This morning, the Maryland office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, delivered formal testimony before the Maryland State Board of Education (MSDE) urging the Board to adopt mandatory, age-appropriate Palestine cultural literacy and anti-hate instruction in public schools as a necessary step to protect student safety and prevent bias-driven harassment.
CAIR’s testimony highlighted a troubling rise in anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim incidents in Maryland schools, including recent graffiti discovered at Walt Whitman High School in Montgomery County reading “f*** Muslims” and “Nuke Palestine.” The incident, which occurred on school property, sent a chilling message to Palestinian and Muslim students that their identities were targets of hate rather than protected within educational spaces.
Anti-Muslim graffiti at Bethesda high school sparks fear, condemnation
Hate will not win: Muslim and Palestinian schoolchildren everywhere deserve safety, dignity and belonging
“For students who walk into their school and see calls for violence against people like them, this is not an abstract debate – it is a direct threat to their sense of safety and belonging,” said CAIR’s Maryland Director Zainab Chaudry. “When schools fail to address ignorance and dehumanization, hate is allowed to grow unchecked.”
In its testimony, CAIR emphasized that Palestine cultural literacy is not political advocacy and does not endorse any government or political movement. Instead, it is foundational education designed to help students distinguish between governments and civilians, identity and ideology, and fact-based history versus online misinformation.
“Maryland already understands the power of education to prevent harm,” Chaudry stated. “We teach Holocaust education, genocide education, and civil rights history not to assign blame, but to stop dehumanization before it turns into violence. Palestine cultural literacy follows that same educational logic.”
CAIR’s proposal calls for instruction that is fact-based, non-partisan, and developmentally appropriate, integrated into existing curricula without displacing other instructional requirements. The framework safeguards academic freedom and First Amendment protections while ensuring that anti-Palestinian bias – including bias against Palestinian Muslims and Christians – is recognized within existing anti-discrimination policies.
The organization warned that students are already absorbing distorted and inflammatory narratives about Palestine through social media and peer networks, often without guidance or context.
“The question facing the Maryland State Board of Education is not whether students are learning disinformation about Palestine,” Chaudry added. “They already are. The real question is whether the state will respond with silence, or with responsible, guided education that affirms the humanity of every student. Addressing hate through education is not optional. It is foundational to the mission of public schools and to the promise that every student deserves to learn without fear.”
CAIR is urging MSDE to use its authority to proactively address hate through education rather than responding only after incidents occur, stressing that student safety and dignity are core educational responsibilities.
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
END
CONTACT: CAIR Maryland Director Zainab Chaudry, zchaudry@cair.com, 410-971-6062; CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com