Opinion Editorials, September 2007
|
|
Communities in Support of the Khalil Gibran International Academy
By Mona Eldahry
AWAAM, September 8, 2007
We, the undersigned, who stand together in support of the Khalil Gibran
International Academy and its founding principal, Debbie Almontaser, call
upon the New York City Council to immediately establish a committee or task
force to investigate the sequence of events leading up to Ms Almontaser's
resignation from her position and to make public the results of this
investigation by October 15, 2007.
Widely recognized as a talented and visionary educator with an impeccable
record, Ms Almontaser is highly qualified to serve as KGIA's educational
leader. She has worked tirelessly for the past few years to develop the
vision, program, and curricula of the Khalil Gibran International Academy.
Her resignation, which occurred at the height of an unrelenting anti-Arab
and anti-Muslim campaign against the school, is a major loss for the
students and staff of the school and for all of us who are concerned with
decent and equitable public education in New York City.
We call on all concerned people--labor and religious leaders, political and
educational officials, the media and community members--to join us in
demanding an investigation of the events that led to Ms. Almontaser's
resignation. We also call on all members of the community to stand with us
in support of the Khalil Gibran International Academy and its founding
principal, Debbie Almontaser, and to speak out in opposition to any
expressions of racism and bigotry that threaten the school and the
well-being of its students.
Sponsors Sign on!
AWAAM: Arab Women Active in the Arts and Media
Brooklyn For Peace (formerly Brooklyn Parents for Peace) View
Site
Center for Immigrant Families View
Site
Greater New York Labor-Religion Coaltion, New York, NY View
Site
Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) View
Site
Muslim Consultative Network View
Site
WFD Program Steering Committee at First Unitarian Congregational Society of
Brooklyn
Organizational Endorsers Sign
on!
Bay Ridge Neighbors for Peace
CAAAVView Site
Coalition for Asian American Children and Families View
Site
The December 12th Coalition
ICOPE View Site
DRUM-Desis Rising Up & MovingView
Site
It Is Time
MuslimMatters.orgView
Site
Parents in Action View
Site
The Shalom Center
Subjective Theatre Company View
Site
Teachers UniteView
Site
Individual Endorsers View
Complete list. Sign on!
Rabbi Marcelo Bronstein, Congregation Bnai Jeshurun
Leslie Cagan, National Coordinator, United for Peace and Justice
Rabbi Rachel Cowan, Director, Institute for Jewish Spirituality
Leonard Fein
Elsa First, Director, Refugee and Immigrant Project, Child and Family
Center, William Alanson White Institute
Art Green, Rector, Hebrew College Rabbinical School
Jane Hirschmann, Co-Chair, Time Out from Testing
Deborah Howard, KGIA Design Team
Melanie Kaye/Kantrowitz
Mona Khalidi
Rashid Khalidi
Michael Klonsky, Director, Small Schools Workshop
Rabbi Erwin Kula, President, CLAL-National Jewish Center for Learning and
Leadership
Rabbi Rolando Matalon, Congregation B'nai Jeshurun
Monami Mualik, DRUM-Desis Rising Up and Moving
Monty Neill, Director, FairTest: The National Center for Fair & Open
Testing
Rabbi Felicia Sol, Congregation B’nai Jeshurun
Rabbi Mychal Springer, Associate Dean of the Rabbinical School, The Jewish
Theological Seminary
Rabbi Melissa Weintraub, North American Director, Encounter
Rabbi Arthur Waskow
Communities in Support of the Khalil Gibran International Academy
Statement 1
As New Yorkers and others in support of quality public education for all of
our communities, we stand in solidarity with the Khalil Gibran International
Academy, which has sustained hateful and false attacks by anti-Arab media
and extremists. In the post-9/11 world, a school educating our children
about Arab history, culture, and language is not only crucial for the next
generation to become informed leaders for positive change in our
communities; it is also an extraordinary place of hope for peace,
understanding, and justice for our embattled world. We regret that Debbie
Almontaser was unfairly pressured to resign from her position as principal
due to the attacks, and we applaud her work to establish this school and
promote intercultural exchange in this diverse global city.
Those who seek to equate the study of Arabic language, culture, and history
with religious fanaticism and violence are irresponsibly aggravating a
present moment of hysteria against Arab and Muslim communities, and are
using this moment to promote hatred in a time of war. We urge our public
officials to reject these racist and inaccurate attacks, and continue to
work towards building a lasting educational institution that promises to
bring our communities together, rather than divide and pit them against each
other. We call on all communities who want to see peace on our streets and
in our world to stand with us in support of the Khalil Gibran International
Academy.
Sponsors Sign on! It's
not too late.
Arab Resource and Organizing Center, San Francisco, CA View
Site
AWAAM: Arab Women Active in the Arts and Media
Brown Memorial Baptist ChurchView
Site
Center for Immigrant Families View
Site
Council on American Islamic Relations - NY View
Site
Greater New York Labor-Religion Coalition View
Site
Jews for Racial and Economic Justice (JFREJ) View
Site
Muslim Consultative Network View
Site
WFD Program Steering Committee at First Unitarian Congregational Society of
Brooklyn
Organizational Endorsers Sign
on! It's not too late.
