The San Diego Unified School District was
ordered by a federal judge to disclose any
evidence that includes information about their
work with the Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR). This order stems from the
district having previous relations with CAIR,
so much as having leaders walk into classrooms
to distribute or review propaganda like materials.
This was also in direct connection to the
district implementing an anti-Islamophobia
program that focused on not bullying kids
who are preaching the Islamic religion. The
movement sparked concerns and became controversial
in nature once it was seen what was really
happening.
The real controversy became heightened when
people saw what CAIR wanted to do, which basically
equated to their form of public indoctrination
and trying to recruit kids to convert to Islam.
CAIR wanted school calendars updated with
Muslim holidays, Muslim training for staff,
Muslim after-school clubs, safe spaces for
Muslim students, and more Muslim materials
in the school library. This was all something
they wanted for the minority of Muslim students
while wanting nothing equal for students of
any other religion.
It was proposed as an anti-bullying effort
but had come to be viewed as a recruitment
and brainwashing effort by CAIR, who has been
labeled as a terrorist organization by many
American citizens.
Conservative Tribune posted more about the
issue:
“The multi-year anti-bullying plan, developed
with assistance from CAIR, called for adding
Muslim holidays to staff calendars, introducing
new library materials on Muslim culture, encouraging
Muslim-centered high school clubs, creating
“safe spaces” for Muslim students and
providing staff training about Muslim culture.
Hanif Mohebi, the executive director of CAIR-San
Diego, praised the initiative and said it
should serve as a model for school districts
across the country.
“If we do this right, San Diego Unified
School District would be the leading school
district in the nation to come up with a robust
and beautiful anti-bully and anti-Islamophobic
program,” Mohebi told The San Diego Union-Tribune.
Mohebi was invited to give talks at more than
a dozen San Diego schools starting in late
2016 to teach students and teachers how to
reduce bullying of Muslim students.
Hanif gave pamphlets to students that advised
Muslim youth to contact CAIR if they faced
bullying, which according to CAIR includes
“insulting comments about Islam.”
Handing out such pamphlets is considered to
be “both a religious and educational exercise,”
according to the CAIR National Executive Director
Nihad Awad who testified before the National
Labor Relations Board in 2016.
Many parents were outraged. They thought the
initiative looked more like a religious advocacy
program than an anti-bullying initiative.
A lawsuit filed in May by the Freedom of Conscience
Defense Fund accused the school district of
entangling itself with CAIR to set up a “subtle,
discriminatory scheme that establishes Muslim
students as the privileged religious group.”
“Consequently, students of other faiths
are left on the outside looking in, vulnerable
to religiously motivated bullying, while Muslim
students enjoy an exclusive right to the School
District’s benevolent protection,” the
lawsuit stated.
Charles LiMandri, president and chief counsel
of the FCDF, urged the San Diego school system
to rescind the policy, saying it likely violated
the First Amendment because it was drafted
with assistance from CAIR, an overtly religious
organization.”
Violation of the Constitution, segregation
of Muslim students from the others, and putting
an unnecessary priority on one group or religion
over the rest is something that no school
should participate in. A successful anti-bullying
policy will include all students, regardless
of race, religion, or gender, and it will
work to ensure all students remain safe while
bullies are called out.
The program that involved CAIR should have
raised eyebrows from parents as it was more
of an indoctrination in hopes to get kids
to unwillingly convert to a religion that
oppresses women and has multiple connections
to previous acts of terror. Many people criticize
the Islamic religion for the actions of terror
committed by some people which have placed
a negative shadow over the faith in general.
The crimes committed in other countries are
also part of the reason that many people have
grown to have a negative attitude towards
Islam. Those crimes include stoning people,
honor killing, murdering gays, marrying children,
beating women, and sleeping with animals.
It’s safe to say that any bullying policy
should always include all, not just some.
All kids matter.
