The Texas State Board of Education recently approved a social studies curriculum that disparages Islam and minimizes Black history.<\/p>\n
Muslims and education experts who attended the board\u2019s Aug. 31 meeting urged its members to reconsider adopting the changes, saying they are historically questionable and could lead to the ostracization of students based on faith.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel attacked, as if my religion doesn\u2019t belong,\u201d said Habiiba Quresh, 15, during the meeting covered by Texas Tribune<\/a>. \u201cI shouldn\u2019t have to defend my religion in the middle of history class because of one sentence someone on this board wrote.\u201d<\/p>\n The alterations made to the K-8 social studies curriculum do not \u201chold up to close historical scrutiny,\u201d said board-appointed adviser Andrea Hutchison<\/a>, the social studies curriculum coordinator at Proper ISD.<\/p>\n \u201cI would warn us about including things that are not based on well-established secular sources.\u201d<\/p>\n Board-appointed expert Robert Koons<\/a>, a philosophy professor at the University of Texas at Austin, described the altered curriculum as \u201cnot very reliable,\u201d the Tribune reported. \u201cI would warn us about including things that are not based on well-established secular sources.\u201d<\/p>\n Examples include<\/a> a reference to \u201cearly Islam\u201d and \u201cthe Prophet Mohammed\u2019s brutal military campaigns against Jewish and Christian tribes, the normalization of slavery, and the taking of female captives as harem slaves.\u201d<\/p>\n A motion to remove the word \u201cbrutal\u201d was considered but failed.<\/p>\n Other lessons include discussions of \u201cthe teachings of jihad and how these teachings led to the expansion of Islam and the conquest of Christian lands\u201d and the \u201csignificance of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks motivated by radical Islam, including the Global War on Terror in Afghanistan and Iraq and the decline of civil liberties due to the PATRIOT Act.\u201d<\/p>\n The curriculum also includes a lesson explaining \u201cthe rise of radical Islam, including Iranian proxies, terrorism, Al Qaeda, September 11, 2001, and Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.\u201d<\/p>\n The term \u201cradical Islam\u201d used in lessons 9 through 11 was selected instead of \u201cnarrowly focusing on terrorist groups such as al-Qaeda and extremists such as Osama bin Laden.<\/p>\n \u201cNo credible scholar of history validates the bigoted caricatures of Islam this curriculum teaches,\u201d according to the Texas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations<\/a> and its legal advocacy arm, CAIR Action Texas. \u201cTexas students of every background deserve an education that tells the truth about their history and their neighbors\u2019 history, not propaganda that teaches them to see each other as threats or erases them from the story altogether.\u201d<\/p>\n The board\u2019s action is just the latest assault on Muslims in Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott designated CAIR a foreign terrorist organization<\/a> last year, attempted to outlaw<\/a> the group\u2019s operations in the state and signed a law banning<\/a> Muslim-led developments he designated as \u201cSharia compounds.\u201d<\/p>\n As in other states, the recent rise in anti-Muslim hate in Texas is in part an outgrowth of Republican mobilizing ahead of the midterm elections, with campaign rhetoric referencing members of the faith as terrorists secretly attempting to rule the United States with Islamic law.<\/p>\n But CAIR also noted the curriculum minimizes the oppression and contributions of Black Americans in U.S. history and completely omits any reference to the struggles of the Palestinian people.<\/p>\n Removed lessons included any explanation of the \u201cthe causes and effects of westward expansion, including the Mexican American War and the expansion of slavery.\u201d<\/p>\n Another lesson omitted includes the identification of \u201cnotable figures of the abolitionist movement, including William Lloyd Garrison, Fredrick Douglass and Harriet Tubman\u201d along with one identifying \u201cthe ideals of self-respect, self-determination, self-reliance and cultural pride of African Americans during the Black Power movement.\u201d<\/p>\n