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FAIR News Parents Speak Up, School Calls the Police And Other News May 19th, 2021 |
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Parents Rally for Pro-Human Education  Amy Gonzalez and Andrea Gross are two moms whose children attend Columbus Academy in Ohio. After learning last year that an intolerant and neo-racist orthodoxy had gripped the school’s culture and curriculum, the two organized a network of nearly 400 community members called the “ProCA Coalition” to advance a pro-human approach to anti-racism. The ProCA Coalition asked for transparency from the administration. Instead, after Amy and Andrea spoke on a podcast about their concerns, the head of school reported them to the police and brought in bomb-sniffing dogs. FAIR stands behind Amy, Andrea, and every parent with the courage to speak out against racism and intolerance. We call for open dialogue and full transparency from the administration and head of school at Columbus Academy. Watch Amy and Andrea's story, and read the open letter from the ProCA Coalition here. FAIR Comment on Department of Education Priorities  Last week, FAIR urged our supporters to take action and submit a public comment opposing the U.S. Department of Education's grant priorities that would incentivize teaching concepts rooted in Critical Race Theory. Today, we submitted our official statement in opposition to these priorities. Learn more about the proposed priorities and read our statement here. Anti-Semitism on the Rise  The recent violence in the Middle East has been heartbreaking for many across the globe. We are deeply saddened by the recent and ongoing tragedies and stand with all of those impacted by the violence. Two of our Board of Advisors members who have drastically different stances on the matter had a heartening encounter on Twitter, reminding us what it means to be pro-human. In our newsletter last week, we highlighted an article by Pamela Paresky about how critical social justice approaches to racial matters often foster anti-Semitism. Protests and social media posts surrounding the situation unfolding in the Middle East have caused a dramatic spike in anti-Semitism across the country and around the world. While we support protestors’ right to free expression and assembly, we are deeply disturbed by the anti-Semitic propaganda spreading through protests and social media. At some protests, Jews have been violently assaulted. We stand against intolerance in all its forms, including the ongoing anti-Semitism and dehumanization of Jewish people. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has been tracking anti-Semitic occurrences at protests in recent days. Read the database here. |
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In a brilliant piece for Deseret News, Jonathan Rauch demonstrates the value of compromise as he details how religious leaders and LGBTQ rights activists in Utah found common ground on legislation that protects both religious freedom as well as the rights of LGBTQ people. Rauch suggests that this achievement could serve as a model for our country moving forward. “Simply by being required to interact and do business, the parties to a negotiation develop the civic habits of peaceful coexistence — and they unlearn the habits of domination and distrust.” Read the full article here.  In a piece for Persuasion, Percy Deift, Svetlana Jitomirskaya and Sergiu Klainerman issued a stark warning about gutting education standards in STEM in the name of equity. “Ill-conceived DEI policies, often informed by CRT, and the declining standards of K-12 math education feed each other in a vicious circle, which is in time going to affect the entire mathematics profession and, more broadly, all STEM disciplines.” Read the full article here.  A professor at St. John's University was reportedly fired for reading a passage from a Mark Twain book verbatim, Dana Kennedy reported for the New York Post. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has called for Professor Fischthal to be reinstated. “Hannah Berliner Fischthal, an adjunct instructor at the Catholic college in Queens for 20 years, uttered the N-word once during a remote class Feb. 10 — after she first explained to students the context of the word and said she hoped it would not offend anyone.” Read the full article here. |
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 In a New York Post op-ed, FAIR Advisor Ayaan Hirsi Ali recalls witnessing the ways in which tribalism tore her native Somalia apart and warns how similar forces in the United States threaten to do the same here. “The beautiful story of America, the reason so many people around the world still yearn to come here, is to a large extent founded on our rejection of tribalism and our establishment of civic, neutral institutions, based on the fundamental principle of equality before the law. These institutions are imperfect, of course, but they are far superior to the tribalism that rules other parts of the world. Our overcoming of such a natural urge is an accomplishment.” Read the full article here.
Ali also penned an article for Areo Magazine describing how information control is left to a select few corporations. While traditionally, free speech is thought of as a limit on government interference in speech, Ali argues for the necessity of government action to protect free speech in the digital age. “Should a company such as Amazon be allowed to banish books from its catalogue? Should Facebook or Twitter be allowed to censor user posts (or users) they consider to be false or misleading? Or should the boundaries of permitted speech not depend on the value judgments of tech executives, their employees and their oversight boards?” Read the full article here. |
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 FAIR Advisor John McWhorter joined John Wood Jr. on the Braver Angles podcast to discuss finding balance and perspective within America's incredibly complex and fraught discussion of race. Listen to the podcast here. |
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 FAIR Advisor Abigail Shrier interviewed Jean Twenge for an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. Twenge is a researcher who focuses on Gen-Z or "I Gen." The two underscore both the challenges and silver linings of Gen-Z's use of technology and how the rise of illiberalism has impacted young minds. “The embrace of minorities has been accompanied by intolerance of diverse viewpoints. The percentage of college students who believe that controversial speakers shouldn’t be brought to campus has risen. ‘It’s not just a perception,’ Ms. Twenge says. ‘That’s what they say themselves—that they are less comfortable with those situations.’” Read the full article here. |
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 For an online event hosted by the Manhattan Institute, FAIR Advisors Glenn Loury and Bari Weiss had an insightful discussion on how contemporary anti-racism fosters anti-Semitism. Bari spoke about “the good kind of anti-racism; the kind of anti-racism that reflects the idea that we should be judged by the content of our character and not by the color of our skin. The kind of anti-racism that insists on our common humanity. The kind of anti-racism that insists that no one should be inheritors of collective innocence or inheritors of collective guilt.” Listen to the full discussion here. |
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Upcoming Events  The Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism invites you to join us for the first FAIR Film Festival! FAIR will be hosting online screenings of the feature films How Jack Became Black, Better Left Unsaid, Accidental Courtesy, and the film series The Witness Project. Additionally, attendees can view the world premiere of The Woke Reformation.
From June 21st through 25th each night at 9 PM EDT, we will be hosting a Q&A with the filmmakers and special guests including Daryl Davis, Melissa Chen, Peter Boghossian, Eli Steele, and John Wood Jr. Learn more and register here. |
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Click here to become a FAIR volunteer, or to either lead or join a FAIR chapter: Join a Welcome to FAIR Zoom information session to learn more about our mission by clicking here. Or, watch a previously recorded session click here to visit the Member section of www.fairforall.org. |
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Foundation Against Intolerance & Racism
485 Madison Ave, 16th Floor | New York, New York 10022 |
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