ICAN Hosts Inaugural LAUSD Summit on Antisemitism

The Israeli-American Civic Action Network (ICAN) hosted the first-ever summit with the Los Angeles Unified School District addressing rising antisemitism in the state.

The summit, which was held virtually on May 15, featured Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Los Angeles Senior Associate Regional Director Matt Friedman reviewing data from the ADL’s latest report that was released on May 9. The report found 3,697 antisemitic incidents in 2022––the highest ever recorded by the ADL––a stark increase from the 751 incidents that were documented in 2013. In California, the ADL documented 518 incidents in 2022, a 41% increase from the 367 recorded the year before. Such incidents included the white supremacist organization Goyim Defense League’s (GDL) propaganda campaign through banners draped over freeways declaring that “Kanye Was Right” and flyers dropped on people’s porches blaming Jews for the “COVID agenda.” “Words escalate,” Friedman warned, pointing to the Pico-Robertson shootings in February as an example, since the shooter claimed to have been influenced by the GDL flyers.

Simon Wiesenthal Center Associate Dean and Director of Global Social Action Agenda Rabbi Abraham Cooper further explained the severity of the problem, citing FBI Director Christopher Wray’s figures that 63% of hate crimes targeting religious identity went against Jews, who comprise only 2.4% of the American population. “It’s an unacceptable situation,” Cooper said.

Jennifer, an LAUSD parent and educator who did not provide her last name, told viewers that she is a mass shooting survivor, as she was at the North Valley Jewish Community Center (JCC) that was targeted by a white supremacist with an Uzi submachine gun in 1999. “This changed my life forever, to say the least,” Jennifer said. “I am worried about the antisemitism that is happening in our schools.” As an educator, she recalled being yelled by an administrator for leaving early to observe Yom Kippur despite informing the administrator about her plans beforehand. 

Jennifer’s two daughters have also been subjected to antisemitism; her younger daughter was subjected to cyberbullying and told “she was a cheap Jew and no one liked her because she was a Jew.” Her older daughter was asked by her teachers if she was Jewish “with negative connotation” due to her last name, Jennifer added. “My daughter has cried to me on numerous occasions asking, ‘why do they hate me because I’m Jewish,’” she said. “It’s not ok that this is still happening in our schools in 2023.”

Various LAUSD officials spoke during the summit about their commitment to fighting rising antisemitism. Superintendent Alberto M. Carvalho said that while “schools represent a manifestation of this scourge” of antisemitism, schools are also the “perfect solution” to combating hate. “Education is the solution, and education must continue to be the solution to deal with antisemitic actions that unfortunately target students and adults in our community,” Cavalho said. “We want to understand the root causes and the manifestations of antisemitism so we can bring about educational solutions for these problems.” He pledged to make LAUSD a bastion of “safe havens” to protect students from hate. 

Cecily Myart-Cruz, who heads the United Teachers Los Angeles (UTLA) union, declared that more than 35,000 union members are “standing up to combat hate, injustice and antisemitism in our schools and in our workplaces and in our classrooms.” “This type of hatred has no business in our schools and in our workplaces and in the world and so it is going to be up to us working together to end these kind of practices,” Myart-Cruz said.

LAUSD Board Member Nick Melvoin, who is Jewish, explained to viewers that “most hatred stems from fear” and “fear comes from a lack of understanding.” He recalled that when he taught at a school in Watts, most of the students there hadn’t met a Jew before, which Melvoin said showed the importance of forging “bonds” with other communities. As a board member, Melvoin said he worked with the Jewish Federation and others “to end a biased pro-BDS [Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions] salary point class for our educators” and to establish “better vetting procedures” to prevent such rhetoric from entering the curriculum; Melvoin also was among lobbying for the defeat of a pro-BDS resolution in UTLA. The school board member said that the resolution “really awoke a sleeping giant” among Jewish educators and others, realizing that “we can’t sleep on our laurels.”

Melvoin called for a more “holistic” ethnic studies curriculum that “places [the] Jewish experience among others as a persecuted minority” as well as better reporting mechanisms to help fight antisemitism. “By continuing to spread awareness and understanding about the Jewish faith, I know we can create a future where the threat of antisemitism is a distant memory,” Melvoin said.

Judy Chiasson, coordinator for LAUSD’s Human Relations, Diversity and Equity Department, explained to viewers that if their child faced a hate incident at school, the best thing parents can do is simply listen and learn what their child experienced at school. When reporting the incident to the school, parents need to be “as factual as possible,” Chiasson said, as saying “my child was bullied” isn’t as effective as saying their child was pushed during lunch and called a slur. “The more factual information you can give … the better equipped they’re going to be to respond to that allegation,” Chiasson said.

During the Q&A session, Melvoin, Chiasson and LAUSD Board of Education Vice President Scott M. Schmerelson were asked about the possibility of the board adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. Melvoin replied that “this summit is a good first step” toward that goal and that the community can provide “insight” on their “lived experiences.” Earlier in the summit, Cooper advocated for the adoption of IHRA, saying that he has heard officials from various universities lament to him that they don’t have a definition to provide bias training and identify acts of hate. He added that he hoped the summit would help create momentum for IHRA to be adopted. 

Cooper also said that the community “shouldn’t take it for granted” that the LAUSD superintendent and UTLA head were at the summit since often the community is at “loggerheads” with people in power across the country.

Other speakers included Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles Senior Vice President of Community Engagement Joanna Mendelson, LAUSD Board Member Kelly Gonez, and LAUSD Association of Jewish Educators Vice President and Fairfax High School Assistant Principal Lisa Regan-DeRoss. ICAN Chairman and CEO Dillon Hosier moderated the summit.