You might remember that Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) was recently in the news for pulling a fire alarm as a delaying tactic before a critical vote to avoid a government shutdown.
Bowman was censured for his action that he swears was "accidental." But before he was elected to Congress in 2020, Bowman was the principal at Cornerstone Academy for Social Action Middle School (CASA).
While at CASA, he created a "Wall of Honor" recognizing famous black and Latino people to give the children a "version of history in which they could see themselves," according to the Huffington Post.
Do black and Latino kids really want to see themselves as murderers and antisemites?
“Each and every member of the Wall of Honor has played a major role in moving our society from a bigoted, oppressive existence toward a world of freedom, justice, and equality,” Bowman said in a video posted to YouTube in 2014.
Included in the usual pantheon of black and Latino heroes like Martin Luther King, Jr., Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Sonia Sotomayor, Mahatma Gandhi, and poet/playwright Langston Hughes were some unsavory characters that don't belong on any wall except a "wall of shame."
The Wall also included former Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.), a notorious antisemite and 9/11 truther, as well as black militant Mutulu Shakur, who served a long prison sentence for armed robbery, and Assata Shakur, godmother of rapper Tupac Shakur and a radical activist and member of the Black Liberation Army who was convicted of murdering a New Jersey state trooper. She broke out of prison in 1984 and has been living in Cuba ever since.
The “Wall of Honor” is likely to become an issue in Bowman’s contentious race for reelection on June 25. He faces a robust primary challenge from Westchester County Executive George Latimer, who has the backing of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and its deep-pocketed donors. The race in the safely Democratic district is seen as a bellwether for progressive standing within the Democratic coalition, following gains they’ve made in the House of Representatives over the past six years.
In a statement to HuffPost, Bowman’s campaign did not convey any regret about the decision, instead likening McKinney’s, Assata Shakur’s, and Mutulu Shakur’s flaws to those of less controversial Black leaders like King and Malcolm X. Bowman has also distanced himself from McKinney’s antisemitic views in the past.
Bowman's camp glosses over the fact that he chose to honor a cop killer, an armed robber, and a virulent antisemite.
“It is correct that many leaders in the Black liberation movement, from Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X to the names listed in this story, have complicated biographies,” campaign spokesperson Sarah Iddrissu said. “It is completely baseless, and a rhetorical tool of the far-right, to insinuate educating students on major figures of Black American history is serving to promote hateful or divisive rhetoric or actions.”
"Completely baseless" that teaching kids that a cop killer is a hero isn't "hateful and divisive"? Sheesh.
“In the very video this story is based on, Bowman praises peace and nonviolence,” Iddrissu added. So do most of the Black Lives Matter activists. That doesn't make them "peaceful."
But other black Democrats aren't convinced.
“This is an example of teaching the wrong lessons to children and just a deep misunderstanding of history,” said Tyrone Stevens, a New York City-based Democratic strategist.
So, too, is the idea that kids need to read a "version of history in which they could see themselves." It's a far too literal definition of kids "seeing themselves." Certain universal human qualities transcend race, nationality, gender, and any other attribute of human beings. You find them in the soul of people, not in their race, religion, or where they come from.
Bowman should stick to pulling fire alarms and teepeeing Republican houses and leave educating kids to people who are interested in broadening their minds, not closing them.
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