The far-right Breitbart News Service, founded in 2007, has frequently targeted the Zinn Education Project. This is the same news service that attacked Agriculture Department employee Shirley Sherrod and two Missouri professors using edited video tapes to misrepresent their statements.
Breitbart’s articles about the Zinn Education Project began in 2009, shortly after we launched our website, with “Illegality of Using the Zinn Education Project in California Schools” (Dec. 10, 2009). Ben Shapiro wrote for Breitbart,
The Zinn Education Project is a deep system of indoctrination dedicated to undermining the idea of America as a country that has been a beacon for freedom for centuries, undermining traditional social standards, and undermining the principle of equality of opportunity. It also happens to violate basic standards of California education law—and, undoubtedly, the education laws and standards of virtually every other state as well.
When Howard Zinn died, Breitbart published “Howard Zinn’s Legacy: Religious Fanaticism and Illegal Indoctrination of Your Children” (Feb. 4, 2010) where Ben Shapiro wrote,
There’s no question that teaching Zinn violates school codes all over the country. The truth is that it should also violate current understanding of the First Amendment Establishment Clause.
First, the Establishment Clause. The Establishment Clause provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” . . . Zinn had no rituals (other than reflexive America-bashing) or saints (other than those who dislike America intensely). But that does not mean that his philosophy isn’t a religious one, any more than reconstructionist Judaism isn’t a religion. He believed in a utopian one-world vision where war ends and wealth is distributed equally, certainly an ideal that must be taken as a religious end-time fantasy. He sought to impose his utopia through the schools.
When we exposed the Koch brothers sponsorship of the Bill of Rights Institute, Breitbart’s Dr. Susan Berry wrote the article “Zinn Education Project Launches Campaign To ‘Kick Koch Brothers Out of Our Schools’” (Dec. 15, 2014).
Breitbart took issue with our “If We Knew Our History” article by Alison Kysia on Muslims in the United States. They published “‘A People’s History of Muslims in the United States’: Really?” (Mar. 17, 2015) by Pamela Geller who wrote,
The Zinn Education Project is apparently taking a page from the revisionists and cultural despots who for years now have sought to rewrite history and propagate historical fictions via museum exhibits and other historical myth-making techniques in order to destroy our code of values and unprecedented history in defense of human freedom and individual rights.
When the Zinn Education Project was one of three groups selected to receive donations from CREDO/Working Assets, Breitbart published “The Zinn Education Project, ACLU, and Planned Parenthood Vie for CREDO Funds” (July 5, 2015). Dr. Susan Berry wrote,
The education initiative claims it now has more than 45,000 teachers who have registered at its site to download teaching materials for their classrooms in order to continue the spread of the socialist agenda in American’s public schools.
There are more Breitbart articles about the Zinn Education Project on Dec. 8, 2009, and June 16, 2016. Rush Limbaugh has also attacked the Zinn Education Project, calling us “insane” for publishing Kysia’s article about the people’s history of Muslims in the United States.
The Zinn Education Project, a project of Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change, remains committed to providing teachers access to lessons that challenge the false, hateful narrative of history and current events promoted by Breitbart.com, Rush Limbaugh, and other far-right media outlets. We welcome your support.
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