Adalah-NY: Coalition for Justice in the Middle EastView
Site
The African American Islamic Institute (AAII)
The a-Rab Magazine, Berkeley, CA
Brecht Forum
Brooklyn For Peace (formerly Brooklyn Parents for Peace) View
Site
Council of Peoples Organization (COPO) View
Site
Ethical Action Commitee of the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture View
Site
Harmonic Insurgence
Independent Commission on Public Education View
Site
Jews Against the Occupation (JATO)
Kolot Chayeinu/Voices of Our Lives, Brooklyn View
Site
Las Trabajadores por La Paz
Make the Road by Walking View
Site
Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Oakland Chapter
National Institute for Latino Policy View
Site
New York Collective of Radical Educators (NYCORE) View
Site
The New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC)View
Site
Paper Tiger TV CollectiveView
Site
Peoples MEDIA Center View
Site
Samba School for Social Justice Project View
Site
Students for Justice in Palestine, UC Berkeley Chapter
Sunset Park Alliance of Neighbors
Teachers Unite View
Site
WESPAC FoundationView Site
Individual Endorsers Sign
on! It's not too late.
Geralyn Abinader, Consulting, Media Design and Production View
Site
Katherine Acey, Concerned Brooklyn Resident
Konrad Aderer, Concerned Brooklyn Resident and Documentary Producer, Life or
Liberty View Site
Rev. Elizabeth Alexander, Church of the Gethsemane
Reshma Baig & Yahiya Emerick, Islamic Foundation of North America (IFNA)
View Site
Aleise Barnett, NYC Public School Teacher
Dominika Bennacer, Ph.D. Candidate, New York University, Performance Studies
Abdelilah Alami Binani
Rev. Dr. Robert L. Brashear, Pastor, West-Park Presbyterian Church; Pres,
Interfaith Assembly on Housing Homelessness
Rabbi Marcelo Bronstein, Congregation Bnai Jeshurun
Michael F. Brown
Lisel Burns, Clergy Leader, Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture
Leslie Cagan, National Coordinator, United For Peace and Justice View
Site
Carmen M. Colon, Co-Founder, Association of New York City Councils &
Executive Director, Universal S.I.S.T.A.S.
Rabbi Rachel Cowan, Director, Institute for Jewish Spirituality
Louis Cristillo, PhD, Research Assistant, Professor,Teachers College,
Columbia University
Carolyn Rusti Eisenberg, Brooklyn for Peace
Leonard Fein, Founder of Mazon and Moment Magazine, writer
Rabbi Michael Feinberg, Executive Director, Greater New York Labor-Religion
Coalition
Marjorie Fine, Director, Expanding Resources for Community Organizing,
Center for Community Change
Alice Fisher, Abrahamic Network of NY & Member of Congregation B'nai
Jeshuran, NYC
Martha Gallahue, Concerned Parent in Brooklyn
Ellen Gruber Garvey, concerned Brooklyn resident and member of Kolot
Chayeinu
Peter Geffen, Founder and Director, Kivunim and Founder, Abraham Joshua
Heschel School
Kathleen Foster, Filmmaker
Ron Hayduk, Associate Professor of Political Science, Borough of
Manhattan Community College, CUNY
Carol Horwitz, Concerned Brooklyn Resident
Valerie Kameya, Concerned Brooklyn Resident
Youme Landowne, Artist and Educator, View
Site
Gail Lerner, NYC
Laura Liben, Teaching Artist, NY Public Schools
Rabbi Ellen Lippmann, Kolot Chayeinu
Chris Lymbertos, Oakland, CA
Rabbi Roly Matalon, Bnei Jesurun
Rabbi Shira Milgrom, Congregation Kol Ami, White Plains NY
Martin Morand
Dr. Lucinda Mosher, Interreligious Relations Consultant
Jon Moscow, Education Consultant
Rabbi J. Rolando Matalon, Congregation Bnai Jeshurun
Robina Niaz, Turning Point for Women and Families
Saul Nieves, Activist and Union Organizer
Robert Patterson, Theatre Professional and Community Organizer View
Site
Steve Quester, UFT Member
Joyce Ravitz, UFT Member
Malika Rushdan; Consultant & Artist: Modern Age Art View
Site
Ariel Salzmann, Associate Professor Islamic and World History, Queen's
University
Roberta Schine, Member, Town & Village Synagogue
Rabbi Gerry Serotta, Temple Shalom and Chair of Rabbis for Human
Rights-North America
Rabbi Felicia Sol, Congregation Bnai Jeshurun
Rev. Charles H. Straut, Jr., DMin, Member, KGIA Advisory Committee
Ashaki H. Taha-Cisse, Executive Director, African American Islamic Institute
(AAII)
Yona Shem Tov, Doctoral student in Education & Jewish Studies, NYU,
Wexner Graduate Fellow
Erica Waples, MPA, Board Member, Arab Women Active in the Arts and Media
Hannah Weinstock, Concerned Queens Resident and Member, Jews for Racial and
Economic Justice
Rabbi Melissa Weintraub, North American Director, Encounter
Eileen B. Weiss, Managing Director, Same Difference Interfaith Alliance
Note: We value all of those who have attached their names to these
statements. Endorsement of statement does not in any way indicate
affiliation with or endorsement by AWAAM, cisKGIA or the sponsors of this
statement.
View cisKGIA Site
AWAAM: Arab Wemen Active in the Arts and Media.
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
||||||
