Raga, Shimsky, Colton, Rozic, Sillitti, Hevesi, Burdick, Braunstein, Simon, Tague, McDonough,
Glick, Kim, Ramos, Gonzalez-Rojas, Rajkumar, Reyes, Jean-Pierre, De Los Santos, Zaccaro, Epstein
MLTSPNSR
Add 801-b, Ed L
Requires the commissioner to establish Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history and civic impact curriculum or instructions for school districts.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A6579A
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 commissioner to establish Asian American, Native
Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history and civic impact curriculum or
instruction for school districts..
Section2 provides the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
As Asian Americans continue to experience an unprecedented surge of
scanegoating, discrimination, hatred, and racist violence, it is more
imc,ortant 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 under-
standing 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 under-
stood.,. Similarly,. without a full and honest assessment of America's
long history of anti-Asian racism, contemporary hate crimes are often
characterized as random and isolated incidents rather than an expression
of systemic racism targeting Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders."
"And as novelist Min Jin Len 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.
