BOERUM HILL, BROOKLYN — MS 447 middle school in Brooklyn denied a request to have Holocaust survivor Sami Steigmann speak to students while including artwork by Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani's wife in a new seventh-grade curriculum. The school temporarily blocked the Holocaust survivor from speaking, though Steigmann spoke to students last month.

The course, titled "Art for Social Change," featured work by Syrian-American artist Rama Duwaji. Her illustrations included headings such as "Stillness of Displacement," "People Will Rise Against Tyranny," "Pulse of Protest," "Quiet Refusal to Be Spoken For," and "And in Sisterhood What It Means to Belong."

Duwaji previously created artwork for the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America as part of a public campaign called "PalestineOnTheBallot.com." The campaign promoted candidates running in Democratic Party primaries who refused funding from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and pledged to support the Not on Our Dime Act.

Old tweets showed that Duwaji liked posts praising Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack against Israel, praising Palestinian terrorists, and criticizing the U.S. military. She deactivated an old X account after posts surfaced showing her praising Palestinian terrorists, criticizing Israel, and criticizing the U.S. military.

On March 23, 2026, Moshe Spern, a city public high school teacher who heads Jewish United Teachers, wrote on social media: "MS 447 a Brooklyn middle @NYCSchools originally refused a Holocaust survivor over falsehoods but had no issue teaching @NYCMayor wife's antisemitic artwork!! Help this make sense???"

An MS 447 parent said, "I was concerned about a double standard and not teaching in a critical manner, and just forcing a political ideology on students." The course included mentor art and artists such as Misty Copeland, Kendrick Lamar, the Alvin Ailey Dance Company, Rama Duwaji, Libre Gutierrez, and Marianne Williamson.

The lesson asked students: "What is the message in Syrian-American Rama Duwaji's art?" and "How do you think her deep culture shapes what she cares about and what she creates?"