Non-Muslim Parents Argue School’s Anti-Islamaphobia Program Violates Their First Amendment Rights

In a clear indication for why we can’t have nice things, a group of parents is asking for a federal injunction to stop the San Diego Unified School District’s program to reduce Islamaphobia and anti-Islamic bullying.

The school’s program is one of those pretty basic campaigns to “raise awareness” about anti-Muslim bullying, which is on the rise in California. It’s a program that was made in consultation with CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations. Here’s how the school describes it:

The District recently announced an intent to take action specifically to address the bullying of Muslim students. The proposed action will be a part of the district’s efforts to protect all students from bullying, intimidation, and discrimination. As we have done with other vulnerable segments of our student population, our intent in drawing attention to the bullying of Muslim students, in particular, is to raise awareness of the issue, and to promote tolerance and understanding.

In a tolerant society, this would be filed under “OBVIOUS THINGS EVERYBODY DOES TO NOT RAISE BIGOTS,” but apparently we need a whole “initiative” to tell kids and teachers “don’t treat all Muslims as potential terrorists,” and “don’t knock the thing off the kid’s head, gawd what the hell are they teaching you at home?” This is a freaking benign program and I struggle to understand how anybody would have a problem with it.

But, I’m not white. And this is not a tolerant society. Lawyer Charles LiMandri has been attacking the plan since its inception. To refresh your memory, here’s how Courthouse News describes LiMandri:

Lead attorney LiMandri is an outspoken Catholic, formerly with the Thomas More Law Center, according to a 2013 profile of him in the National Catholic Register. He was involved in the fight against same-sex marriage in California, in trying to protect a giant statue of Jesus on public property on Mount Soledad in San Diego, in defending a county clerk who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses, and defending practitioners of so-called “gay conversion” therapy, according to the National Catholic Register. He founded his Rancho Santa Fe law office after he left the Thomas More Center.

The weapon LiMandri has chosen for this modern Crusade against the Muslim usurpers is the First Amendment. Because, as we’ve seen many times, the First Amendment in this country is no longer used to protect minorities from persecution. It’s now just one of the weapons deployed by supremacists to intimidate and subjugate non-believers. The First Amendment is being debased by the right to provide some kind of blanket protection for unvarnished bigotry.

We see it most often when the religious right argues that their free exercise of religion gives them constitutional protection to be bigoted towards gay people. First Amendment absolutists are happy place somebody’s right to intimidate and humiliate the LGBTQ community above a child’s right to go to school in peace. But LiMandri is arguing that the Establishment Clause prevents San Diego from protecting Muslim children from violence. He argues that the school program confers an unconstitutional “preference” for Muslims:

“First, in light of defendants’ ‘anti-Islamophobia initiative,’ it is a far graver sin for a bully to tug on a Muslim student’s hijab than it is to knock off a Jewish student’s kippah,” according to the memo by Charles LiMandri with the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund in Rancho Santa Fe.

To be clear: THAT’S NOT WHAT THE PROGRAM DOES. There is NOTHING in the directive that makes it a “graver sin” to bully a Muslim child than a Jewish child. What LiMandri is saying here is straight-up not true and is fear-mongering at its most base and disgusting level.

…To say nothing of the fact that lawyer Jesus statue over here probably doesn’t give a GOOD GODDAMN ABOUT THE BULLYING OF JEWISH CHILDREN.

LiMandri has been attacking the program for years, and the latest federal plea for an injunction comes only after he believed he defeated the school, when in reality that school district just changed its tactics to try to implement the program. His whole game is really just to bring enough public pressure from the non-Muslim parents in San Diego that it makes the school turn a blind eye to anti-Islamic bullying.

And, it’s probably working. I was looking at the school district’s “Frequently Asked Questions” page about its program and the questions are basically a collection of posts you’d expect to see on r/The_Donald. Some highlights… but please note that these are real questions THE SCHOOL felt it needed to ANSWER:

Why are Muslim students getting special treatment?

What do you do to protect non-Muslim students and groups from bullying?

Are you implementing Sharia law?

Are you endorsing Islam?

We live in a country where if a school says it’s going to try to raise awareness about bullying people on the basis of their religion, a not-insignificant number of parents ask “are you implementing Sharia law?” We are a disgusting people.

But, for what it’s worth, let me try to answer these questions:

• Why are Muslim students getting special treatment? We don’t know why your Nazi youth are singling out Muslim students, but we’re going to try to do something about it.
• What do you do to protect non-Muslim students and groups from bullying? You’re just asking that question now? You people are sending your kids to a school and have NO IDEA what our anti-bullying policies are? You’re not a very good parent, are you?
• Are you implementing Sharia law? Yes! Secular American education has clearly failed our country and so we’re thinking outside the box and trying something new! Just kidding, you deeply racist asshole.
• Are you endorsing Islam? No. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. But it would be inappropriate for a public school to endorse any one religion. Happy HOLIDAYS!

For those playing along at home, the First Amendment is supposed to be here so I can call the people who are against this program “racist” without fear of Stephen Miller pelting me with bananas on my way to work. It’s here so these parents can ask their racist little questions without fear of Kamala Harris prosecuting them for stupidity. It’s NOT HERE so that little jerkoffs can bully Muslim children. It’s NOT HERE to prevent a school district from protecting children who have been singled out for torment.

We are in an intellectual war with people who would debase the First Amendment to the point so devoid of nuance that it becomes as deadly to us as the Second. And the bad guys are winning.

San Diego Parents Call Schools’ Anti-Islamic Bullying Program Unconstitutional [Courthouse News Service]

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Elie Mystal is the Executive Editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at [email protected]. He will resist.