‘Killing America’ and The Evolution of Hate

Filmmaker Eli Steele set out  to explore why antisemitism exploded in Bay Area schools, and subsequently why it is prevalent on many campuses across the state. The result is “Killing America,” a captivating 38-minute documentary featuring interviews with parents, teachers, students and footage of a school board meeting. 

The film presents a compelling, alarming and frustrating narrative. It highlights the prioritization of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (DEI) and ethnic studies over honor classes. However, after uploading the movie trailer on YouTube and other social media platforms, Steele received a cease-and-desist letter from Menlo-Atherton High School’s M-A Chronicle, accusing him of using footage of a school board meeting without permission.

“They gave me 10 days to remove the footage from the film or I would be sued,” Steele told the Journal. “But two days after April 2, they filed bogus copyright claims against my trailer on YouTube and Vimeo and had the trailer removed. I knew I clearly didn’t violate any terms. I used the footage under the Fair Use doctrine, which allows the use of copyrighted footage as long as it is transformed.”

In one of the clips taken from the school board meeting at the Sequoia Union High School District, a student raised a sign that read: “Let’s not forget the IDF lied about the beheading of 40 babies.” An Israeli parent whose family in Israel was greatly affected by a Hamas terror attack protested, but was quickly silenced by one of the board members who sided with the student, saying that the students have the right to speak for or against anyone they want.

The idea of making the film began last August when a group of parents in the Bay Area reached out to Steele about honor classes being replaced gradually by ethnic studies. Those didn’t include teaching about the Holocaust but rather promoted antisemitism in a way, portraying Israel as the oppressor and the Palestinians as the oppressed. Some parents referred to the slideshow the teacher presented as “propaganda.”

“We talked back and forth, and after Oct. 7 I heard from the parents again, and that’s when I started the investigation,” Steele said. 

Steele recalled how he attended a student protest in Long Beach after Oct. 7 and was shocked to find activists demonstrating against Israel and in support of Hamas. “What surprised me is that they didn’t have the decency to acknowledge what happened to Israeli civilians. I have seen that before, a few years ago when I made ‘What Killed Michael Brown.’”

That documentary delved into race relations in the United States, examining the 2014 shooting in self-defense of Michael Brown by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. The killing sparked riots at the time. The film asserts that since the 1960s, whites have been regularly accused of racism.

The film was initially rejected by Amazon for its streaming service but later added following public criticism. “This was one of the first times in America when bigotry happened,” Steele said. “The country split about what happened to Michael Brown and I saw it play out again on October 7.”

”I wanted to give parents a voice because they’ve been silenced and ridiculed for so long by the school board, activist teachers and school authorities.”
– Eli Steele

He continued, “People often ask why I made ‘Killing America’ and Diana Blum, the film’s main subject, said something that summed up my thoughts perfectly. I wanted to give parents a voice because they’ve been silenced and ridiculed for so long by the school board, activist teachers and school authorities. This film is our way to get around that ideological resistance and be heard once and for all.”

Blum, a mother of two Menlo-Atherton High School students who immigrated to the United States as a child, explained that her parents didn’t want her to experience antisemitism in Ukraine, only for her to encounter it again as an adult in the States. The film starts with Blum reading quotes and posts by teachers and students in the Bay Area: “Glory to Hamas,” “Hamas are freedom fighters” and “I hope Tel Aviv gets bombed.”

Blum, a neurologist, said she felt sad to see history repeating itself, but it also motivated her to speak up. “I never felt antisemitism growing up. Seeing the complete disregard from folks here, all the support for the violence, to see what is happening in my kids’ school. The fact that my parents sacrificed everything to come here so I would not suffer … and now my kids, I’m watching them suffer.”

Five of the people who agreed to be interviewed on camera got cold feet and pulled out at the last minute, including teachers who feared losing their jobs. However, one agreed to be shown on camera with his face obscured. This teacher portrayed the school system as taking away individualism and replacing it with a singular way of thinking.

“Some teachers do not allow their kids to express their own opinions because their thinking doesn’t align with the masses,” said the teacher. “They talk about community in the classroom. They want everything to align with the same lines of thinking or the same feelings about certain things; the government is going to take care of you. You don’t need to worry about being in the honors track. You just belong here with all the rest of society.”

Christine Linnebach, a Friends of Lowell Foundation board member,  was quoted in the film that “right after George Floyd, it seemed that there was an injustice that had occurred, but that injustice, just like napalm, triggered injustices throughout all of our school boards across the nation. All these merit-based high schools were suddenly under attack by the progressive members of the board of education who had decided that grades and test scores were racist. The school board weaponized everybody’s skin color and you were either an oppressor or the oppressed. The progressive dogma, the ideology of promoting diversity, is really creating a system of division and hatred.”

This environment allowed teachers like Chloe Gentile-Montgomery from Menlo-Atherton High to teach students that Israel had stolen the land from the Palestinians, presenting a false map allegedly depicting before and after Israel got control of the land, and falsely quoting the U.N. as saying that the creation of Israel was illegal.

The Almanac, a San Francisco-based online news site, quoted Hila Maoz, an Israeli parent who was at the school board meeting. The mother, whose child studies at M-A said: “This is a presentation that spreads hatred. My daughter was harassed … We as Israelis and Jews are being harassed, we are targeted, and we no longer feel at home.”

Steele emphasized that this type of teaching isn’t exclusive to this school or the Bay Area alone; it’s happening all over California and beyond. This sets the background for why we are witnessing so much antisemitism on U.S. campuses. The root of the problem lies – among other things – in the school system.

“It is everywhere,” he said. “That’s why so many communities are requesting the film: to highlight the antisemitism in their area and to discuss what can be done,” said Steele.

The premiere of “Killing America” took place on March 2 at the Guild in Menlo Park, CA.

“I invited the principal of Menlo-Atherton High and the Sequoia School District Board. Nobody came,” Steele said. “Later, the principal slammed the film as propaganda and called it ridiculous. But he hadn’t watched the film. He based his views on the trailer only. So obviously there is a huge bias in the community, and it’s not surprising that the paper would want to censor the film.”

Steele could have easily created a longer documentary on the subject, but the rise in antisemitism prompted him to edit and release it early. In a post on X, he wrote:

“The ‘crime’ that ‘Killing America’ commits is telling the truth during these ideological times. Watch the film and you’ll see why extremist ideologues are doing everything in their power to censor it and why I decided not to play their game and go straight to you, The People.

“I have made the point to release this film as widely as possible for free because I want the word out. We’ve been too timid for too long and allowed ourselves to be intimidated. Please share this film widely.”

When asked what can be done to turn things around, Steele said he encourages parents to go to school board meetings, make sure they are aware of what their children are being taught and voice their concerns.

“Killing America,” can be streamed at rumble.com/v4np95x-killing-america-documentary-38-mins.html.