Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, a Republican, recently signed into law two bills that define and respond to Jew-hatred in the state and its educational institutions.
“Oklahomans value the freedom to live and worship with our families in peace,” the governor, who signed the bills on May 6, told JNS.
The first bill, SB 942, requires public schools to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of Jew-hatred in their codes of conduct and to train faculty, staff and students about Jew-hatred, and directs the Oklahoma Education Department to use that definition in its probes under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
The second bill, SB 991, adopts the IHRA definition into state law, which makes Oklahoma the 37th state to do so, the Combat Antisemitism Movement, which supported the bills, stated.
Stitt said he signed the legislation, “because Oklahoma is committed to protecting religious freedom and rejecting antisemitism.”
“I’m grateful to our Jewish neighbors for their contributions to our state, and we’ll make sure Oklahoma continues to lead with strength and moral clarity when it comes to our religious freedoms,” he told JNS.
Oklahoma is the fifth state, after Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky and Tennessee, to pass this type of legislation since April 1, CAM said.
