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The Merit In State-Mandated Holocaust Education
P
rovided it embraces the magnitude
of the topic, Holocaust education
should become part of the state
school curricula.
A House bill governing the teaching of
the Holocaust, the Armenian Genocide and
other genocides has moved to the Senate in
Lansing. Such teaching, as a requisite com-
ponent of our state’s school instruction and
academic standards, is past due.
The lessons would heighten awareness of
not only the Holocaust and the stream of
denial, revisionism and trivialization asso-
ciated with it, but also other genocides.
House Bill 4493, now before the Senate’s
Committee on Education, seeks to bolster
the state-mandated social studies curricu-
lum for grades 8-12 via age- and grade-
appropriate instruction about genocide.
Introduced by Rep. Klint Kesto, the
first Chaldean American in the House,
the bill sailed through a Feb. 23 House
vote. It deserves a full airing in the
Senate. A version of the bill that can gain
both House and Senate approval would
move to the governor for enactment or
veto.
THE JUSTIFICATION
There’s only an upside to a thoughtfully
crafted bill given the currents of Islamist
terrorism, ethnic cleansing and religious
turmoil worldwide. Targeted killings of
Jews in Europe, Christians in the Middle
East and ethnic minorities in Africa are
just a few examples. The U.S. government
specifically denounced as genocide the
barbarism against the Yazidis, Christians
and Shiite Muslims by Sunni ISIS — the
Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Kesto’s bill calls for the Michigan State
Board of Education and state superinten-
dent of public instruction to develop and
monitor “recommended model core aca-
demic curriculum content standards” and
send them to local school districts “as state
standards for adoption.”
Admittedly, it won’t be easy crafting such
a model, which bars including “attitudes,
beliefs or value systems” not essential to
genocide education as determined by the
state. Training, programs and resources
must take shape amid unrelenting social
forces. Still, obstacles shouldn’t deter pursuit
of the proposed legislation.
THE THINKING
Kesto, a Republican serving Wixom,
Commerce Township, West Bloomfield and
Wolverine Lake, introduced the House bill
in the wake of the 75th anniversary of the
start of the Holocaust. Many youths and
young adults, he wrote in the JN column
“Mandating Holocaust Education (March
3, page 8) “cannot identify the reasons
behind the inhumane acts of the Armenian
Genocide or the Holocaust.” Without a sense
of what spurs genocide, he wrote, “they will
have no way of distinguishing it or con-
tributing to its prevention today or in the
future.”
As a nation, we must not assume our
future leaders will grasp through general-
ized textbooks and limited support materi-
als the complexities of the Ottoman Turkish
Empire-led Armenian Genocide of 1.5
million Armenians during World War I,
the Nazi Germany-led Holocaust of 6 mil-
lion Jews during World War II or the 1994
slaughter of thousands of Rwanda’s Tutsi
minority by radical Hutu majority national-
ists.
A statewide lesson plan that passes criti-
cal muster by state educators who work with
an advisory council of experts on Holocaust
and genocide instruction, as Kesto’s bill sug-
gests, could help foster such understanding.
Under the bill, the council would have
to rely on outside funds to operate and file
an annual legislative report on its progress.
These and other stipulations would assure
lofty early expectations didn’t fade as time
passed.
As Kesto’s bill commands legislative
scrutiny, imagine the impact of thought-
fully coordinated in-school observances of
Holocaust Remembrance Day, Michigan
Days of Remembrance of the Armenian
Genocide and suitable tributes to victims of
other genocides.
*
letters continued from page 5
Hope And Despair
In Two Meetings
I had the opportunity recently to attend two
significant events in our Christian commu-
nity: one which brought a feeling of hope
and joy and one which spoke to the despair
of the Holocaust.
April 3 was “A Day to Honor Israel”
at Word of Faith International Christian
Center with Bishop Keith Butler and guest
Pastor John Hagee, National Chairman of
Christians United for Israel (CUFI).
With an audience of more than 3,000
parishioners and a few members of the
Jewish community, we heard about the
importance of Christians fighting anti-Sem-
itism and supporting Israel based on biblical
texts from the Hebrew and Christian bibles.
Given the rise of anti-Semitism today, it
was nice to know we have friends working
the issue both on the college campus and
in the Christian community. Three mil-
lion strong, CUFI will bring 5,000 people to
Washington in July to lobby Congress for
Israel.
Also, a presentation was made on the
tremendous work done for disabled children
at Israel’s ALYN Hospital. This was a very
uplifting event.
On March 18, I attended what I can only
describe as a surreal meeting between the
Chaldean community and State Department
special adviser for religious minorities in
8 April 14 • 2016
the Near East, Knox Thames and U.S. Rep.
David Trott (R-Birmingham).
Mr. Thames had just returned from a
two-week trip to Baghdad, Erbil, Vienna,
Doha, Islamabad and Karachi, where he met
with Christian and Yazidi leaders in Iraq,
along with political leaders in the other loca-
tions. At the meeting were a diverse group
of people including a young Yazidi woman
and a Chaldean woman who had just been
to the area helping people, a doctor who was
providing medical assistance via the internet
and was raising funds for medical needs and
many other concerned people with family
in Iraq.
Mr. Thames spoke about his conversa-
tions with various political leaders, but
when asked about specific help to stop the
genocide occurring in the region against
Christians and minorities, his comments
were always, “We are talking to our partners
and the U.N.”
My mind turned to the Holocaust where
there was a lot of talk by our govern-
ment but little action taken to save Jews.
Unfortunately, very few of the refugees slated
to come to America are those subject to
genocide. The Jewish community, along with
most Americans, is silent.
Hope and despair and clear danger. We
must rise to the challenge. Will you?
Eugene Greenstein
Farmington Hills
President Obama
Is A Friend Of Israel
I read with dismay the quote from Jerusalem
Post columnist Caroline Glick (stated in
the letter to the editor “AIPAC’s Rebuke of
Trump Questioned,” March 31, page 6) about
President Obama being the most anti-Israel
president in United States history.
Ms. Glick also penned a lengthy article last
year about President Obama’s anti-Semitism.
I will not comment about the strength (or
lack thereof) of the reasoning in either of her
comments.
But, please, consider doing the following
in determining the merit of her opinions.
As to the president’s anti-Semitism, you
should consult with Rahm Emanuel, David
Axelrod, Ron Klain, David Plouffe and Tony
Blinken, all former or present top advisers to
the president. You might also want to talk to
Jack Lew and Penny Pritzker, current mem-
bers of the president’s cabinet; Janet Yellen,
head of the Federal Reserve; Gene Sperling,
chairperson of the Council of Economic
Advisers,;and both Elana Kagan, Supreme
Court justice appointed by the president, and
Merrick Garland, the president’s nominee to
replace Justice Scalia on the Supreme Court.
All, of course, are Jewish, and I believe
that Mr. Lew is Orthodox. As to the presi-
dent’s apparent dislike or hatred of Israel, I
refer you to the words about the president
spoken this year by a prominent Israeli poli-
tician and statesman:
“I didn’t say he didn’t make mistakes. That
would be inhuman. But he did great things
above the average. And I think the history
books will judge him as a great president.
Everybody in Israel knows when it comes
to the major issue of Israel, her security, he
answered all of our calls. And he was con-
sistent. And he was really the best we could
have asked for. And we have to say thank
you.”
The prominent Israeli politician and
statesman is Shimon Peres.
Paul Groffsky
West Bloomfield
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