Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. –  host Leahy welcomed Laurie Cardoza-Moore from Proclaiming Justice to the Nations in studio to discuss her mission and the ongoing fight against Wit and Wisdom curriculum in Williamson County, Tennessee public schools.
Leahy: For the very first time with The Tennessee Star Report, Laurie Cardoza-Moore. She is the president and founder and executive director of Proclaiming Justice to the Nations. Good morning again, Laurie Cardoza-Moore.
Moore: Good morning, Michael.
Leahy: Tell our listeners about Proclaiming Justice to the Nations. What is this group and what is your mission?
Moore: Yes. So we’ve been around really since six months after 9/11 when we introduced a resolution in Tennessee. We were the second state in the country to introduce a resolution to support the state of Israel and her war on terror because we had just been attacked.
And we officially became incorporated as a nonprofit organization in 2005. But our mission is to educate Christians about their biblical responsibility to stand with Israel and the Jewish people against the rise of global antisemitism.
And, of course, we accomplish that goal by producing award-winning documentary films, television programs, all types of media to bring that message to a Christian audience.
There’s a reason why the United States of America and Israel are so uniquely united. And there’s a reason why we have a special relationship with Israel. And it’s because of the Judeo-Christian values that we have in the Bible.
And unfortunately, after 9/11 had happened, I tried to understand. It was like it rocked all of our worlds. We all know where we were on 9/11 and it still sticks with us. But that brought it home for me.
And so I started to teach the Bible and the policies that we should be standing behind and supporting by our government, both state and federal government.
And so we launched the campaign and we’ve been involved in introducing and encouraging legislators to introduce legislation that will continue to strengthen that relationship with Israel.
Leahy: Proclaiming Justice to the Nations is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit?
Moore: It is a 501 (c) (3), nonprofit organization. More recently, your listeners probably are familiar with pjtn.org because of all the work that we’ve been doing in education. And your listeners probably remember.
And for those who are new to Middle Tennessee, I want to just commend Robin Steeman with Moms for Liberty for taking up the mantle. Over a decade ago, we were involved with a local parent in Williamson County who had found an anti-semitic quote in a textbook.
It was a Pearson-published textbook, and that’s what launched our education initiative. The quote in the textbook actually legitimized Palestinians blowing themselves up in a Jerusalem restaurant because they were waging a war…
Leahy: This textbook was being used at the time in Williamson County.
Moore: That’s correct. And it was a parent who had homeschooled her kids just like I was homeschooling my children at the time. And when she found this quote, she called me up.
She said, you’re never going to believe what we’re teaching our kids in Williamson County. Williamson County is one of the top 10 most conservative Republican evangelical Christian communities in the country.
Leahy: But the school district does not reflect that.
Moore: No. And we’re seeing the evidence of that. It’s not a surprise that they have adopted the racist Wit and Wisdom curriculum.
Leahy: They say if you talk to them about it. Right? Because Robin talked about this earlier. When you say Wit and Wisdom curriculum, this is the curriculum for kids, K-5, and includes just lessons and books and things of that nature. When you say the curriculum is racist, tell us a little bit about the evidence you have to support that assertion.
Moore: It pushes the whole white supremacy narrative, white privileged narrative. They are indoctrinating our children with dark evil content in their books. It is not age-appropriate. It’s not age-appropriate for high schoolers!
We’re supposed to use the school experience with our children to encourage them, strengthen them and develop them for adulthood, to become active citizens and participants in the American experience. And what they are doing with this curriculum is reinforcing negative values and views of themselves, of their community, of our state and of our country.
Leahy: Robin Steeman at the time back in June, had a child in Williamson County Schools. Filed a complaint about that curriculum.
And then months later, Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn said, under this law that was passed by the Tennessee General Assembly. Did Governor Lee sign it or allow it to become into law? I don’t remember.
Moore: I would be surprised if he would have signed it into law.
Leahy: Well, that’s a point of fact we can find out because I know there was one bill he allowed just to come into law right around that time without signing it. But the point is it has a mechanism there. It identifies 14 tenets of Critical Race Theory that can be taught.
And if you’re a parent and you go in and you say, oh, they’re teaching this tenant to kindergarteners through fifth graders. And that’s the argument. They’re teaching these tenants through the Wit and Wisdom curriculum, which, by the way, I’m told Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn is a big supporter of.
Moore: Yes, she is.
Leahy: So what happened then is in June, Robin Steeman, in accordance with the law, filed a complaint and said they’re teaching these tenants through this Wit and Wisdom curriculum. And under the law, the arbiter of that is wait for it…Commissioner of Education Penny Schwinn.
Now, why did the Tennessee General Assembly decide that a supporter of the Wit and Wisdom curriculum should be the arbiter of whether or not the law was being violated?
Moore: It’s outrageous. It’s unbelievable. Wit and Wisdom is racist curriculum, and it’s shocking to me to see that this administration, Governor Lee, would allow his commissioner of education to approve or be the arbiter. There should be a broader-based group of people, parents.
I was listening to Robin before I came on this morning, and she was talking about them having the Williamson County School Board put together a committee. And unfortunately, that committee is, of course, bias. Was Robin part of it? No.
Leahy: We’re going to know in a bit. But it looks like they’re going to say, oh, this is wonderful. And then the challenge is going to be this curriculum if it is back in, it will continue to be, in essence, a violation of the law in my view, without any recourse.
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Laurie Cardoza-Moore” by Proclaiming Justice to the Nations.
