U.N. Speaks Out Against America’s School Textbooks

Once again, the United Nations has waded into America’s business, tossing notions of sovereignty to the wind and taking on U.S. schools, saying the textbooks chosen by teachers, parents and administrators across the nation just aren’t up to global par.

“In fact, through the UN “education” agency UNESCO, the global body is seeking to dictate school textbook content to promote its agenda globally. And top UN officials regularly brag about seeking to shape the attitudes, values, ethics, and even spirituality of children worldwide,” the New American reported.

Here’s the backstory: Apparently, a student’s mother back in November complained to local school officials about a social studies textbook, “The Connecticut Adventure,” that was called out for its “paternalistic” and “insensitive” treatment of the issue of slavery.

Specifically, the book mentioned how Connecticut families, by and large, didn’t own as many slaves as those in other states and also, by and large, treated them in Christian fashion, like members of their own families.

Local officials listend to the critics and tossed the book. And the publisher even announced intent to revise the pertinent sections.

But apparently, word of the brouhaha reached the United Nations. And the global body’s left-of-left human rights officials went ballistic.

From the New American:

“Somewhere along the line, a team of self-styled UN ‘human-rights experts’ caught wind of the story, and decided to try to exploit yet another local issue to justify the UN outfit’s existence, to demonize America, and to meddle in what should have been a local matter for local elected officials.

“‘The chapter discussing the history of slavery in Connecticut is a distortion of the true nature of enslavement,’ fumed Ricardo Sunga, a self-styled ‘human rights expert’ who, despite not being African, leads the UN ‘Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent.’ That paternalistic outfit was established by the dictator-controlled UN “Human Rights” Council to supposedly stand up for Africans and their descendants, as if they needed special UN protection.

“In a press release posted on the UN News Center and the website of UN human rights chief Zeid Hussein, a prince of an Islamic dictatorship, Sunga instructed local American school officials as if he were in charge. “These deeply offensive texts should be replaced with accurate depictions of history which convey the message of the inherent dignity and equality of all human beings,” Sunga was quoted as saying, adding that textbooks the UN disagrees with ‘may lead to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, Afrophobia and related intolerance.’

“In a bit of irony, instead of choosing an African to run the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, the UN chose Sunga III from the Philippines, a country that surveys show is one of the most racist countries in the world. The same UN outfit last year visited America to demand reparations for slavery, more infringements on the constitutionally protected rights to self-defense and to keep and bear arms, an end to voter ID laws, and much more.

“It was not clear why the UN could not find an African or at least a person of African descent to lead the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent. The outfit’s previous boss, Mireille Fanon-Mendes-France, is from France, though at least she reportedly had an African ancestor on one side of the family. Critics said the lack of African leaders for the African group might reflect institutional UN bigotry.”

Here’s a principle that could go far at the United Nations: Look to remove the log from your own eye before pointing to the splinters in the eyes of others.

Again, the New American:

“When it comes to Africa, the UN and its oftentimes brutal ‘peacekeeping’ forces have become infamous for terrorizing and abusing Africans, for extreme corruption, and for other lawlessness. Yet rather than cleaning up its own house, the UN prefers to demonize America, where its armies of self-styled “experts” always have a lot to say about alleged racism.

“For example, in July, following the murder of five Dallas police officers by at least one racist ‘black power’ activist who said he hated whites, the UN put out an official press release touting ‘black lives matter’ and blasting American law enforcement for ‘structural racism.’ The UN’s ‘experts’ on ‘people of African descent’ — the same bureaucrats attacking local school officials in Connecticut — also called for prosecuting and punishing local police officers involved in two fatal shootings, before investigations were even complete. …

“But on textbooks, at least, it is not just Americans under UN attack over what is taught (or not) in school: Africans are also under fire by the UN for choosing textbooks the UN dislikes. In Africa and beyond, school children and the textbooks they read are being targeted, in particular, by the communist-controlled UN “education” agency known as UNESCO.

“Just last month, UNESCO issued a ‘Global Education Monitoring’ report blasting education authorities in Uganda, Kenya, Algeria, Zimbabwe, and other nations because they chose textbooks that allegedly show women in ‘traditional roles,’ including ‘housework.’ The report also complains that school textbooks used in Africa do not sufficiently promote “global citizenship,” homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgenderism, global-warming alarmism, and more.

“The UN even argues that private schools must be made to submit as a requirement of what it calls ‘international law.’ UNESCO also has a radical scheme known as the ‘World Core Curriculum’ that its minions hope to impose on schools around the world, along with everything from pseudo-history and quack reading schemes to programs for the sexualization of children.