Tuesday, December 27, 2022
Ethnic Studies school administrator argued some Jewish Americans have 'control of systemic power'
An Ethnic Studies school administrator argued that White, Jewish people benefit from systems of oppression that disenfranchise all people of color, according to communications FOIA'd by Parents Defending Education.
When asked whether the Jewish community was included in development of Seattle Public Schools' (SPS) Ethnic Studies program, program manager Tracy Castro-Gill explained that because the program takes "an intersectional approach to evert aspect of identity… input from people and communities of color has been prioritized."
PDE filed a public records request to obtain Castro-Gill's emails containing the terms "Jewish," "Judaism," and "antisemitism" from September 1, 2018, to June 30, 2020.
Castro-Gill worked as SPS's Ethnic Studies program manager from September 2018 to June 2020, when the district released its controversial ethnic studies framework. Castro-Gill is now the executive director of the advocacy organization Washington Ethnic Studies Now (WESN).
Castro-Gill explained that "Judaism would not be a central topic in an ethnic studies program" because "data show that Jewish Americans benefit from current systems of power and, for the most part, have access to and control of systemic power" and "Jewish history of oppression and resistance is a major focus in the current Eurocentric narratives of history."
She linked to a 2016 article from The Atlantic entitled, "Are Jews White?" to support her argument.
"In studying Judaism, we would be interested in centering Jewish people of color and how their religious, ethnic, and racial identities intersect," Castro-Gill wrote in an email. "We could also critically analyze how white Jewish people benefit from systems of oppression that disenfranchise all people of color."
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