One lesson plan suggests discussing an incident of police brutality as part of the Black Lives Matter movement. Another urges students to interview Korean Americans and Black residents who were in Los Angeles during the 1992 riots to study how existing tensions exploded into deadly violence.
Other lessons direct students to study poetry and art by Japanese Americans put in internment camps during World War II to better understand the hostility they faced.
“This is a pivotal moment in our California education history,” said Karen Korematsu, the daughter of late civil rights icon Fred Korematsu, a Japanese American who resisted internment during World War II and took his battle all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, where he ultimately lost but devoted his life to fighting for civil rights.
“As my father said, ‘Stand up for what is right.’ Prejudice is ignorance, and the most powerful weapon we have is education," Korematsu said.
Several education officials called the curriculum “a starting point," noting that it will be added to and expanded upon and teachers will develop lessons that best suit their classes, as they acknowledged that a curriculum on racial and ethnic issues was bound to be divisive.
“This criticism will continue. I can guarantee you that,” said California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a former lawmaker and academic who created an ethnic studies program at San Diego State University in the 1970s. “We will not find the perfect curriculum, but we have one that is strong.”
Renowned labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta also encouraged adoption of the new curriculum, speaking before the vote.
“Si, Se Puede!” said Huerta, citing her famous phrase, “Yes we can!” that President Barack Obama borrowed as his campaign slogan. “We can make it happen. And it’s time.”