Connections Quarterly Winter 2018 - World Religions | Page 9

B E I N G A FO R C E FO R C HA N GE
“These feelings of excitement
and joy would, unfortunately,
be interrupted by another
phone call from DOE, which
would replace those feelings
with shock and disappoint-
ment... our Blue Ribbon
award was being called
into question.”
If we take a moment to reflect on that time
period, we as Americans were commemo-
rating the fourth anniversary of 9/11, and
our post-9/11 world had certainly changed
the landscape of our nation in unexpected
and unfortunate ways. We would see the rise
of “anti-Islam” hate groups that challenged
the loyalty of American Muslims and even
their ability to be true Americans.
So, it was the American Congress for Truth,
an organization designated by the Southern
Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as a “hate group,”
that called for the withdrawal of our Blue
Ribbon status stating that we were “foment-
ing terrorism.” They had called upon a North
Carolina Congresswoman to reach out to
DOE to protest our achievement. The DOE
official said to me, “Whenever Congress calls,
we have to respond.”
les is an amazing city in interfaith relations.
We are proud of New Horizon School and
their achievements. We stand side-by-side
with them, and any attack on them is an
attack on the whole community.
Thus began a necessary but frustrating pro-
cess of defending our school and our legiti-
macy. The DOE reached out to Mimi Baer,
then Executive Director of CAIS, and David
Brown, then Executive Director of WASC,
who provided highly complimentary feed-
back and virtually restored DOE’s faith in
our educational and institutional integrity. It
was, however, the words of Rabbi Steven B.
Jacobs of Temple Kol Tikvah that reaffirmed
our belief in the power of the interfaith work
that is a hallmark of New Horizon’s commit-
ment to the “betterment of family, commu-
nity, and humanity.” He offered these words
of support which we relayed to DOE: The support from the wider educational and
religious community of Los Angeles proved
to be a testament to the power of dedica-
tion to the ideals on which our country was
founded. It gave us hope to continue to
stand strong as a school and to further forge
the meaningful connections that advance
our important work. All-told, however, the
experience also showed us the ugly real-
ity of bigotry and hate that existed then
and unfortunately still exists today. With
the political “climate change” in the past
three years, hate groups are emboldened
now more than ever. According to the Pew
Research Center, the number of assaults
against Muslims in the U.S. rose significantly
between 2015 and 2016, actually surpassing
the height of 2001 assaults.
Many of us have been intimately involved
with each other, especially since 9/11. We
have shared a journey that brings greater
understanding and a passion for safety
and justice in our communities. Los Ange- Our school, along with other Muslim schools
in the United States, have had to face these
realities with a new imperative: to equip our
students with the social and emotional tools
they may need to manage the challenges of
Continues on page 8
CSEE Connections

Winter 2018
Page 7