The Illinois House and Senate have passed a bill that would require public schools to teach Asian American history.
The Teaching Equitable Asian-American History Act mandates elementary and high schools to include “a unit of instruction studying the events of Asian American history” from the 2022 school year onwards.
The bill, which passed the state House by 108 votes to 10 on Monday, has now been sent to Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker for approval.
If he signs it, Illinois would be the first US state to mandate Asian-American history, Reuters reported.
Under the bill, schools must teach students about the “wrongful incarceration of Japanese Americans” and the “heroic service of the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team” during World War II.
The 100th and 442nd were largely made up of Japanese Americans and were both given high honors for their efforts fighting in Europe.
The legislature’s passing of the bill comes after a year in which attacks on Asian Americans more than doubled, according to data from Stop AAPI Hate. Apparent associations with the novel coronavirus, which was first found in Wuhan, China, hae seen Asian Americans abused and attacked.
An October report from the UN published in October found an “an alarming level” of abuse against Asian Americans during the pandemic.
Former President Donald Trump often referred to the coronavirus in racially charged terms like the “China virus” and “kung flu.”
In March 2021, President Joe Biden said that the rise in attacks was “wrong” and “un-American.” Last month, Biden signed the COVID-19 Hate Crimes Act, a bill which would help the Justice Department track and report anti-Asian hate crimes.
Illinois state Rep. Jennifer Gong-Gershowitz, a Democratic Party co-sponsor of the bill, told Reuters in April: “Asian Americans are a part of the American fabric but we are often invisible.”
“Empathy comes from understanding. We cannot do better unless we know better.”
*story by Business Insider
