The Arizona legislature passed House bill 2281 on Thursday April 29th 2010 on a vote of 32 to 26.
Already passed by the Senate, the bill is on the desk of Governor Jan Brewer for her signature.
Less than a week after passing HB 1070, a law that has been denounced as racist and ethnic profiling, the Arizona legislature has declared ethnic studies programs to be "chauvinistic".
Of particular interest are the items 3.) and 4.) of subsection A (in bold type.)
A. A school district or charter school in this state shall not include in its program of instruction any courses or classes that:
- Promote the overthrow of the United States government.
- Promote resentment toward a race or class of people.
3. Are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.
4. Advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.
The bill stipulates that courses can continue to be taught for Native American pupils in compliance with federal law and does not prohibit English as a second language classes. (Nice.)
It is unclear as to whether genocide, ethnic cleansing, Gay pride, La Raza Unida, or Black empowerment classes would be monitored by the state of Arizona for appropriate content.
Schools that fail to abide by the law would have state funds withheld.
State Superintendent for Public Instruction Tom Horne called passage in the state House a victory for the principle that education should unite, not divide students of differing backgrounds.
"Traditionally, the American public school system has brought together students from different backgrounds and taught them to be Americans and to treat each other as individuals, and not on the basis of their ethnic backgrounds," Horne said. "This is consistent with the fundamental American value that we are all individuals, not exemplars of whatever ethnic groups we were born into. Ethnic studies programs teach the opposite, and are designed to promote ethnic chauvinism."
Horne began fighting in 2007 against the Tucson Unified School District's program, which he said
defied Martin Luther King's call to judge a person by the content of their character, not the color of their skin. Horne claimed the ethnic studies program encourages "ethnic chauvanism," promotes Latinos to rise up and create a new territory out of the southwestern region of the United States and tries to intimidate conservative teachers in the school system.
Quoting MLK in Arizona is downright offensive in defense of conservatives.
Arizonans better wise up to the costs of such consistent racist legislation in an apparent war with it's large hispanic population. It is likely to lead to the arrest of vegetable pickers or motel-6 maids and lawsuits from 5th generation Mexican-Americans stopped for no reason other than driving around while brown.
Until they send in the Federal troops to quell the rebellion of the Arizona Legislature or pass comprehensive immigration reform in the U.S. Congress that includes a pathway to citizenship, a tightening of our borders, and penalties for businesses that hire the undocumented; y'all have a great and festive Cinco de Mayo in the meantime!