For Immediate Release

May 27, 2021

SAN DIEGO, CA -- May 27, 2021- On May 26th, 2021, Californians for Equal Rights Foundation (CFER), on behalf of 17 partner organizations, sent an official letter to the California State Legislature, opposing AB101--- the state mandate for ethnic studies as a high school graduation requirement. Our broad-based alliance includes prominent national and regional groups, unified against the intrusion of divisive and discriminatory critical race theory (CRT) into public education. We argue that California's ethnic studies mandate is an imprudent measure based on the highly controversial ethnic studies model curriculum which is steeped in CRT as an ideological framework.

Notably, this diverse coalition encompasses scholar groups such as the National Association of Scholars, leading Asian-American organizations such as the San Diego Asian Americans for Equality and the Silicon Valley Chinese Association Foundation, Free Black Thought--- a black civil rights group, AMCHA Initiative--- a prominent Jewish-American organization, and rising national grassroots organizations dedicated to empowering parents and children---to include Parents Defending Education, Moms for Liberty and Equal Rights for All--PAC. The alliance also has support from many California-based groups such as Educators for Quality and Equality,  Alliance to Protect Children, Protect Our Kids, and Concerned Parents of San Diego. Together, we represent academics, educators, parents, and community members from vastly different racial, ethnic and political backgrounds, who are united by a common mission to safeguard education from political indoctrination and ideological hijacking.

"We are thankful to our amazing partners for stepping up to champion this timely initiative. Regardless of our diverse backgrounds, we share the same identity as Americans, share the pride of our nation's history and share an openness to listen to each other," said Frank Xu, "Sadly, AB101 and other CRT-infused initiatives pit groups against each other, indoctrinate our students on hate and victimhood, and undermine the foundations that have led to our nation's prosperity."

In the joint letter, we provide strong evidence against teaching politicized ethnic studies with regard to the mandate's controversial nature, its huge financial impact, and debunked claims of its educational benefits, in light of a catastrophic loss of academic instruction for K-12 students induced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

CFER will continue to monitor AB101 and other similar attempts to introduce CRT in American public life. We will expand our coalition-building efforts to amplify the steady and broad-based support for our mission to defend equal rights against CRT's incursion.