In an effort to be more “woke,” a New York public school system introduced a new curriculum, which claims “all white people” perpetuate systemic racism. As part of the new lesson plans, kindergarteners are forced to watch videos that many have found deeply disturbing.
Fatima Morrell, the associate superintendent for Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Initiatives at Buffalo public schools in New York, created and introduced a new curriculum, series of lesson plans, and teacher training for Buffalo public schools to encourage teachers and pupils to be more “woke,” in her words, in their efforts at “antiracism.” The new curriculum teaches students that “all white people play a part in perpetuating systemic racism,” but that’s not all.
The lesson plans devised by Fatima Morrell, which all Buffalo schools are expected to follow, were obtained by City Journal. According to the outlet, older pupils are taught about the “sickness” of American society as part of the curriculum, while the youngest pupils read a series of texts under the heading “Woke Kindergarten,” which are described as being “digital culturally responsive and sustaining easy reader books.”
In addition to the reading materials, which purportedly help children with their “learning for liberation” and tell the stories of children “that we have lost to racist police and state-sanctioned violence,” kindergarteners are forced to watch videos of dead black children to warn them about “racist police and state-sanctioned violence.”
The videos feature black children who were shot and killed, including the stories of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, 12-year-old Tamir Rice, and 7-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones, among others. In the footage, a total of six young people are imagined telling their stories on video. The purpose is reportedly to instruct the kindergarten class about “the dangers of police brutality” and systemic racism, according to Daily Mail.
Thanks to a tip from a whistleblower, City Journal obtained the clips, where Aiyanna tells young viewers, “I was sleeping,” and Trayvon says, “I was walking.” After viewing the videos, the four to six-year-old students are “asked by their teachers to compare their skin color with an arrangement of crayons,” Daily Mail reports, adding, “By fifth grade, students are taught that America has created a ‘school-to-grave pipeline’ for black children and that, as adults, ‘one million black people are locked in cages.'”
Of course, it doesn’t end there, but rather, the curriculum continues into both middle and high school, where students are taught under headings such as “The racial power of white elites.” Older students are also asked to atone for their “white privilege” and to “use their voices” to end racism. They are also taught that “often unconsciously, white elites work to perpetuate racism through politics, law, education, and the media.”
The curriculum also places emphasis on American society being created for the “impoverishment of people of color and enrichment of white people” and pupils are told that the United States “created a social system that had racist economic inequality built into its foundation.” The lessons claim that “the [current] wealth gap is the result of black slavery, which created unjust wealth for white people,” who are “unfairly rich.” Students also study white European systems of justice, in which, according to the curriculum, whites have created a “retributive,” “merit-based” justice system, which relies on harsh punishment and creates inequalities.
Fatima Morrell held seminars for teachers, where she explained the new teaching plans and pushed “radical politics,” according to one teacher, who spoke with City Journal. Zoom sessions were also organized, which the veteran teacher described as “scoldings, guilt-trips, and demands to demean oneself simply to make another feel ’empowered.'” The teacher also claimed that educators must submit to these “manipulative mind games” and express support for Morrell’s left-wing politics or risk professional retaliation.
During a presentation to teachers, Morrell allegedly explained the reasoning behind the lesson plans, saying, “That’s America’s sickness — sickness that we have to deal with.” Teachers were also told they had to be “critically conscious” or “woke.” And, this isn’t a first for Morrell. In September 2020, she was questioned on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show over her plan to teach fourth and fifth grades students “the disruption of Western nuclear family dynamics and a return to the ‘collective village’ that takes care of each other.”
“They are teaching to your kids, that your family should be destroyed,” Carlson said at the time. “Why are we allowing this? You know what this is, it’s an all-out war on the most important thing we have, which is the American family.”
When it comes to ending racism, Fatima Morrell’s lessons fly in the face of Morgan Freeman’s advice. When asked by Mike Wallace during an interview how we end racism, he said, “Stop talking about it. I’m going to stop calling you a white man. And, I’m going to ask you to stop calling me a black man. I know you as Mike Wallace. You know me as Morgan Freeman. You’re not going to say, ‘I know this white guy named Mike Wallace.’ Hear what I’m saying?” I hear you, Morgan. Fatima Morrell, however, obviously does not.