NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A9791
SPONSOR: Sepulveda TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the education law, in relation to
instruction on the Garifuna people
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This purpose of this bill is to increase awareness and cultural compe-
tency throughout the New York State community by making that Garifuna
people a mandatory part of our education curriculum.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section 1. Calls upon the regents of the university of the State of New
York to include the "the history of the Garifuna People" to a previously
established list of pedagogically important historical topics. This
section also ensures that there rules regarding attendance during the
instruction of this added materials, enforced by the commissioner.
Section 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
JUSTIFICATION:
The Garifuna are an ethnic group of mixed ancestry - descendants of
Carib, Arawak and African people living along the Caribbean Coast in
Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras and St. Vincent and the Grena-
dines. A seafaring people, they arrived in the United States as merchant
marines during World War II. Today, New York City is home to the largest
Garifuna population outside of Central America with an estimated 200,000
living in the South Bronx, Brownsville and East New York in Brooklyn,
and Harlem.
This part of our population represents the growing Afro-Latino represen-
tation within New York State. With the growing representation it is
important to make sure that the New York State community is attuned to
interacting and understanding the histories of our neighbors. Garifuna
history is not just Central American history but also New York history.
Adding the history of the Garifuna people to our educational curriculum
contributes to the bridging of cultural and historical blind spots in
our understanding of how New York became what it is today.
The inclusion of the history of Garifuna people is not unprecedented
since New York State educates our students on other immigrant histories
such as: the Holocaust, mass starvation of Ireland from 1845 to 1850 and
various other human rights issues related to genocide. The inclusion of
Garifuna history will educate a better New York workforce that
would.have an understanding of not solely domestic and European history,
but also Latin American and Afro-diasporic.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
New Bill.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of next July.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
9791
IN ASSEMBLY
April 8, 2016
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SEPULVEDA -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to instruction on the
Garifuna people
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Subdivisions 1 and 3 of section 801 of the education law,
2 as amended by chapter 574 of the laws of 1997, are amended to read as
3 follows:
4 1. In order to promote a spirit of patriotic and civic service and
5 obligation and to foster in the children of the state moral and intel-
6 lectual qualities which are essential in preparing to meet the obli-
7 gations of citizenship in peace or in war, the regents of The University
8 of the State of New York shall prescribe courses of instruction in
9 patriotism, citizenship, and human rights issues, with particular atten-
10 tion to the study of the inhumanity of genocide, slavery (including the
11 freedom trail and underground railroad), the Holocaust, the history of
12 the Garifuna people, and the mass starvation in Ireland from 1845 to
13 1850, to be maintained and followed in all the schools of the state. The
14 boards of education and trustees of the several cities and school
15 districts of the state shall require instruction to be given in such
16 courses, by the teachers employed in the schools therein. All pupils
17 attending such schools, over the age of eight years, shall attend upon
18 such instruction.
19 Similar courses of instruction shall be prescribed and maintained in
20 private schools in the state, and all pupils in such schools over eight
21 years of age shall attend upon such courses. If such courses are not so
22 established and maintained in a private school, attendance upon instruc-
23 tion in such school shall not be deemed substantially equivalent to
24 instruction given to pupils of like age in the public schools of the
25 city or district in which such pupils reside.
26 3. The regents shall determine the subjects to be included in such
27 courses of instruction in patriotism, citizenship, and human rights
28 issues, with particular attention to the study of the inhumanity of
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD14821-01-6
A. 9791 2
1 genocide, slavery (including the freedom trail and underground rail-
2 road), the Holocaust, the history of the Garifuna people, and the mass
3 starvation in Ireland from 1845 to 1850, and in the history, meaning,
4 significance and effect of the provisions of the constitution of the
5 United States, the amendments thereto, the declaration of independence,
6 the constitution of the state of New York and the amendments thereto,
7 and the period of instruction in each of the grades in such subjects.
8 They shall adopt rules providing for attendance upon such instruction
9 and for such other matters as are required for carrying into effect the
10 objects and purposes of this section. The commissioner shall be respon-
11 sible for the enforcement of such section and shall cause to be
12 inspected and supervise the instruction to be given in such subjects.
13 The commissioner may, in his discretion, cause all or a portion of the
14 public school money to be apportioned to a district or city to be with-
15 held for failure of the school authorities of such district or city to
16 provide instruction in such courses and to compel attendance upon such
17 instruction, as herein prescribed, and for a non-compliance with the
18 rules of the regents adopted as herein provided.
19 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of July next succeeding
20 the date on which it shall have become a law.
