

amNewYork contacted the U.S. Department of Education for its response to the bill\u2019s introduction, and is awaiting a response. The department is not without its own Trump troubles. Since taking office on Jan. 20, the President has tried to dismantle the education department and allocate its responsibilities to other agencies\u2014something Liu has vehemently opposed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFive years after the Donald Trump-led Capitol insurrection, his administration continues to spin revisionist narratives to gaslight the American people into believing the events of that fateful day were somehow not a violent assault on our democracy,\u201d Liu added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Lavine, the bill is necessary due to Trump\u2019s \u201call-out effort to erase the Jan. 6 insurrection.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

What do New York parents say?<\/p>\n

amNewYork spoke to several parents about the bill. One of them, Len, a father of three from Queens, said he is \u201cstrongly\u201d against the bill because he denies that the event was an attack on the Capitol of the United States.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was not an insurrection,\u201d he claimed. \u201cIt was a disorderly group that police and officials let get way out of hand.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

But Sandro Battaglia of Manhattan said he supports the legislation.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s history and important history at that,\u201d he said. \u201cTeach the warts as well as the wins.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Stacy Cousino, a public school parent of children in eighth and 12th grades, said she supports the bill.\n<\/p>\n

But a Staten Island mother said she is concerned that the lessons would not be fair or accurate.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI absolutely don\u2019t support this unless they include all the truths coming out,\u201d she said. \u201cHow many were walking around nonviolently?\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Lesley Friedman Rosenthal of the Upper West Side said it is important to teach children about the event.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe breach of the Capitol to prevent the peaceful transfer of power violated basic norms and threatened our democratic order,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s crucial that our children learn about it so that this dark episode never happens again.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the bill remains in the Senate and Assembly committees. and must progress through the legislative process before it can become law.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A rioter involved in the\u00a0Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, who President Donald Trump pardoned earlier…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[41374,41375,67,41376,9,11,10,49,51,50,87,22945],"class_list":["post-84799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-capitol-riots","tag-charles-lavine","tag-education","tag-jan-6-insurrection","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news","tag-new-york-state","tag-new-york-state-headlines","tag-new-york-state-news","tag-politics","tag-state-senator-john-liu"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}