Massachusetts lawmakers push for genocide education in middle and high schools
Alison Kuznitz | MassLive| October 22, 2021
The state Senate on Thursday passed a bill that requires all middle schools and high schools in Massachusetts to incorporate curriculum on the history of genocide, as lawmakers feared students increasingly lacked Holocaust education amid a rise in anti-Semitism.
The bill, which now moves to the state House of Representatives, calls for a Genocide Education Trust Fund, which would cover new curriculum materials and professional development training. Schools and districts can also apply for competitive grants.
School districts would need to submit lessons plans and programs on genocide education to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education each year, lawmakers said in a news release.
“As a Jewish woman and the daughter of a World War II veteran who saw the horrors of a concentration camp firsthand, I believe it is our responsibility to ensure we educate our children on the many instances of genocide throughout history so that they can learn why it is so important that this history is not repeated,” Senate President Karen Spilka, D-Ashland, said in a statement Thursday afternoon.
Sen. Michael Rodrigues, chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means, said the bill harnesses the power of education to address hate. He thanked advocates for their support and his colleagues for their “bold action” of passing the legislation in order to “never forget the lessons of the past.”
“To ensure that the atrocities of the past never again scar our world, we must act to ensure young people are meaningfully educated about the history of genocide and armed with the knowledge to stand against its root causes, today and into the future,” Rodrigues, D-Westport, said in a statement.
Sen. Barry Finegold, D-Andover, said Massachusetts residents cannot forget about the Holocaust and Armenian Genocide, as well as genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia.
“When people forget about genocide, history repeats itself,” Finegold said in a statement. “We all have a duty to speak out and make sure that violent atrocities never happen again.”
Robert Trestan, the Anti-Defamation League’s New England director, applauded Senate leadership and invoked recent incidents undergirding the need for the legislation, including in Duxbury where anti-Semitic language and Holocaust references had been used in play calls.
“Massachusetts now has an opportunity to use the power of education to address hate through this essential initiative for Holocaust and genocide education in the Commonwealth,” Trestan said in a statement.