Now that Dhabah aka Debbie Almontaser has resigned as the
principal-designate of the Khalil Gibran International Academy
and has been replaced by a Jewish woman, Danielle Salzberg, some
assume the opposition to the school itself is over. That
supposition would be false. Commenting on the new principal, the
Stop Madrassa Community Coalition released this statement:
"Salzberg is completely implicated in Almontaser's radical
designs for KGIA. She should be permitted to return to New
Visions to work on other schools, and KGIA should not open in
September."
The demand for information from the Department of Education
continues. The big question is why isn't the ACLU involved in
this issue?
The last I heard, this legal civil liberty organization was
seeking removal of a cross in a Louisiana courtroom and
threatening a lawsuit in Connecticut because a public school was
using a cathedral for its commencement ceremony. Meanwhile New
York has created an Arabic public school which has several
religious clerics on the advisory board. That's as incongruous as
if the city had established a Gaelic school with Cardinal Egan on
the Board.
The New York Sun has been reporting the existence of this school
since March 16th when our education columnist Andrew Wolf wrote,
"The city's Department of Education is wrong in establishing
any school that focuses exclusively on one culture." In
April, Daniel Pipes warned that a Madrassa was growing in
Brooklyn and by the time my May column calling it a monstrous
idea appeared, a grassroots community group seeking to end this
project was formed. Stop the Madrassa Community Coalition sent a
Freedom of Information Law request to the governor and the mayor.
One of the representatives, Sara Springer, went on the
"Hannity & Colmes" program to explain that the DOE
had not responded to requests for information on the proposed
curricula or why the school has a religious advisory board.
Another panelist on the cable show was Hussein Ibish, executive
director of the Hala Salaam Maksoud Foundation for Arab-American
Leadership, who supports the school and asserted that the
coalition's Web site, www.stopmadrassa.wordpress.com, was filled
with bigotry and hatred. In her resignation, Ms. Almontaser said
the critics' "intolerant and hateful tone has come to
frighten some of the parents and incoming parents." It's so
easy to toss that word, "hate" when confronted by
opposition to one's agenda but I found nothing on that Web site
or in any of the critics' (who include Diane Ravitch and Randi
Weingarten) statements that compares to the fury of supporters of
the school. Once my column was quoted by the New York Times, I
received what can only be described as evil correspondence
condemning me in vivid detail to the same fate as certain
Holocaust victims. It certainly made me wonder what kind of
person still reads the New York Times. Reuters also accused me of
inflaming Islamophobia. That was a mild curse, but Reuters is
hardly a credible news source anymore since they were once again
caught using fake photographs to illustrate their news.
All parties agree that we do need more Arab language instruction,
if only for our national security. When I was in high school
during the Cold War, our school offered Russian as an
after-school program. Ms. Springer told me, "Students should
take languages as electives. Our American way of life,
principles, and Constitution cannot be allowed to dissolve in
multiculturalism and sensitivity training."
The question is, where is the ACLU? If a cross is anywhere to be
found on public property, the ACLU will file a case to have it
removed. Yet, clearly, this zeal is nonexistent when it involves
Islam.
The University of Michigan-Dearborn is spending $25,000 to build
footbaths for Muslim students. In San Diego, an experimental
school, Carver Elementary, has morphed into one with
accommodations for Muslim prayers and dietary needs not
previously made for Christian and Jewish students. In San
Francisco, the Bryon Union School District held a three week
"How to be a Muslim" program wherein students prayed to
Allah and took Islamic names. When the case was taken to court,
the liberal Ninth Circuit ruled for the school.
Perhaps the ACLU requires someone to initiate the complaint and
atheists only seem interested in targeting Christian artifacts.
Exactly what is it about the religion of peace that makes it
immune from litigious nonbelievers?