A push for Holocaust education
Duxbury football’s anti-Semitic play calls called ‘appalling’
The Duxbury football players using anti-Semitic terms for their play calls is yet more proof that Massachusetts schools need to require Holocaust and genocide education, lawmakers told the Herald.
Two proposed pieces of legislation would address genocide education in Massachusetts schools, and one of them would mandate all students receive these lessons before they can graduate high school.
“With everything that’s happened in Duxbury, I’m hoping it will serve as the incentive to get this piece of legislation across the finish line,” state Sen. Michael Rodrigues, DWestport, said Thursday.
The anti-Semitic play calls in Duxbury — including players saying the word “Auschwitz” — happened during a game earlier this month.
The school district has since fired head football coach Dave Maimaron, and the district has hired a firm to conduct an investigation. The Herald learned that the use of anti-Semitic language by Duxbury players has been going on for multiple years.
The players and coaches should know how “hateful and hurtful” the Holocaust references would be to the Jewish community, Rodrigues said.
“By teaching about it and raising awareness, it’s an opportunity to learn the atrocities of the Holocaust and other genocides,” said the senator, who sponsored the bill titled, “An Act advancing and promoting genocide education.”
The bill passed the Senate last year, but did not make it to Gov. Charlie Baker’s desk. Senate President Karen Spilka said she looks forward to the Senate again passing the legislation.
Spilka’s father was a U.S. Army soldier who helped liberate the Buchenwald concentration camp, she said.
“As a Jew who lost family at Auschwitz, a daughter of a WWII veteran, I find the news about the Duxbury football team and their use of anti-semitic language appalling,” Spilka tweeted after reports emerged of the Duxbury incident.
“We need this to be more than just a ‘ teachable moment’ — we need sustained, increased education — among administrators, educators, coaches, officials, referees and students — so that this never happens again,” she wrote.
State Rep. Jeffrey Roy, D-Franklin, who sponsored a bill called, “An Act concerning genocide education,” cited a recent survey that showed 22% of American millennials have never even heard of the Holocaust.
“We need to have this in the curriculum,” Roy said. “When you see this type of language being used, it should be a warning to you that something is failing.”
House Speaker Ronald Mariano, a former teacher, said he’s reviewing the bill.
“This curriculum must be taught in a culturally relevant and age appropriate manner,” Mariano said. “As a former coach, I was particularly disgusted to hear about what happened in Duxbury.”