A liberal school district issued guidance in late August that directed teachers not to “associate” the devastating 9/11 attacks “with Islam or Muslims.”
Now, conservative legal group America First Legal is demanding answers from Fairfax County Public Schools in Virginia after it issued guidance to teachers ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks, focusing on combating “anti-Muslim bias.” The guidance downplayed Islam’s links to the attacks and focused on building “safe spaces” for Muslim students.
The district, just outside of Washington, D.C., is located only miles away from where Islamic hijackers affiliated with Al Qaeda crashed a plane into the Pentagon, killing over 180 people. The county is a deep blue enclave, with over 65% of voters backing Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
America First Legal announced Wednesday that it would be requesting all communications and documents related to the creation of the guidance. The public records request, filed earlier this month, seeks to determine how the guide was created and whether there were any outside influences.
“Fairfax County Public Schools is attempting to sanitize history and erase the radical Islamic terrorism that struck our nation on September 11, 2001,” said America First Legal Counsel Will Scolinos. “Those unforgettable attacks are a national tragedy, with effects far exceeding ‘Islamophobia.’ Parents and the public must have full transparency regarding who is responsible for stripping truth from our children’s classrooms.”
The guidance, first reported on by Fox News, focused more on addressing supposed racism than on reflecting on the deadly attacks.
“Do not focus a commemorative learning experience about 9/11 on an examination of Islam. Students deserve consistent and meaningful learning about world religions, and about Muslim perspectives and contributions, throughout their K-12 experience,” teachers in the county were told. “But teachers who decide to take a deep dive into world religions as part of their 9/11 lesson unintentionally send the harmful message that Islam, or all Muslims, are responsible for these terrorist attacks.”
While recognizing that the attacks were carried out by Al Qaeda, the guidance from Fairfax County said its ideology should not be linked to “Islam or to Muslims as a religious community.” Teachers were also told to “intentionally include Muslim Americans among the heroes, helpers, and victims represented in your teaching about 9/11.”
In contrast to Fairfax County, Texas has approved new curriculum standards that ensure students are taught the connection between the 9/11 attacks and radical Islam. The history standards in Texas will also discuss the violence surrounding the emergence of Islam.
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