HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1383        FILED ON: 1/18/2017

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 314

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Jeffrey N. Roy and Karen E. Spilka

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act concerning genocide education.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

Jeffrey N. Roy

10th Norfolk

1/18/2017

Karen E. Spilka

Second Middlesex and Norfolk

1/26/2017

Thomas P. Walsh

12th Essex

 

David K. Muradian, Jr.

9th Worcester

 

Cory Atkins

14th Middlesex

 

Lori A. Ehrlich

8th Essex

 

Jack Lewis

7th Middlesex

 

Natalie Higgins

4th Worcester

 

William L. Crocker, Jr.

2nd Barnstable

 

David Paul Linsky

5th Middlesex

 

Jonathan Hecht

29th Middlesex

 

Randy Hunt

5th Barnstable

 

Jason M. Lewis

Fifth Middlesex

 

Paul A. Schmid, III

8th Bristol

 

David M. Rogers

24th Middlesex

 

Brian Murray

10th Worcester

 

William N. Brownsberger

Second Suffolk and Middlesex

 

Diana DiZoglio

14th Essex

 

Steven Ultrino

33rd Middlesex

 

James M. Cantwell

4th Plymouth

 

Paul McMurtry

11th Norfolk

 

Frank I. Smizik

15th Norfolk

2/3/2017

Edward F. Coppinger

10th Suffolk

 

Geoff Diehl

7th Plymouth

 

Michael F. Rush

Norfolk and Suffolk

 

Elizabeth A. Malia

11th Suffolk

 

Paul R. Heroux

2nd Bristol

 

Michelle M. DuBois

10th Plymouth

 


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 1383        FILED ON: 1/18/2017

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 314

By Representative Roy of Franklin and Senator Spilka, a joint petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 314) of Jeffrey N. Roy, Karen E. Spilka and others relative to the teaching of genocide education in the public schools.  Education.

 

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE HOUSE, NO. 473 OF 2015-2016.]

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninetieth General Court
(2017-2018)

_______________

 

An Act concerning genocide education.

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

Section 1. Chapter 15 of the General Laws is hereby Amended by adding the following section:-

Section 67.  Acts of genocide across the globe shall be included in the Massachusetts history and social science curriculum frameworks for United States and world history to address the notion that national, ethic, racial, or religious hatred can overtake any nation or society, leading to calamitous consequences. To reinforce that lesson, such curriculum unit shall include, but not be limited to, the Nazi atrocities of 1933 to 1945 known as the Holocaust, the Famine-Genocide in Ukraine known as Holodomor, the Armenian Genocide, the Pontian Greek Genocide, and more recent atrocities in Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, and Sudan. The studying of this material is a reaffirmation of the commitment of free peoples from all nations to never again permit the occurrence of another genocide and a recognition that crimes of genocide continue to be perpetrated across the globe as they have been in the past, and to deter indifference to crimes against humanity and human suffering wherever they may occur.

The department shall recommend curricular materials detailing the underlying causes, international reaction, progression and aftermath of the aforementioned genocides, including those recommendations established by chapter 276 of the acts of 1998.

The department may provide trainings, seminars, conferences and materials for educators to use in the teaching of genocide.