Tenn. school district special committee concludes textbook’s anti-Semitic content not biased

A five-member special committee formed by a Tennessee school district has concluded that a geography textbook, which was flagged for containing anti-Semitic content, is not biased and won’t be changed for the upcoming school year.

According to The (Nashville) Tennessean, the Williamson County School System formed the special committee after a parent, Laurie Cardoza-Moore, submitted complaints in regards to the content of an Advanced Placement geography textbook. She said the book, called The Cultural Landscape: An Introduction to Human Geography, contained bias and anti-Israel statements.

Cardoza-Moore collected more than 700 signatures to protest the book’s use and caught the attention of multiple pro-Israel organizations including the Jewish Federation of Nashville and Middle Tennessee. The groups issued statements in support of her protest.

In response, the special committee released a detailed eight-page document to address the issues posed by the individuals, concluding the textbook was not biased.

The committee addressed the questionable areas of the book, but did not take a stance on the most controversial paragraph regarding terrorism and acts of violence, as the publisher stated that he would remove it from electronic versions and future editions.

The excerpt, which was meant to distinguish terrorism from acts of violence, included the question: “If a Palestinian suicide bomber kills several dozen Israeli teenagers in a Jerusalem restaurant, is that an act of terrorism or wartime retaliation against Israeli government policies and army actions?”

According to Nashville’s WKRN,  the textbook also considered Hamas and Hezbollah — which the U.S. classifies as terrorist groups — as “political parties.”

Director of Schools, Mike Looney, told The Tennessean that Cardoza-Moore has the right to appeal the committee’s decision to the school board.

“If this occurs, I will look forward to a final resolution on this issue so that we can complete preparations for the upcoming school year,” Looney said. “We have a record number of students registered for this course and shudder to think their course requests wouldn’t be honored.”