NYC schools set to adopt new anti-hate crime curriculum in nod to DEI

New York City (NYC) public schools will soon implement a new curriculum for grades 6 through 12 that purportedly centers on teaching students to stand up against hate crimes but may sneak in progressive Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) ideology.

A press release from the office of Mayor Eric Adams framed the “Teaching About Hate Crimes and Their Impacts” curriculum as “a series of hate crimes lessons designed to teach students in New York City public schools about hate crimes and bias incidents, as well as their impact on individuals and communities.”

According to Adams, fostering “a greater understanding of diversity and the importance of inclusion” contributes significantly to stemming the occurrence of hate crimes.

“Despite the uptick in hate crimes we are seeing across the city and nation – whether it be against someone’s religion, culture, gender, sexual orientation, or anything else – we know that New York City is the greatest city in the world because of our extensive diversity,” stated Adams. 

The NYC Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes (OPHC) partnered with the state Department of Education, as well as an organization called Facing History & Ourselves, to develop the content and materials for the curriculum. 

Facing History & Ourselves notably treats LGBT individuals as a marginalized category and has published articles with themes such as “How to Build an Affirming Classroom in the Face of Anti-Trans Legislation.” The group encourages participants in its courses and readers of its content to “choose a world of equity and justice.” 

Facing History also elevates controversial environmental activists such as Greta Thunberg while instructing teachers to be mindful of students experiencing “ecological grief” – a term that describes experiencing “feelings of loss and sadness” based on changes to the environment. 

The OPCH describes a hate crime as “a crime that is motivated in whole or substantial part by bias against certain personal characteristics.” New York state law requires that a hate crime be based on an underlying crime, which must then be determined to be motivated by bias in order to add hate crime charges to the original charge. 

The timing of the mayor’s announcement is significant in light of recent student protests that have paved the way for antisemitism and hate crimes on the campus of Columbia University in NYC. Last week, female Jewish students were harassed and assaulted by pro-Palestine student protestors, resulting in one Jewish student being stabbed in the eye with a Palestinian flag. 

A hate crimes dashboard operated by the New York City Police Department (NYPD) shows that, thus far in 2024, Jewish individuals are by far the population most at risk of experiencing a hate crime in NYC, with 60% of reported incidents occurring against a Jewish individual. Comparatively, only 2% of reported incidents were committed against an individual who identifies as transgender.