An independent Jewish day school on the North Side of Chicago elevated a teacher with a history of outrageous comments to head the school’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) division.
Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day school recently promoted sixth-grade history teacher Johanna Thompson to head its DEI division. According to an article from the Chicago Contrarian, Thompson has a history of intolerance against Republicans, white people, and males.
According to her school profile, Thompson is a “nationally trained” SEED (Seeking Educational Equity and Diversity) facilitator and “leads year-long professional development for faculty/staff cohorts to broaden understanding of how inclusion could look at Bernard Zell.”
In a Facebook post, Thompson wrote, “Dear white men, please get your white man.” She also denounced white people for voting for former President Donald Trump. The teacher reposted a tweet that claimed Americans placed “Whiteness over democracy. Whiteness over safety. Whiteness over justice.”
via Chicago Contrarian
via Chicago Contrarian
She also referred to parents in a New York City school system as “big-mad white people.”
via Chicago Contrarian
On Twitter, Thompson said that white people — such as herself — cannot talk about equity unless they are willing to make concessions.
“White people, we can’t talk about equity unless we are willing to give something up. If we aren’t able to see that our ‘spot’ exists actually at the expense of someone/some neighborhood/some entire group of people else, and that it has for centuries and that for a just society to be a reality, we might have to have less of something — and be okay with that — then our equity talk is bullshit,” Thompson wrote.
via Chicago Contrarian
In a 2018 Facebook post, Thompson said that Donald Trump “literally IS white supremacy.”
via Chicago Contrarian
The Chicago Contrarian reported that a former Bernard Zell student claimed that Thompson asked boys to do extra cleanup work to make amends for past discrimination against women.
Thompson did not respond to The Daily Wire’s request for comment.
Bernard Zell’s Head of School Gary Weisserman dodged questions about whether Thompson’s social media posts were appropriate.
“The responsibility to educate our students is one we take seriously,” Weisserman told The Daily Wire. “Each day we set out to engage students in a program of rigorous studies through a variety of classroom and real world opportunities, while acting in our students’ best interests and holding ourselves to the highest standards.”
According to Bernard Zell’s DEI page, the school has joined a growing list of elite schools pushing “woke” propaganda on children. Under the school’s DEI curriculum goals, it claims that the curriculum will be reviewed to “improve, enhance, and expand its teaching of diversity, anti-racism, anti-semitism, and justice.”
The school also promised to “develop and enhance community partnerships that give students and families the opportunity to actively engage in the promotion of social justice and anti-racism.”