by Mark Bauerlein, First Things
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has been indicted for a variety of crimes. To laymen, the allegation is that the organization has been paying hate groups to engage in hate and broadcast their hate so that the organization can cast itself as a champion of anti-hate and fundraise. The charges will play out in the courts in one way or another. But battling bigots and haters isn’t the only activity of the SPLC. It’s a multimillion-dollar operation with many legs, one of which reaches into American classrooms.
In National Review in December 2020, Stanley Kurtz reported on illinoiscivics.org, a resource to help teachers in the state implement a civics requirement. The Inclusive Curriculum Law mandated that by the end of eighth grade, students will have been taught about the contributions of LGBTQ individuals to U.S. and Illinois history. Among the materials was an LGBTQ Best Practices Guide that showed teachers how to create a safe and inclusive classroom open to LGBTQ history and (so said the law) provide “LGBTQ+ students the opportunity to see themselves represented in history.” It also recommended a film, Bibi, that portrays a “Latinx” homosexual youth and his late father.
Those lesson plans and materials, which are geared to sixth grade and up, are the creation of Learning for Justice, a project of the SPLC. The “About” page says that the project goes back to the 1990s and has provided curricula to “thousands of educators across the country.” It seeks to “educat[e] for liberation” and insists that “white supremacy and racism” continue to perpetuate harm. Kurtz calls the entire project (and others like it) a “veritable festival of woke.”
Illinois isn’t the only state. Connecticut adopted Learning for Justice materials in several public school systems in the state. The National Education Association recommends Learning for Justice programs and content as part of its Freedom to Learn initiative.