Black Lives Matter shirt: no problem. Pro-cop or pro-Israel shirt: don’t you dare.
This is the lesson a New York City public school teacher learned at his woke Park Slope school, where he teaches English as a Second Language.
The teacher, Jeffrey Levy, says that school principal Neal Singh ordered him to stop wearing a shirt emblazoned with the words “Proud Zionist” and a Star of David while in the school building, despite other staff members wearing shirts with messages supporting Black Lives Matter and women’s rights.
Students and staffer had complained about his shirt, as well as another “Back the Blue” pro-police shirt Levy had previously worn.
“Singh told me that my T-shirt with an Israeli flag on it and the words ‘Proud Zionist’ were politically explosive,” Levy said, noting that he has filed a discrimination complaint with the Department of Education’s Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity.
“He told me that Zionism involved retaking of Palestinian land and is ‘offensive’,” Levy writes in the complaint, filed September 30th.
“Singh has permitted other staff to wear attire with ‘Black Lives Matter,’ ‘Feminism is the radical idea that women are people,’ ‘Feminist’, and ‘O’Connor & Ginsburg & Sotomayor & Kagan,'” the complaint states. “Singh’s definition of politically explosive attire appears limited to Jews only.”
In a statement, the Department of Education backed Singh, saying that the principal has the right to determine what is considered politically explosive.
“Schools are not a forum for advancing personal political views, and per Department of Education regulations, employees are prohibited from using schools for the purpose of political expression,” the DOE said. “This principal’s request followed complaints from students and staff and is consistent with policies around political neutrality in schools.”
Why being pro-cop and pro-Zionist would be considered a political statement while pro-Black Lives Matter and radical feminism would not be, remains a mystery.
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6 Responses
BLM has it’s own language, it’s called RIOTESE. Zionism doesn’t speak that language.
so the principal is a Sikh based on his name, whose ancestors were converted to Islam forcibally?
“Schools are not a forum for advancing personal political views, and per Department of Education regulations, employees are prohibited from using schools for the purpose of political expression”
So, there are two issues here:
1. Proclaiming his Zionism is undoubtedly political and inappropriate.
2. Why they allow BML and Feminism.
The reason for the second issue is likely that they consider both to be “rights” and not up for discussion and therefore not “political”. That doesn’t make it right, but promoting Zionism in a school is clearly inappropriate, regardless.
A lawsuit for discrimination based on Freedom of Expression will probably work. If those in charge of the school have any involvement in the plaintiff’s pay or work assignment, additional litigation would be likely. This policy sounds like good news for the lawyers.
Great! Now he can get a nice compensation from the board of education
Just a reminder we are still in Galus.
I sometimes forget…