On Wednesday’s Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 am to 8:00 am – Gill and Leahy spoke with Laurie Cardoza-Moore from Proclaiming Justice to the Nations about William Laston the principal, who at Spanish River High School in Boca Raton Florida decided to teach that the Holocaust did not exist in his school curriculum.
Towards the end of the segment the Tennessee Star Report discussed her current petition which can be found online at PJTN.org. asking for the resignation of Ilhan Omar.
Gill:Â A Florida principal came under fire for saying he can’t say the Holocaust is factual or a historical event. He denied the Holocaust. William Latson wrote in emails last year that were published in the Palm Beach Post on Friday, a week ago. The comments came after a mother of a student inquired how the Holocaust was being taught at the school. The guy had been the principal at Spanish River High School. The curriculum included education on the Holocaust but the lessons could not be taught in a factual or historical basis according to the principal. Laurie Cardoza-Moore from Proclaiming Justice to the Nations is with us. She’s been down in Florida in the thick of this and this Palm Beach dispute. Again, there’s photographic evidence. There’s been testimony. There were witnesses. How can anybody deny the factual actuality of the Holocaust, Laurie?
Moore: Oh my gosh, Steve. General Eisenhower had incredible foresight to say when the allied forces were liberating these concentration camps, he told the photographers, the filmmakers that were actually there from Hollywood, to film everything, document everything because someday someone will come along and say this didn’t happen. And here we have William Latson who makes an outrageous statement as an administrator in a public school in one of the tenth largest school districts in the country.
It has one of the largest Jewish populations and this man is able to get away with this? It is outrageous. Kudos to Palm Beach Post for exposing what is going on. But Steve, this is not just Palm Beach County. It’s not just Florida schools. It’s Tennessee schools. It’s schools across this country. He is not the only one who believes this. If you go to the NEA, I don’t know if you’ve been following, they’ve had their conference out in Houston this past week. They’re promoting an agenda, at least fifty people signed on to an initiative to target Israel.
Accuse them of being an apartheid state oppressing and attacking these Arabs or Palestinians as they call them. And of course, they’re going to teach that to our children. There were ten thousand teachers that were gathered. So this type of propaganda that William Latsen is spewing is being spewed in classrooms across our country. It’s widely of anti-Semitism in our secondary. We’ve seen it on college campuses but we’re seeing a growth in our secondary school campuses.
Gill: Well we’ve seen it in our textbooks here in Tennessee a few years ago. We had that Pearson seventh grade textbook that had a picture of Anne Frank in the textbook and it referred to it as a young Jewish girl killed during WWII because of prejudice. No mention of the Holocaust. No paragraphs or pages devoted to the Holocaust. It was basically she was a young Jewish girl killed because of prejudice. Now move along. Nothing to see here.
Not much different than Latson’s approach that not everybody believes the Holocaust happened. And that’s certainly the way it’s being taught as letting the deniers dictate the teaching rather than letting truth and reality be the focus. This really isn’t much different Laurie than another controversy this week where you had Rashida Tlaib claiming that where Jesus was a Palestinian and questioning whether Jesus was even Jewish. Again, the historical inaccuracies promoted by anti-American, anti-Israel, anti-Jewish Islamists who are now in the US Congress should boggle everybody’s mind if it would actually get reported.
Moore: Oh yeah. I mean it’s amazing that this stuff even comes out of there mouth. Linda Sarsour Tweeted something similar. I responded back to her Tweet and I told her, “You know something? You should stick to the Koran. Because you don’t know what you’re talking about.” This is history. She needs to take a Bible history class or lesson. Because this is being spewed. And they continue to repeat this. And people who don’t know the history buy into it. It’s why we have targeted Christians and educating Christians to stand against this propaganda.
You know getting back to Latson Steve, he could be involved in violating several laws. Federal laws as well. Because there are students who graduated from Spanish River High School who have said this is not new. They know this rhetoric. And if that’s true, if the Jewish students on that campus did not feel safe because of the rhetoric coming out of this principal then that makes that school and that principal and that counties school district in violation of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. Because it states in that act that if Jewish students do not feel safe on their campuses, then that campus is in violation of this Civil Rights Act.
Several also just signed the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act into Florida making anti-Semitism illegal in K-12 textbooks and curriculum. Additionally, the law requires that Holocaust education and calls Holocaust denial illicit. It is required by state law in the state of Florida. It has been for many years that the Holocaust is to be taught through secondary education. Through high school.
Gill: Not as a theory but as factual history.
Moore: Exactly.
Gill: Now you’ve been down in Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Palm Beach area for the last few days. What is the latest status? This guy was not fired. They simply reassigned him?
Moore: Well they’re having a press conference this afternoon. And they’re supposed to update the press on what is going to happen. But no. Senator Scott has come out calling for him to removed. A local State Representative Mike Caruso has called for his removal. Of course, we have called for his removal. Many in the community have said he has to go.
And one thing I have to say about Palm Beach County, when this story broke on Friday and made global news, this community went to work immediately and by Monday this guy, unfortunately just reassigned but I think today. I think they’re going to think better and completely remove him from the education system. He has no business influencing other educators or administrators in the public school system. He should be fired.
Gill: Now this Palm Beach, Boca Raton is where this school sits, it has a large Jewish population. And have Jewish leaders spoken up? I know Christian leaders have been speaking up in defense of factual truth about the Holocaust. Have Jewish leaders, Rabbi’s and others spoken up in this case?
Moore: Absolutely. Case in point. I’ve been in communication with one of the school board members who is Jewish and she is outraged. And we have been, in fact, I did hear also, I spoke with a Christian pastor right across the street from the high school. He’s a Christian leader who is speaking out and he’s putting out a public statement. And yes, the leadership has been condemning this. But yes, it’s important for us as Christians because we are the largest people within this community.
We make up more than the Jewish residents. We should be speaking out and condemning this. I’ll bet you Laston is probably a Christian too. It’s outrageous that a Christian, who doesn’t know his Bible, doesn’t know God’s covenant with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob would make these outrageous statements about the Holocaust.
Gill: I mean the bottom line is, it doesn’t matter what you’re faith is. Doesn’t matter what your religion is. We should be teaching truth in our school’s historical factual accuracy. Not theories. Not a political agenda. Let me ask you one other question before we have to take a break. Ilhan Omar who continues to be in the news saying regularly outrageous statements. You all have been calling for her to be removed. Certainly from the foreign affairs committee but from Congress as well. Has Proclaiming Justice to the Nations seen any progress on that? Are you getting any feedback that shows any prospect of that that could happen?
Moore: Yes. Actually, Steve, the numbers are growing. When this hit some of these groups on social media it has been taking off. I can’t even keep up with the numbers. We do have close to forty thousand signatures. People are calling. We’re not only just calling for Omar. We’re calling for Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Because all three of them are anti-Semites.
They’re promoting an agenda that is un-American and un-Biblical as Christians. They do not reflect the values. They are supporting Muslim Brotherhood organizations. They are helping to raise funds for them. They must be removed. And everybody in the audience, if you haven’t go to PJTN.org and sign that petition I want to encourage you to do so today. We need one hundred thousand signatures.
Gill: Laurie Cardoza-Moore, thanks for the update. PJTN, Proclaiming Justice to the Nations. PJTN.org is the website. And Laurie thanks for the update. We’ll catch up again soon.
Listen to the full segment here:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 am to the Tennessee Star Report with Steve Gill and Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Background Photo “Spanish River High School” by Spanish River High School PTSA.Â
