Black Nationalist Gets $20 Million to Promote ‘Segregation’ in Public Schools

Sharif El-Mekki envisions a world where ‘all black students are taught by same-race teachers.’ He is backed by the Gates Foundation, NBC Universal, Nike, and the Bezos Family Foundation.

Sharif El-Mekki is an adviser to Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro. He also supports school segregation, is a member of the Black Panther Party with family ties to Iran, and runs a nonprofit that has raked in nearly $20 million in donations from the government and nonprofits, including the Gates Foundation.

El-Mekki, a former middle and high school teacher and principal, founded the Center for Black Educator Development (CBED) in 2019, which defines its vision as “a world where. . . all black students are taught by high-quality, same-race teachers,” and where “all teachers demonstrate high levels of expertise in anti-racist mindsets.” CBED argues that employing black teachers to educate black students increases educational outcomes.

Since its founding, CBED has trained thousands of teachers across the U.S. in “education activism,” urging a “commitment to liberation education from the racism inherent in America’s institutions, including our schools.” A CBED information packet titled “The Anti-Racist Guide to Teacher Retention,” developed with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, defines education as “a political act” that “can upend white supremacy and a racist history of using education as an oppressive social force.” 

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