Requires the board of regents to identify and integrate into the history curriculum material that reflects Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history for all students in public elementary, middle and high school for all public school grades.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6579
SPONSOR: Lee TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to requiring public
elementary schools and high schools to provide instruction in Asian
American history and civic impact
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To require public schools to integrate Asian American, Native Hawaiian,
and Pacific Islander history into history or social studies curriculum
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1 directs the board of regents to identify and integrate curric-
ular material that reflects Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific
Islander history. Also directs the commissioner to provide technical
assistance in the development of curricula on Asian American, Native
Hawaiian and Pacific Islander history and civic impact and to provide
suitable course materials.
Section 2 provides the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
As Asian Americans continue to experience an unprecedented surge of
scapegoating, discrimination, hatred, and racist violence, it is more
important than ever to integrate Asian American history into New York
State's public school curricula as a means to help dispel the ignorance
and negative stereotypes that have remained prevalent in modern culture.
Content related to Asian American history, heritage and culture on both
the regional and national levels is often absent from curriculum in New
York State schools. Combined with generations of intolerance, this
absence has greatly contributed to the lack of knowledge and understand-
ing of Asian Americans, particularly in light of the recent COVID-19
pandemic, which was repeatedly mischaracterized as the "China Virus,"
and "Kung Flu," by leaders such as President Donald Trump.
Asian Americans experienced a more than a 300% increase in hate crimes
in the wake of such divisive rhetoric during the pandemic. Notable cases
like Yao Pan Mao, Christina Yuna Lee, and the attacks of three Sikh men
on one block in Queens were just some examples of the many anti-Asian
hate crimes that dominated the headlines on a regular basis.
As historian and author Erika Lee writes, "Stereotypes of Asian Ameri-
cans as spies, terrorists, inassimilable foreigners, or model minorities
dominate the ways in which entire communities are viewed and understood.
Similarly, without a full and honest assessment of America's long histo-
ry of anti-Asian racism, contemporary hate crimes are often character-
ized as random and isolated incidents rather than an expression of
systemic racism targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders."
"And as novelist Min Jin Lee wrote in 2022, "Ever since Asians began
arriving in the United States, they have been met with hostility and
rejection, often sanctioned by state and federal legislation. The sad
part is that so little has changed.
"Back in the '70s and '80s, the West feared the growth of Japan; as
China became a superpower, Sinophobia rose, too. Since 9/11, Islamopho-
bia and attacks against Sikhs and Hindus have been unrelenting. Now the
Covid pandemic and demagogy have brought more waves of hatred.
"Do I reasonably expect another person or a government body to keep me
safe in some perfect way? I can't say that I do. That has not often been
my experience."
Integrating the Asian American experience into the public school curric-
ulum would not only allow Asian American children the chance to finally
see themselves reflected accurately in American history, but it is a
critical step in dismantling the endless barrage of anti-Asian stere-
otypes that categorize Asian Americans as either the perpetual foreig-
ners or the seemingly-benign but equally destructive model minorities.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2021-2022: Referred to Education
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
TBD
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding the date
on which it shall have become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6579
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
April 19, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LEE -- read once and referred to the Committee on
Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring public
elementary schools and high schools to provide instruction in Asian
American history and civic impact
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 801-b
2 to read as follows:
3 § 801-b. Curricular materials of study in Asian American, Native Hawa-
4 iian, and Pacific Islander history and civic impact. 1. The board of
5 regents is authorized and directed to identify and integrate curricular
6 material that reflects Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific
7 Islander history. Such material of study shall be required for all
8 students in each grade of every public elementary school, public middle
9 school and public high school and should be included as part of the
10 history or social studies curriculum of such schools. Instruction shall
11 be provided by the teachers employed in the schools therein. Such
12 instruction shall include, but shall not be limited to, instruction in
13 the following:
14 a. The history of diaspora of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and
15 Pacific Islanders in New York and the Northeast;
16 b. The movements and policies that impacted the Asian American, Native
17 Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander community in the United States;
18 c. The contributions made by the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and
19 Pacific Islander communities in government, the arts, humanities,
20 science and the economic, cultural, social and political development of
21 the United States;
22 d. The structures and historical events that have limited or harmed
23 the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander and other histor-
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06038-02-3
A. 6579 2
1 ically marginalized communities especially as it pertains to the civil
2 rights movement; and
3 e. The solidarity between Asian American, Native Hawaiian, Pacific
4 Islander and other historically marginalized communities especially as
5 it pertains to the civil rights movement.
6 2. The commissioner, shall provide technical assistance to assist in
7 the development and integration of curricular materials for such courses
8 of study which shall be age appropriate and developed according to the
9 needs and abilities of students at successive grade levels in order to
10 provide understanding, awareness, skills, information and support to aid
11 in the knowledge of Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islan-
12 der history and civic impact.
13 3. The commissioner shall make available to all public elementary
14 schools, middle schools and high schools in the state suitable curric-
15 ulum materials to aid in the instruction of students in Asian American,
16 Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history and civic impact and shall
17 promulgate rules and regulations governing such courses of study.
18 4. Completion of a history or social studies course that integrates
19 Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander curricular materi-
20 al shall constitute an affirmation by students of their commitment to
21 respect the dignity of all races and peoples and to forever eschew every
22 form of discrimination in their lives and careers.
23 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
24 the date on which it shall have become a law.
