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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – A ‘woke’ Black Muslim teacher previously praised by the media for teaching so-called ‘critical race theory’ has been reassigned for her pro-Palestine advocacy after an intense pressure campaign by local Jewish groups.
According to reports, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia filed an official complaint last week that Keziah Ridgeway—a social studies teacher at Northeast High School—used her position to ‘denounce Israel’ and instill ‘hatred’ of Zionism, while allegedly ‘threaten ‘threatening’ Jewish parents on social media.
The complaint was lodged by the Deborah Project, a nonprofit co-founded by Jewish law school professor Jesse Fried. The group is aimed towards “asserting and defending the civil rights of Jews facing discrimination in educational settings.”
Legal director Lori Lowenthal Marcus claimed that Ridgeway had openly called for violence against the leaders of the School District of Philadelphia Jewish Family Association.
In February, Ridgeway raised concerns over the removal of her students’ assignment examining Palestinian art as an act of resistance.
Parents from the Jewish Family Association objected to Ridgeway’s students’ work. Since then, members of that group have often antagonized and harassed Ridgeway on social media over her pro-Palestine activism.
In the complaint, Marcus specifically referenced recent posts on Ridgeway’s personal social media accounts where she allegedly named previously anonymous leaders from the Jewish Family Association in frustration for their continued online attacks against her.
The next day, Omar Crowder, the principal of Northeast High School, announced in an email sent to families that Ridgeway “will be reassigned offsite” while an investigation is conducted into the complaint about her.
It would not be the first time the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) and its employees have been the victims of Jewish lawfare. In April 2024, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights launched an investigation into the district following a complaint from Jewish parents and pressure from the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) to take action.
The complaint alleged “persistent harassment and bullying of Jewish students” along with the spread of “inflammatory anti-Jewish and anti-Israel messages” on social media and even in classrooms by teachers and administrators across Philadelphia schools.
Ridgeway—a staunch pro-Palestine activist—has attended pro-Palestine protests and repeatably denounced Israel online. In one post on Instagram she posted a photo from a pro-Palestine rally with the caption “From the River to the Sea…Palestine will be free.” She also shared a post from X/Twitter that “Israel’s systematic annihilation of Palestinians…is worse than gas chambers. Gaza is a concentration camp.”
Ridgeway’s outspoken pro-Palestine activism has made her a target for Jewish groups since 2022. She was maliciously profiled on Canary Mission—a Zionist doxing blog—which attacks individuals for allegedly promoting ‘hatred’ of Jews and Israel.
While Ridgeway is now facing actual systematic oppression from Jewish groups—who are using their power to cancel her—she was previously a media darling praised for teaching ‘critical race theory’ in the classroom by the media in the wake of the George Floyd summer of racial reckoning in 2020.
In a 2020 fluff piece by Grid, Ridgeway attacked the mainstream American history curriculum for focusing on major events such as the Declaration of Independence, the American Revolution, and the Civil War because “they’re all centered around White people.”
She further lamented that Black history was only taught in February and that it was “packed into a lesson plan that would be regurgitated the following year like clockwork.”
She would go on to state that “If you want to truly revolutionize education, it has to start at the beginning with destroying White supremacy, which has always been a part of the framework of the United States.”
In a subsequent interview with CNN in 2021, she claimed that she was the only teacher she knew in Philadelphia who teaches critical race theory in public high school.
“Critical race theory is a lens, right? It’s not being taught in schools,” Ridgeway said. “It’s a theory for understanding the interaction of race and the law, and is mostly taught in graduate school, not elementary school. But conservatives are using the phrase to mean any instruction about the role of race in America, past or present.”
She continued, “The explicit message is that such instruction puts White people in danger of being blamed for their ancestors’ crimes. Its undercurrent is that it could bring attention to the ways that White people today continue to benefit from racism.”
“Can (CRT) influence the way that some teachers teach? Yeah,” Ridgeway said. “But that’s a good thing, right? Because race and racism are literally the building blocks of this country. So how can you not talk about it?”
On her personal website, Ridgeway states her mission is to make “Black History accessible to everyone.” With one of Ridgeway’s focuses appearing to be “empowering” Black women by teaching them about their history.
The website lists a book titled “Black Women Do: Leaders of the African Diaspora” for $14.99. The book appears to focus on various Black women throughout history.
According to Ridgeway, “As a history teacher, I realized early on that the achievements of Black women are undervalued and under reported…So, in order to bring our history beyond the classroom to your door, I developed this project titled, Black Women Do to shed light on the amazing women leaders of the past.”
These 13 Black women are listed in another section of the website along with a short biography and a cartoon drawn portraits. It is not clear if she will continue with this series.
While Ridgeway might have sought to revolutionize education by “destroying White supremacy,” instead, she has become the latest casualty of the Jewish war on the pro-Palestine left.
Ridgeway is not the first educator to face consequences for her pro-Palestine activism. Earlier this year, a teacher in Seattle was doxed, harassed, and subsequently placed on administrative leave for criticizing Israel. His face was plastered on mobile ‘doxing vans’ for his unwillingness to publically denounce Hamas.
After October 7th, when Palestinian freedom fighters conducted a daring raid on encroaching Israeli settlements, Jewish groups have pivoted towards combating what they claim is ‘antisemitism’ emerging from the left, as well as in schools and university campuses.
This comes in response to increased pro-Palestinian activism spurred by Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which has reportedly resulted in the deaths of over 40,000 Palestinians, predominantly women and children.
A recent study conducted by Brandeis University appears to validate Jewish concerns over a ‘rise in antisemitism’ on university campuses across America as over a third of undergrad students now harbor opinions critical of Israel and/or Jews.
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