CAIR calls on Florida to remove Islamophobic PragerU content from schools
TALLAHASSEE, Florida – The Muslim advocacy group Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) has urged Florida authorities to ban PragerU for anti-Muslim content.
Florida recently approved PragerU, an unaccredited nonprofit organization, and its newly launched PragerU Kids content for teaching in public schools.
PragerU has been criticized for espousing anti-immigrant theories, downplaying systemic racism, and promoting other right-wing ideas.
CAIR has called on the Florida Department of Education to clarify and repudiate any relationship between the Islamophobic PragerU and Florida schools.
CAIR cites a fact sheet released by the Georgetown University Bridge Initiative in 2020 that lists a number of PragerU videos that “promote Islamophobic tropes”
A spokeswoman for the state Department of Education said the PragerU Kids videos had been reviewed by the agency. She said their content is consistent with state education standards that apply to civics and government education.
According to the PragerU website, the group’s videos are viewed an average of 4 million times a day. Most viewers are under 35 years old.
CAIR chapter’s executive director, Imam Abdullah Jaber, said there’s a clear ideological slant in PragerU’s educational content.
“A number of PragerU’s videos online, they very vividly spread anti-Muslim rhetoric and, beyond that, conspiracy theories,” said Jaber.
In a press release, CAIR cited other entities that have documented such rhetoric in PragerU’s materials.
CAIR cites a factsheet published by the Georgetown University Bridge Initiative in 2020 that lists a number of PragerU videos that “promote Islamophobic tropes.”
One such video features former Dutch politician and Somali-born American activist Ayann Hirsi Ali.
In 2014, Brandeis University withdrew an award from Hirsi Ali after learning she stated “we are at war with Islam,” called for the closing of “all Muslim schools” in America, urged that Islam be “defeated” and claimed “there is no moderate Islam,” according to the CAIR release.
“PragerU platforming a speaker who once argued the Constitution should be changed to allow for discrimination against Muslims should be a fairly blatant red flag,” said CAIR Research and Advocacy Director Corey Saylor.
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