Requires instruction regarding symbols of hate, including the swastika and the noose, to be incorporated into the curricula for grades six through twelve.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8545
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
August 23, 2019
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LAVINE -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Education
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring instruction
regarding symbols of hate
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature hereby finds the
2 recent spike in hate crimes across our state and nation as a whole to be
3 highly disturbing and a societal epidemic in need of remedy. As many of
4 our youth are not aware of the hateful connotations behind swastikas and
5 nooses, it is necessary for the legislature to mandate compulsory educa-
6 tion in all schools across our great state in regard to the meanings of
7 these two symbols of hate. Requiring students be educated in the signif-
8 icance of these displays of bigotry will go a long way toward fostering
9 a more inclusive and tolerant society for all.
10 § 2. The education law is amended by adding a new section 801-b to
11 read as follows:
12 § 801-b. Instruction regarding symbols of hate. The regents shall
13 ensure that the course of instruction for grades six through twelve
14 includes a component on the meaning of the swastika as the emblem of
15 Nazi Germany, as well as the noose as a symbol of racism and intim-
16 idation. The regents shall determine how to incorporate such components
17 into existing curricula, and the commissioner shall promulgate any regu-
18 lations needed to carry out such determination of the regents.
19 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of September next
20 succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13613-01-9
