Stern's “Never Again Education Act” Clears Senate Floor, Now Heads to Assembly

SACRAMENTO – Moving beyond remembrance to action is one of the goals of Senator Henry Stern’s (D-Los Angeles) SB 693, the Never Again Education of 2021, which cleared the full Senate on a bi-partisan 39-0 vote today.

“Holocaust genocide education isn’t just a lesson in history class or an issue only affecting people who are Jewish; it should be a bulwark against rising anti-Semitism for all California students,” said Stern. “Hate has a history. Building action-oriented Holocaust and genocide education will give teachers and students the tools to uproot hate when it rears its head in schools across California, so it doesn’t fester and erupt as violence on our streets.”

SB 693 would help address the growing knowledge gap among young Americans about the Holocaust and other recent genocides by offering new teaching methods and enhanced resources for teachers and students, to remedy a recent rise in anti-Semitism, Holocaust denial and other acts of hatred.

“As our collective memory fades and we lose the last generation of survivors, we must redouble our commitment to educate the next generation and refuse to slip into the same apathy and ignorance that allows hatred to take root,” continued Stern.

SB 693 establishes the Governor’s Council on Genocide and Holocaust Education.  It would assemble leading experts on teaching about genocide, and the Holocaust in particular, to help students confront this complex subject matter and embrace the importance of diversity, human rights, and the roles and responsibilities of citizens in democratic societies to combat misinformation, indifference, and discrimination.

The Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) most recent Audit of Antisemitic Incidents in the United States recorded more than 2,100 acts of assault, vandalism, harassment and murder targeting Jewish Americans, the highest level of antisemitic violence ever recorded by ADL.

A nationwide survey last year of millennial and Generation Z Americans, showed a "worrying lack of basic Holocaust knowledge.”  The survey found 63% of people asked did not know that 6 million Jews were murdered in the Holocaust, and 66% of millennials could not identify the significance of Auschwitz.

“ADL is proud to support SB 693 for a multitude of reasons, among them that Holocaust education helps students learn to examine and counter the effects of stereotyping, indifference, and bigotry,” said ADL regional director, Nancy Appel.  “Echoes & Reflections, a partnership among Yad Vashem, ADL, and the USC Shoah Foundation to develop Holocaust curricula, released a survey in 2020 showing that high school students who studied the Holocaust have more pluralistic attitudes; are more willing to challenge intolerant behavior in others; and have a greater sense of social responsibility and civic efficacy.”

“Despite herculean efforts by educational institutions, like the Museum of Tolerance, to teach the Holocaust, there so much more to be done reach tens of thousands of California’s students each year,” noted Rabbi Meyer May of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. “The Holocaust was the watershed event of the 20th century, yet, as the memory of its obscenity fades together with the courageous survivors, the ignorance and of so many citizens and young people of its horrors is astounding.  This failing can only be addressed by a systemic approach to Holocaust education as called for by SB 693.”

At a recent virtual press conference, State Superintendent Tony Thurmond – one of the bill’s sponsors – said “Our students are victims of a broken society; every day we encounter more heartbreaking examples of anti-Semitism, bullying, and violence against Asian Americans, Islamophobia, LGBTQ discrimination, and racism and actions of hate against people of color. Education has the power to help us grow, understand, and find a pathway to healing. SB 693 will build the necessary infrastructure to provide the trainings to hold the courageous conversations. It is not enough for us to say ‘never forget’ genocide or the experience of the Holocaust, but what we need to realize is that there is an interconnectivity that we all experience and that, with the right information and tools, we can and we must address hate wherever and whenever it occurs.”

SB 693 is a priority bill for the Jewish Caucus. It is also supported by the Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, Armenian Assembly of America, Armenian Film Foundation, Comfort Women Action for Redress and Education, Comfort Women Justice Coalition, Discovery Education, Hadassah, Jewish Family and Children’s Services – Holocaust Center, JPAC, Israeli-American Civic Action Network, National Association for Armenian Studies & Research, Pomegranate Foundation, and the USC Shoah Foundation.

The bill will be heard next in an Assembly policy committee in June or July.

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