Anti-Semitism Allegations Arise During Philadelphia School Board Meeting

A school board president in Philadelphia has apologized after a public meeting earlier this week devolved into what many parents described as anti-Semitism.

The Lower Merion school board meeting on Monday began a discussion about a small edit to the school district’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policy that resulted in a member claiming Jews “decided… to join the group of white people” and that they were not “historically marginalized.”

The problem began while the committee was discussing an edit to its DEI policy to bring it in line with the U.S. Supreme Court decision last year that ended affirmative action, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. Board member Abby Lerner Rubin said she felt the policy was exclusionary, and eventually admitted she was talking about Jews, as she is Jewish.

Board members Kimberly Garrison, who is black, and Anna Shurak, who is Jewish, made the push against Rubin.

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Rubin asked how the district would decide which identities were protected under the school district’s policies and noted that anti-Semitism had come back. She later objected to language that would allow the superintendent to develop policies that would meet “the needs of those historically marginalized individuals.”

“I would like it to say ‘all,’” Rubin said, according to the Inquirer. “I understand why we need to acknowledge historic discriminations … the idea that it’s not for all is where I get a little bit uncomfortable.”

Garrison said she “totally disagreed” with Rubin’s concerns, saying that “racism and antiblackness has always been in fashion.”

“I know quite a bit about Jewish history,” Garrison added. “There was a time before Jewish people decided that they were going to join the group of white people …”

Rubin asked Garrison to take the statement back, but Garrison refused, going on to point to studies showing that most American Jews identify as white.

“According to the U.S. government, the U.S. Census, and countless scholars and academic institutions, Jewish people have been racially classified as white in this country. This is a fact,” Garrison said in a clip that has gone viral. “This is not – I am not finished speaking. I am not finished speaking, thank you,” she said when parents began protesting her comments.

“This is not an anti-Semitic statement,” she continued. “Additionally, people of the Middle East, even those of North African descent, are usually counted as white by the U.S. government.”

“But the problems affecting historically marginalized people remain as true today as they were when this policy was created in 1996,” she said. “There have been no significant changes in this respect. And to reiterate, as stated in full detail in the current equity policy, equity does not mean equality.”

At a school board meeting in Pennsylvania, Jews are informed that they are white and not in any way “historically marginalized.”

Good thing they aren’t in charge of educating anybody. Oh wait… pic.twitter.com/27ekFvVltk

— Aviva Klompas (@AvivaKlompas) September 19, 2024

Shurak argued that her being Jewish has allowed her to experience white privilege and noted achievement gaps between students of color and white students.

“[T]he point is, as a white person, no one can immediately discriminate against you for being Jewish,” she said, according to the Inquirer.

A backlash ensued, and within days of the meeting, School Board president Kerry Sautner sent a follow-up letter to the Delaware Valley Journal describing how “the conversation took a turn, becoming unhealthy and damaging with anti-Semitic statements and racist implications.”

She added: “[S]ince that meeting, on social media and in correspondence, we have seen continued insults and harmful behavior among neighbors. This ongoing pain underscores the need for us all to engage in conversations with greater humility, understanding and respect.”