2020 Celebrations of the Center:

PRESIDENT’S LETTER

Good Morning Friends:

Perhaps you may be aware of the NYS Senate Bill S6648 which requires instruction regarding symbols of hate, including the Swastika and the noose, be incorporated into the curricula for grades six through twelve.

The bill has passed in the NYS Senate, though it has not yet become a law.

The intent of the bill is to require NY children be educated regarding the meaning of Swastika as the emblem of Nazi Germany and noose as a symbol of racism and intimidation, both are considered having elements  of hatred and intolerance.  The advocates of the bill believe that students be educated in the significance of these displays of bigotry which will go a long time way toward fostering a more inclusive and tolerant society for all.

In fact, the Nazi hate symbol is a distorted (tilted) image of Swastika which is known as Hakenkreuz. Both may look somewhat similar to a layman, but in reality they are not. Swastika is an age-old symbol representing sacred religious faiths of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. The history of Swastika is rooted thousands of years back, whereas the symbol Hakenkreuz  popped up in the twentieth century.

If the bill becomes law and the Swastika is included as a hate symbol in the curricula, students, who have no background whatsoever of the religious background of the symbol of Swastika, would naturally develop a sense of hate when they see the symbol in the religious activities of Hindus and other faiths. Their study in schools will inculcate in their minds that the symbol of Swastika represents the Nazi regime’s atrocities and develop Hinduphobia.

The Bill should remove the word Swastika and substitute the word Hakenkreuz as a symbol of hate. The Bill has been sponsored and co-sponsored by several senators of NYS.

Last week, World Hindu Council of America Initiative has urged NY Senate to differentiate between Swastika and the Nazi Hakenkreuz.

The purpose of this email is to request you to disseminate this vital and urgent information to members of your organizations urging them to voice their concerns to their respective NYS Senators before the Bill becomes a NYS Law.

Thanks.

Mukund Mehta


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