Genocide Education Curriculum Bill under Consideration
Genocide education has clearly become an issue of particular interest in the neighboring states of Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The same week that Rhode Island Governor Lincoln D. Chafee signed legislation passed by the General Assembly requiring the Department of Education to help local schools teach students about genocide as a critical component of civic education, the Joint Committee on Education for the State of Massachusetts was hearing testimony in support of House Bill 1064, which requires that genocide education be included in the state’s classrooms.
H1064 requires that the General Laws be amended by adding a section, which states that genocide shall be included in the Massachusetts history and social science curriculum frameworks for U.S. and world history. Case studies of at least two such genocides should be used to demonstrate the concept of genocide and may include “the genocide of Armenian Christians, the Holocaust and Nazi concentration camps, the genocide of Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge, the genocide of Bosnian Muslims, the genocide of Rwandan Tutsis, and the genocide of Darfurians by the Sudanese government.” The bill also states that the Department of Education shall recommend curricular materials detailing the underlying causes, international reaction, progression, and aftermath of the aforementioned genocides. Also, the department may provide trainings, seminars, conferences, and materials for educators to use in the teaching of genocide.
Testifying on behalf of the bill were Dr. Dikran Kaligian of the ANC of MA., Prof. Helen Fein of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, Eric Cohen of STAND and Investors Against Genocide, Pauline Getzoyan of the Rhode Island Branch of the Genocide Education Project (GenED), and several students from area high schools and universities. Representatives Jonathan Hecht of Watertown and Sarah Peake of Provincetown also testified in favor of the bill, while no one testified in opposition. Testimony ranged from the specific benefits of including genocide education in the state’s curriculum to the desire of students to understand not only the history of genocide, but also the current state of affairs in places such as Darfur. In fact, on this day, the students testifying offered particularly eloquent and passionate insight on the necessity of genocide education, especially the group from Harwich High School who first proposed the bill to their representative.
While Massachusetts already has a law that recommends the teaching of genocide and human rights issues, the new bills requires it. Unsurprisingly, the Assembly of Turkish American Associations (ATAA) wrote to the Joint Education Committee protesting the fact that they were considering the teaching of the Armenian Genocide. The ATAA was also a plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Massachusetts Department of Education for its curriculum guidelines on the genocide. That lawsuit was dismissed by the federal district and appeals courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the ATAA’s appeal.
As both Rhode Island and Massachusetts consider bills and legislation relating to genocide education, the Sudanese government of indicted war criminal Omar al-Bashir continues its brutal onslaught against civilians in Darfur and South Kordofan. Perhaps these neighboring states will lead the way in providing today’s students with the necessary education on genocide so that future genocides may be prevented.
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