The California Department of Education has proposed a new curriculum that would involve teachers leading students in prayers to Aztec gods in an effort to build unity in the classroom. The latest draft of the proposed Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum, which will undergo a vote for approval next week, seeks to “center and place high values” of the traditions and experiences of pre-Columbian America, and to critique “white supremacy and racism” that led to their marginalization in the modern world. This guiding narrative is reflected in the design of example courses and various class activities, including the model curriculum’s official “ethnic studies community chant,” in which students directly appeal to the deities of the Aztec pantheon for the power to become “warriors” of “love, ecological and social justice.” In the community chant of “In Lak Ech,” which translates to “You Are My Other Me,” teachers are instructed to first lead …