New Jersey Passes Bill Requiring Schools To Teach Kids How To Interact With Cops

The state Assembly of New Jersey passed a bill on Thursday that would require K-12 students to be taught how to interact with police officers “in a manner marked by mutual cooperation and respect.” Although the Senate still needs to take action for the bill to become a law, it had an overwhelming amount of support in the assembly; passing 76-0.

The bill is aimed at “teaching” kids how to own responsibility for not interacting in a proper manner when a police officer demands compliance and mandates that school districts begin teaching kids how to talk to law-enforcement officers. Schools will be forced to begin this new indoctrination program starting in kindergarten, and the “instruction” would continue as part of the social studies curriculum all the way through grade 12. The bill is facing harsh blowback from not only the minority community but those skeptical of police actions.

Because the bill originally put all the burden on children to learn to respect cops, it was altered to include a segment about rights. The amended version of the bill now includes a directive that children also must be taught about “an individual’s rights under [the] law in interacting with a law enforcement official.” Of course, it says nothing about children disobeying immoral actions and still places the burden on the civilian.

Activists have a right to be skeptical. If the bill clears the Senate, the schools will begin brainwashing New Jersey children in 2018.

“This legislation does not empower young people, especially those living in brown and black communities,” New Jersey-based teacher and activist Zellie Imani told [NBC News]. “Instead, it empowers law enforcement by allowing them to continue to evade accountability for abuse and misconduct while forcing the burden on the public.”

However, the bill’s primary sponsor, Assemblywoman Sheila Oliver, insists that it is about preparing kids. “This is a lesson many parents already teach to their children,” Oliver said, referring to police interaction. “Making it part of the school curriculum is the next logical step.” –The Root

Most could not agree more with Imani’s statement. And Oliver is grossly mistaken if she thinks children are taught outright compliance regardless of the orders given to them by police. Many teach their children morals, and those children are free thinking individuals who likely won’t just follow orders (does anyone remember Nazi Germany?), unlike police.

The civil rights movement in the United States had its turning point when Martin Luther King, Jr., defied a court order because laws discriminating against blacks were considered to be immoral and unconstitutional. In his account of the civil rights campaign in Birmingham, Alabama, King “speaks of a court injunction obtained by the city administration on April 10, 1963, directing that demonstrations be halted until the right to such activities might be argued in court. Dr. King continues: ‘Two days later, we did an audacious thing, something we had never done in any other crusade. We disobeyed a court order.’” –American Vision