STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 6212 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY March 10, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. LAVINE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring instruction regarding symbols of hate The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Legislative findings. The legislature hereby finds the 2 recent spike in hate crimes across our state and nation as a whole to be 3 highly disturbing and a societal epidemic in need of remedy. As many of 4 our youth are not aware of the hateful connotations behind hakenkreuz 5 and nooses, it is necessary for the legislature to mandate compulsory 6 education in all schools across our great state in regard to the mean- 7 ings of these two symbols of hate. Requiring students be educated in the 8 significance of these displays of bigotry will go a long way toward 9 fostering a more inclusive and tolerant society for all. 10 § 2. The education law is amended by adding a new section 801-b to 11 read as follows: 12 § 801-b. Instruction regarding symbols of hate. The regents shall 13 ensure that the course of instruction for grades six through twelve 14 includes a component on the meaning of the hakenkreuz as the emblem of 15 Nazi Germany, as well as the noose as a symbol of racism and intim- 16 idation. The regents shall determine how to incorporate such components 17 into existing curricula, and the commissioner shall promulgate any regu- 18 lations needed to carry out such determination of the regents. 19 § 3. This act shall take effect on the first of September next 20 succeeding the date on which it shall have become a law. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD08532-01-1