This Juneteenth, parents need the right to speak up about school curriculum

Los Angeles-area school responded to the death of George Floyd by ditching its traditional curriculum for an 'anti-racist' one. A frustrated dad sued.

Kenneth Marcus is Founder and Chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law and author of The Definition of Anti-Semitism. He served as the 11th Assistant U.S. Secretary of Education for Civil Rights.

It hardly need be said that Brentwood, like its peers, is all about exclusivity, not inclusivity. The irony, in the current climate, is that such institutions preserve the former by preaching the latter. That is to say, they protect their place in the cultural elite by maintaining appearances. The school’s curricular overhaul communicates the school’s faddish resolve to stay current with fashionable progressive orthodoxies.

Brentwood’s new curriculum was birthed out of shame, not hope. Last June, eight days after George Floyd’s killing, the school posted a black square on Instagram. This was part of the #BlackoutTuesday social media campaign. Many institutions were engaging in anodyne virtue-signaling. Brentwood’s posting, however, provoked a different response than most.