Bill Text: CA SR38 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Enrolled

California Senate Resolution 38

Bill Title: Relative to Nonviolence Movement Curriculum Framework.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)

Status: (Passed) 2023-06-26 - Read. Adopted. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1723.) [SR38 Detail]

Download: California-2023-SR38-Enrolled.html

Enrolled June 29, 2023

Passed IN Senate June 26, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Resolution

No. 38

Introduced by Senator Durazo
(Coauthors: Senators Allen, Becker, Bradford, Eggman, Gonzalez, Newman, Skinner, Smallwood-Cuevas, Wahab, and Wiener)

May 04, 2023

Relative to Nonviolence Movement Curriculum Framework.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SR 38, Durazo.

WHEREAS, It is vital to the future and well-being of our state and nation to inspire people and students to think, act, and dream in the pursuit of the greater good through nonviolence; and to develop the language and structure necessary to strengthen the connection of all people and to fortify the foundation of our democracy; and

WHEREAS, One of the lessons of the Civil Rights Movement is that absent a framework for peaceful assembly to express discord and discontent, hatred inevitably leads to violence; and

WHEREAS, The strongest evidence of an ailing and regressing democratic society is mass killings and destructive violence occurring with increasing frequency in our country; and

WHEREAS, Nonviolence must become as relevant today as it was during the nonviolent campaigns of the Civil Rights Movement as people address the mass murders at a grocery store in Buffalo, New York, and LGBTQ night clubs in Florida, California, and Colorado; from the hate crimes against Asian Americans in New York to the deaths that occurred during the January 6 attack on our nation’s Capitol, from the school shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, to Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, to the antisemitic speech on social media that inspired mass murders of worshipers in synagogues to the mass shooting targeting Latinos in Texas; and

WHEREAS, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Reverend James M. Lawson, Jr., Congressman John Lewis, Cesar E. Chavez, Dolores Huerta, Larry Itliong, and Rabbi Leonard I. Beerman were among the leaders to inspire generations to combat the destructive nature of hatred and bigotry with the principles of nonviolence; and

WHEREAS, there is no greater authority in the United States on combating the destructive nature of hatred and bigotry than the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the principles of nonviolence; and

WHEREAS, a curriculum in the tactics and strategies of nonviolence that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. championed will educate students that hatred creates profound injustice and irreparable harm; and to reinforce such lessons, model curricula is needed for studying the events and principles of the nonviolent campaigns of the Civil Rights Movement; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, That each local education agency in this state is encouraged to study the Civil Rights Movement and the principles of nonviolence to affirm the commitment to reject hatred and bigotry, to champion equal protection under the law as a foundational principle necessary for the preservation of our democracy, and to learn how to use nonviolence in opposition to injustice and violence wherever it may occur; and be it further

Resolved, That each local education agency in this state is encouraged to include in its curriculum the study of the events of the Civil Rights Movement; the principles of nonviolence that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. practiced as a leader in the Civil Rights Movement; and the tactics and strategies of nonviolent resistance that were championed in response to such Jim Crow laws of that era; and be it further

Resolved, That as the Instructional Quality Commission and State Board of Education is urged to consider and develop content for the next history-social science curriculum framework and adoption on the instruction of the Civil Rights Movement, including the campaigns of the nonviolent movement of America during the period between 1953 and 1973, the State Department of Education is urged to immediately begin developing and selecting age-appropriate model curricula available to all local education entities on the instruction of the Civil Rights Movement during the same period; and be it further

Resolved, That the instruction for the next history-social science curriculum framework, adoption and model curricula should include, at a minimum, (1) Jim Crow-era laws in the United States, including laws which embodied the “separate but equal” doctrine; (2) The leadership, tactics, and strategies of nonviolent resistance to Jim Crow-era laws championed by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; (3) The principles of natural rights and natural law which informed the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.; (4) The passage of the Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, and 1964; (5) The passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; (6) Campaigns of the nonviolent movement of America that occurred between 1953 and 1973; (7) The impact of the Little Rock Nine beginning in 1957; and (8) The Delano Grape Boycott of 1965; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.