A Freedom of Information Act request has uncovered evidence of “a well-orchestrated Islamic propaganda campaign aimed at teachers in school systems throughout Michigan and several other states.”
According to a Thursday report from the Thomas More Law Center, Michigan’s Novi Community Schools District conducted a two-day mandatory seminar for teachers presented by a paid Muslim consultant.
“We found that the teachers were subjected to two-days of Islamic propaganda, where Islam was glorified, Christianity disparaged, and America bashed—all funded by Novi taxpayers,” said Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Law Center.
The law center didn’t find any evidence that the school district presented seminars on Christianity, Judaism, or any other religion apart from Islam within the last five years.
Huda Essa, a Dearborn-area resident, was paid $5,000 to conduct the two-day seminar, but wasn’t fully vetted beforehand, according to information obtained in the public records request.
According to Essa’s website, her reach extends far beyond the Novi Community Schools District. In Michigan alone, she lists nine schools districts as clients, including Oakland County Schools, Ann Arbor Schools, L’Anse Creuse Public Schools, Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, Roseville Community Schools, Farmington Public Schools, Dearborn Public Schools, Birmingham Public Schools, and Melvindale Public Schools.
The Thomas More Law Center found that Essa compares Islam to Christianity in her seminars, saying they are “mostly similar.” She claims that the biggest difference between the two is that Islam is the “only purely monotheistic religion.”
In her presentations, she accuses America of “cultural genocide,” claims Muslim women are victims of Islamophobia, suggests Christian scriptures are “corrupted,” and argues that the Koran contains the “pure” word of God.
More than 400 teachers were required to attend the two-day workshop, according to the Thomas More Law Center. Additionally, the center’s Freedom of Information Act request found that Essa was given access to data from student and teacher surveys, and that the school district had “no guidelines” for the selection of presenters.
Essa received $5,000 from the public school for her two-day seminar on August 28 and 29, 2017.
“This type of infiltration amounts to an Islamic Trojan horse within our public-school systems,” Thompson said. “No other religion gets this kind of special treatment in our schools.”
The Thomas More Law Center is a national non-profit public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Its full report can be read here.
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News, The Ohio Star, and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Novi High School” by transly. CC BY 2.0.
