Arizona: Ban On Ethnic Studies Heats Up

Arizona, no stranger to controversy is currently enmeshed in yet another battle related to race, this time however it is an education related issue.

Arizona's Attorney General, Tom Horne has signed legislation, which effectively outlaws the teaching of ethnic studies classes state wide. The way that the law works is any school that teaches ethnic studies can expect to be denied 10% funding for the coming year.

According to a New York Times report by Marc Lacey the state has yet to deny funding to schools who are teaching, Black, Asian and American Indian, but is threatening the Tucson Unified School District if it does not stop its Mexican American Studies program. The  full story can be read here:

The class began with a Mayan-inspired chant and a vigorous round of coordinated hand clapping. The classroom walls featured protest signs, including one that said “United Together in La Lucha!” — the struggle.  Although open to any student at Tucson High Magnet School, nearly all of those attending Curtis Acosta’s Latino literature class on a recent morning were Mexican-American.

For all of that and more, Mr. Acosta’s class and others in the Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican-American program have been declared illegal by the State of Arizona —  even while similar programs for black, Asian and American Indian students have been left untouched.

In a bizarre turn, the State Attorney General Tom Horne is accusing teachers of Mexican American studies as racist:

Asked whether he felt he was being likened to Bull Connor, the Alabama police commissioner who became a symbol of bigotry in the 1960s, Mr. Horne described how he had participated in the March on Washington in 1963 as a young high school graduate. He said of his critics: “They are the ‘Bull Connors.’ They are the ones resegregating.”

According to the article, the Tucson Unified School District stands to lose quite a bit of money if it is found not to be in compliance with the law:

The battle means that Tucson, a struggling urban district, stands to lose nearly $15 million in an already difficult budget environment.  So far, the school board has stood by the program, declaring that it considers it to be in compliance with the law.

In a time when Arizona is in headlines for all manner of horrible things, the state budget a mess, going after children in schools seems a bit... of a waste of time, Augustine F. Romero Director of student equity in Tucson puts it best.

The debate over the program’s future, Mr. Romero said, proves more than ever the need for the program. “There’s a fierce anti-Latino sentiment in this state,” he said. “These courses are about justice and equity, and what is happening is that the Legislature is trying to narrow the reality of those things.“Who are the true Americans here — those embracing our inalienable rights or those trying to diminish them?”