Last week, I wrote a blog post over at Change.org about an Arizona bill that was scheduled to be signed by Governor Brewer yesterday. Here’s an excerpt:
Tell Arizona Not to Ban Ethnic Studies in Public Schools
Arizona’s controversial anti-immigrant bill has made headlines across the nation, but another controversial bill recently passed by state lawmakers seems to have snuck under the media’s radar. Passed by a razor-thin margin, HB 2281 bans the teaching of ethnic studies classes in the state’s K-12 public schools, and is scheduled to be signed by Governor Jan Brewer in less than a week.
The bill prohibits any public or charter schools from teaching a class that: 1). Promotes the overthrow of the U.S. government, 2). Promotes resentment toward a race or class of people, 3). Is designed mostly for students of a particular ethnic group or 4). Advocates ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of students as individuals.
I’m most disturbed by stipulations #3 and #4, which could easily be interpreted to ban any ethnic studies program, including African-American Studies, Asian-American Studies and Latino Studies. And that’s no accident. The bill was written specifically to target a Tucson-based Mexican-American Studies program, which teaches Chicano history and literature — for example, by promoting the study of books by Mexican-American authors.
Sadly, although an online petition was started to urge Governor Brewer to veto HB 2281 (305 people at Change.org signed it), Brewer signed the bill into law yesterday, in essence out-lawing ethnic studies programs in Arizona. I think it is only time before we see a similar law introduced in the State House that will outlaw ethnic studies programs in the state’s public universities, as well.
It seems as if Arizona GOPers are hellbent on turning Arizona into a bonafide laboratory for Tea Party politics. They are waging a war against Arizona’s people of colour, and using Arizona as a powderkeg to ignite a similar anti-minority sentiment around the country.
Thus, it is imperative that folks around the country speak out against Arizona’s slew of anti-minority laws. If we keep quiet, we can only expect that the same kinds of laws will be passed in other states.
