The mosque-fighting, anti-Black Lives Matter, vaccine-hoaxer, insurrectionist, and, perhaps, 9/11-truther from Franklin got one step closer to picking your child’s textbooks Wednesday.
The state Senate Education Committee approved Laurie Cardoza-Moore for a position on the state’s Textbook and Instructional Materials Quality Commission. Only Sen. Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis) voted against Cardoza-Moore’s appointment.
See our previous story here for more details on Cardoza-Moore.
Cardoza-Moore’s nonprofit organization, Proclaiming Justice to the Nations (PJTN) has reviewed several textbooks in the past and offered up changes. In some of those textbooks, Cardoza-Moore claimed she found “propaganda that has turned our children against our country.” However, she said Wednesday she has not looked at the textbooks and curricula in Tennessee.
In her opening speech, Cardoza-Moore said the terrorist attacks of September 11th were her “wake-up call” to the state of the nation’s educational system. She found “inaccurate and biased curriculum” being used in the classrooms of Williamson County. When asked for a specific example of this by Sen. Akbari, Cardoza-Moore referenced a 2015 textbook that “had a quote legitimizing Palestinians blowing themselves up” and “killing innocent people.”
Akbari asked Cardoza-Moore what happened on September 11th. She said the country was attacked by terrorists. Akbari then cited a textbook review from PJTN, Cardoza-Moore’s nonprofit group, that put the suggestion into question.
The passage from the textbook reads, “on September 11th, 2001, members of al-Qaeda carried out a terrorist attack on New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania.” In the PJTN report, the phrase ”members of al-Qaeda carried out” is underlined. The PJTN report says (on page 23) “given the plethora of evidence, the reviewer suggests removing the underlined section of sentence.”
“This is a highly contested (per architects and engineers for 9/11 Truth, and demolition experts) argument,” reads the PJTN review. “There is ample evidence that refute the ‘official’ story of what was perpetrated that day.”
The comments are followed by a link to a YouTube video called ”9/11 – 50 Questions They Can’t Answer – (Part 1 of 3)” posted by a user called “Trust No Man.” The video sets out to question the questions presented by 9/11 debunkers, those who trust the “official” version of the events of 9/11, the video says.
When Akbari pressed Cardoza-Moore to confirm that these were, in fact, the statements of her organization, Cardoza-Moore never did.
“What you’re quoting right now, I never would have said that,” Cardoza-Moore told the committee on the question of al-Qaeda’s involvement in 9/11. “I need to see the quote in the context you’re pulling it from. Is that from a Power Point? I would never say al-Qaeda never participated in [9/11].”
Pressed to deny that the statement was on her website, Cardoza-Moore said, “Until I can look at what you’re looking at, I cannot confirm nor deny” the information is there.
Cardoza-Moore came to the public eye in 2010 when she publicly fought against the construction of a mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. On The 700 Club television show, she told host Pat Robertson the mosque was a training camp for terrorists. She repeated the claim in Wednesday’s Senate hearing.
When asked by Akbari about the claims, Cardoza-Moore said two of the mosque’s board members were also members of Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist organization. Cardoza-Moore said one of those members was actively recruiting Muslims on his MySpace page to kill Jews in an effort to free Palestine. Akbari said no proof of those allegations were ever verified. Cardoza-Moore said a judge heard the testimony but a higher court judge dismissed the decision.
After Cardoza-Moore’s testimony was complete, Akbari said she “cannot think of someone who is more uniquely unqualified to be on this position.”
This person has peddled hate, anti-Muslim rhetoric, and a conspiracy theory about what happened on 9/11.
Sen. Raumesh Akbari
“This person has peddled hate, anti-Muslim rhetoric, and a conspiracy theory about what happened on 9/11, the most tragic event the United States where 3,000 people died,” Akbari said. “To have someone who has such poor judgement on our textbook commission — that reviews books and determines what our students learn — is an insult to people across this state.”
Committee chairman Sen. Brian Kelsey (R-Germantown) told Senators that the textbook commission’s role “is to ensure our textbooks align with the state standards that have been adopted by the state board, not to ensure they align with any personal views of anyone who is serving on that commission.”
The appointment was passed on a 7-1 vote. The resolution now heads to the Calendar Committee for a scheduled vote from the full Senate.
