School District in California used federal funds to pay for ‘Woke Kindergarten’ curriculum

The founder said, “I believe the United States has no right to exist,” in a video on instagram

The Woke Kindergarten’s home page description

It was reported by San Fransisco Chronicle that the Hayward district in California voted to spend $250,000 on the ‘Woke Kindergarten’ curriculum. The founder, seen in the video above, offers a learning program that can be adopted by schools to teach students abolitionist and woke principles. She expressed views that are rooted in anti-Israel, anti-American, and anti-colonizer values.

The Jerusalem Post covered this and said,

Hayward district Superintendent Jason Reimann told the Chronicle that Woke Kindergarten was hired to boost attendance rates and eliminate suspensions, not for its political contents. And, Reimann said, the school has seen improvement in those areas: only 44% of students were considered chronically absent last year, the article said, compared to 61% the year before.

In the video the founder, Akiea “Ki” Gross, posted to instagram, she expressed her views on Israel saying she is, “ten toes down anti-Israel,” and that she believes they do not have a right to exist. She expressed the same sentiment towards America.

She said, “I believe every settler colony who has committed genocide against native peoples, against indigenous peoples has no right to exist. I believe in Free Palestine. From the river to the sea. I believe one day Palestine will be free.”

As the video progresses, she goes onto say, “White supremacy destroys for the sake of destruction. Abolition destroys for the sake of creation. We are not the same … but y’all are demons. Y’all are the villains. We’ve been trying to end y’all. And we’re going to continue to do that.”

Here is the link to the website, Woke Kindergarten, where you can peruse the offerings that are geared towards youth. Some of which include, ‘Woke Wonderings’ that talks about the eradication of borders with an image of the United States. (See below)

Another example of the programs material includes the ‘Woke Word of the Day’ which is currently ‘Abolish’ and is listed as “language of the resistance”.

In the workshops tab you’ll find a handful of different workshops that seek to teach different topics, such as Abolitionist Teaching in the Early Years, Protecting Joy: The Art of Critical Conversations, and more.

Abolitionist Teaching in the Early Years —

In this workshop, Ki illuminates the ways the prison industrial complex manifests in early childhood and takes participants on an exploration of how we can disrupt the PIC through a comprehensive and interactive journey into Woke Kindergarten’s abolitionist early learning pedagogy. Participants can expect to leave with an introductory understanding of abolitionist teaching in practice, how to use Woke Kindergarten’s resources as healing-centered engagement in practice and a more thorough understanding of abolitionist politic, the pursuit of liberation and ultimately what that means—and how we show up—for our very youngest Black and brown children and their families. This workshop uses an interactive guide.

Protecting Joy: The Art of Critical Conversations —

This workshop introduces participants to Woke Kindergarten’s framework for engaging in critical conversations with young children & equips them with the tools and insights they need to use Woke Kindergarten’s resources as anchors in these conversations. Participants will dive deep into where our hesitation to have these conversations comes from, how we can enter them through a healing-centered, humanity affirming lens, and how understanding children as self-determined participants in co-creating the futures they deserve empowers us to feel equipped in moving through hard truths with our kids.

Just remember, the youth are our future.