Who Hates Who in Orange County?

The Orange County Human Relations Commission/Council (two confusing but inter-connected agencies) continue to be under the public microscope especially by the 5-member Board of Supervisors. Recently, the OCHR Commission (which is publicly-funded-the Council is not)  came under fire for co-sponsoring teacher training workshops on Islam and the Israel-Palestinian issue conducted by among others, the local chapter of Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR).

CAIR used their 2017 study claiming that Muslim schoolchildren are being bullied in California schools at an alarming rate to make the case that teachers needed some sort of sensitivity training on Islam. The training, also held in the Los Angeles Unified School District, also included "training" on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, naturally from a Palestinian point of view. One might ask why public school teachers in LA and Orange Counties are being trained to accept the Palestinian narrative.

Since there is a link between the CAIR study and the training, it is fair to question why the OCHRC co-sponsored the Orange County training and what their own 2017 statistics in this area reflect. Every year, OCHR Commission puts out a report on hate crimes broken down by victim and perpetrator. The report usually consists of about 8 pages. However, aside from some  anecdotal quotes from some victims. there is no real narrative as to what these crimes or incidents involved.

As yet, OCHRC has yet to issue its 2017 report. Here is their last published report from 2016.

In addition, a colleague of mine (after much effort) was able to obtain this chart from the Commission listing 2016 reported school bullying cases. It includes one reported Muslim victim.

In 2008, I wrote a letter to then Commission head Rusty Kennedy outlining my complaints about anti-semitism at UC Irvine. The letter described a caricature of Ariel Sharon, drawn in the style of old Nazi caricatures of Jews, specifically in Julius Streicher's Der Stuermer, which was posted on the mock "apartheid wall" put up by the Muslim Student Union every May to mark their anti-Israel demonstrations.  In return, I got a letter back from Kennedy telling me about all the great things the OCHRC was a doing and lambasting me for criticizing the UCI administration for their inaction. Here is OCHRC's 2008 report. Tell me if you think it includes that caricature of Sharon. See if you can find it. I can't. In fact, there is no way to tell.

Let me be clear. I do not want to see even one Muslim child being bullied in school because of his or her religion. Bullying unfortunately, is a fact of school life and always has been. When I was a kid, I was bullied, and later engaged in bullying myself to my great shame. But for a child to be bullied because of race, nationality, sexual orientation, or religion adds another ugly element to it. That being said, teachers have always had to deal with bullying. They don't need a questionable organization like CAIR to come in and provide all kinds of propaganda about Islam, and they don't need anybody to train teachers as to the Palestinian (or any other) point of view in a complicated conflict. As a former teacher who received his share of teacher training, it is clear that this type of training to public school teachers is downright improper.

The OCHRC (both Commission and Council) are way too politically oriented and too lacking in tangible results. In the case of the Commission, they do not merit any further public funding.