SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1441        FILED ON: 1/17/2019

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 327

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Michael J. Rodrigues

_________________

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:

 

Michael J. Rodrigues

First Bristol and Plymouth

 

Cynthia Stone Creem

First Middlesex and Norfolk

1/30/2019

Barry R. Finegold

Second Essex and Middlesex

 

Jason M. Lewis

Fifth Middlesex

1/23/2019

Harriette L. Chandler

First Worcester

1/31/2019

William N. Brownsberger

Second Suffolk and Middlesex

1/24/2019

Rebecca L. Rausch

Norfolk, Bristol and Middlesex

1/18/2019

Joseph A. Boncore

First Suffolk and Middlesex

1/30/2019

Michael O. Moore

Second Worcester

1/24/2019

Anne M. Gobi

Worcester, Hampden, Hampshire and Middlesex

1/29/2019

Walter F. Timilty

Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth

1/29/2019

Eric P. Lesser

First Hampden and Hampshire

1/29/2019

Adam G. Hinds

Berkshire, Hampshire, Franklin and Hampden

1/31/2019

Ryan C. Fattman

Worcester and Norfolk

1/30/2019

Patrick M. O'Connor

Plymouth and Norfolk

1/30/2019

Jack Patrick Lewis

7th Middlesex

1/18/2019

Lori A. Ehrlich

8th Essex

1/18/2019

Angelo J. Puppolo, Jr.

12th Hampden

1/22/2019

Paul A. Schmid, III

8th Bristol

1/23/2019

Alan Silvia

7th Bristol

1/29/2019

Mike Connolly

26th Middlesex

1/29/2019

Thomas M. Stanley

9th Middlesex

1/29/2019

Bradley H. Jones, Jr.

20th Middlesex

1/29/2019

Jennifer E. Benson

37th Middlesex

1/30/2019

Kay Khan

11th Middlesex

1/30/2019

James B. Eldridge

Middlesex and Worcester

1/30/2019

José F. Tosado

9th Hampden

1/31/2019

David F. DeCoste

5th Plymouth

1/31/2019

Brendan P. Crighton

Third Essex

1/31/2019

Sal N. DiDomenico

Middlesex and Suffolk

1/31/2019

Steven S. Howitt

4th Bristol

1/31/2019

Paul R. Feeney

Bristol and Norfolk

2/1/2019

Mark C. Montigny

Second Bristol and Plymouth

2/1/2019

Donald F. Humason, Jr.

Second Hampden and Hampshire

2/1/2019

James T. Welch

Hampden

2/1/2019

James Arciero

2nd Middlesex

2/1/2019

Bruce E. Tarr

First Essex and Middlesex

2/1/2019

Joan B. Lovely

Second Essex

2/1/2019

Elizabeth A. Poirier

14th Bristol

2/1/2019

David Henry Argosky LeBoeuf

17th Worcester

2/1/2019

Julian Cyr

Cape and Islands

2/1/2019

Maria Duaime Robinson

6th Middlesex

2/7/2019

Joanne M. Comerford

Hampshire, Franklin and Worcester

2/22/2019

Carlos González

10th Hampden

2/22/2019

Viriato M. deMacedo

Plymouth and Barnstable

5/3/2019


SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1441        FILED ON: 1/17/2019

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 327

By Mr. Rodrigues, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 327) of Michael J. Rodrigues, Cynthia Stone Creem, Barry R. Finegold, Jason M. Lewis and other members of the General Court for legislation relative to genocide education .  Education.

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

_______________

 

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 71 of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the following section:-

Section 98. Every school district shall include in its curriculum a unit of instruction on the Holocaust and genocide, utilizing, but not being limited to, the Massachusetts History and Social Science Curriculum Framework disseminated by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Acts of genocide across the globe shall be taught consistent with the frameworks to address the notion that national, ethnic, racial, or religious hatred can overtake any nation or society, leading to calamitous consequences. To reinforce that lesson, such curriculum unit shall include the Nazi atrocities of 1933 to 1945 known as the Holocaust, and other genocides including, but not limited to, the Armenian Genocide, the Famine-Genocide in Ukraine known as Holodomor, the Pontian Greek Genocide, and more recent atrocities in Bosnia, Cambodia, 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. Nothing herein shall require school districts to require genocide instruction in every year of middle school and high school, but that genocide education and instruction shall be utilized during appropriate times in the middle school and/or high school curricula, as determined by the local authority. All students should have received instruction on genocide by the time they have graduated from high school.

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