Yeah, but as Jon Stewart said, it's a dry ignorance.
As someone who has taught undergraduates, law students, high school students and others, mostly in higher education, for over 35 years, I'd be outraged at Arizona's latest attempt to legislate ignorance, censorship and bigotry, but what can one expect of a state whose government, and apparently whose residents who support such measures, are so utterly clueless?
I'm running for Congress in Arizona's Sixth Congressional District as a candidate in the Green Party primary on August 24 for a number of reasons, but one is to provide some sanity and a progressive alternative for sensible voters in November.
Here's just one example of many expressing outrage from the civilized world, a story by Connie Llanos in yesterday's Daily News of Los Angeles, "Educators Decry Ethnic Studies Ban as an Outrage":
Local school and college officials Wednesday blasted the passage of a new Arizona law that bans ethnic studies in public schools, calling it an attack on freedom of speech and minorities. HB 2281 bans schools in the state from offering classes designed for students of a specific ethnic group or that promote ethnic solidarity.
The bill was signed into law Tuesday by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer just three weeks after she approved a controversial anti-illegal immigration law that has prompted nationwide protests, including the Los Angeles City Council's decision Wednesday to boycott Arizona businesses.
Proponents of the school law said it will ensure that students are treated to value each other as individuals and prevent courses from promoting resentment. Opponents though said it only continues a trend of anti-Latino sentiment in Arizona.
"This law is understandable given the lynch mob mentality in Arizona," said Rodolfo Acuña, a California State University Northridge professor emeritus of Chicano studies.
Acuña is commonly referred to as one of the fathers of the Chicano studies movement in the United States, which grew out of Southern California state colleges.
Supporters of the ban, including Arizona schools chief Tom Horne, have specifically mentioned Acuña's book "Occupied America: A History of Chicanos," as one of the texts they want to see eliminated from classroom use because it promotes resentment.
Horne was not available for comment Wednesday.
"If anyone reads my books they would realize that ... this is not a question of being against white people but rather of documenting truth. ... This is history...this is learning," Acuña said. While the text of the bill does not specifically ask for the elimination of books, local college officials said they know the ban will cut students' access to important and relevant texts like Acuña's.
"This law stifles free speech, it stifles critical information and the expression of a community that has experienced discrimination of all sorts," said David Rodriguez, professor of Chicano studies at CSUN.
All Arizona school districts are expected to comply with the new ban or see up to 10 percent of their state funds withheld. Currently Tucson Unified has a nationally recognized Chicano studies program that is unique because it is offered to students from kindergarten through 12th grade.
Los Angeles Unified officials said they also offer several ethnic studies courses, primarily at the high school level. LAUSD spokeswoman Lydia Ramos said ethnic studies classes, like specialty math or science classes, are promoted at the district because they enrich basic curriculum and allow students to pursue specific areas of interest.
"Our instruction needs to be rigorous, responsive and culturally relevant," Ramos said.
Rudy Acuña also has an articulate letter in the Tucson Citizen which says in part:
Unlike many of the present day squatters in Arizona, I have deep feelings for Arizona. My mother's family, the Elíases lived there for centuries.
I am 75 years young and have lived through the McCarthy era and read about similar thought control crusades which history has exposed as idiotic. In the 1920s the words to the pledge of alliance were changed from "my flag" to the "flag of the United States" so aliens would not cross their fingers and salute a foreign flag. The present proposal ranks along side these kinds of idiocies.
If Pearce has his way, Arizona schools would ban courses "denigrate American values and the teachings of Western civilization" and would teaching practices that "overtly encourage dissent" from those values, including democracy, capitalism, pluralism and religious tolerance. Rep. Pearce, who is not the sharpest knife in the box, then would bar public schools, community colleges and universities from allowing organizations to operate on campus if it is "based in whole or in part on race-based criteria." Among the books designated for burning is my book Occupied America: A History of Chicanos which has received the Gustavus Myers Award for an Outstanding Book on Race Relations in North America.
I am personally offended by Pearce's labeling my book as seditious. Unlike Pearce, I served in the armed forces and did not claim deferments. . .
For Pearce's information, history is probative. It builds. That is why the content of U.S. history courses change from elementary through high school. . .The Big Lie strategy of Pearce and company is effective because most people become paralyzed in the face of the Big Lie. During World War II, most Americans turned a deaf ear to the herding of over 100,000 Japanese Americans into concentration camps. As a Mexican American, I am proud of 16-year old Ralph Lazo from Belmont High in Los Angeles who said that this is not right and declared himself of Japanese decent and went to Manzanar with his friends. That is in Occupied America.
Mexican Americans should realize that these attacks are today directed at them because Pearce looks at them as weak. . . His attacks are race-specific and based on the Big Lie. And history will unfortunately judge Arizonans.
Maybe even as more than just ignorant.
Also impressive was this comment from RDB at a New York Times blog:
I have lived in Tucson for almost 40 years; I worked for Tucson Unified School District for many of them. Ethnic Studies classes are open to all students, and are designed to teach the truth about Arizona history. And believe me, we need it. Despite this state having a large number of Latinos (and being Mexico for hundreds of years prior to becoming a state less than 100 years ago) our schools were segregated along racial lines until the 1970's. Yes, that's the 1970's. State curricula in social studies and history were woefully lacking in information about minority issues so that students never were taught about things like the Bisbee Deportation of 1917 or Operation Wetback in the 1950's. The Anglo influence in this state has been both good and bad, but unfortunately, lots of bad, at least for the non-Anglos. Mexican Americans have had to battle disdain, dislike and dismissal by white folks (of which I am one) since white men arrived and decided that what they brought with them was theirs and what they found here was theirs as well. The need for a fair and balanced approach to teaching Arizona history in the context of our multi-racial past is crucial to the development of a strong sense of self, an accurate understanding of our strengths (and weaknesses), and our belief in ourselves as Americans.
There are many decent people in this state, but unfortunately, due to uber-gerrymandering, it has been very hard to elect many of them into state office. Redistricting is to occur next year, but here's an idea: Instead of boycotting us, how about people of all "kinds" (not just the haters) moving here and helping us change the face of the electorate......it appears that only then will we be able to act like "real" Americans, inclusive, tolerant and compassionate.
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David Safier has a good post and links on this issue at Blog for Arizona.
