Arizona Governor signs bill prohibiting ethnic classes

[Marthe48]

Source: AP

According to the article printed on Yahoo, the bill "prohibits classes that advocate ethnic solidarity, that are designed primarily for students of a particular race or that promote resentment toward a certain ethnic group."

Tom Horne, Republican, current state schools chief, has pushed this bill for years. He believes ethnic classes offered by Tuscon Unified School District promotes racial chauvinism. He is running for Arizona State Attorney General.

Six UN human rights experts signed a protest against this bill, saying that all ethnic groups have a right to learn about their heritage.




Too bad that these misguided * (words fail) live in the same state that has the Grand Canyon. You'd think they would feel the majesty of life and behave accordingly.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100512/ap_on_re_us/us_arizona_ethnic_studies

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Too bad that these misguided * (words fail) live in the same state that has the Grand Canyon. You'd think they would feel the majesty of life and behave accordingly.

[SheilaT]

1. Without knowing any more about the classes,

I honestly don't think that kind of thing belongs in a public school. Yes, I'm all for ethnic pride (I have my own, after all) but just like religion that should be taught in the home or within the ethnic community. What schools should be teaching is about the many wonderful and varied and different ethnicities we have in this country, and how each and every one of them contributes to this great country of ours.

[EFerrari]

11. Remember you're reading a right wing racist nutcase's description

of ethnic studies. No sane person would describe ethnic studies in this way.

[CreekDog]

18. do you actually believe this is a problem?

when I went to University of Arizona, there were very few "Kill Whitey" classes available.

[joeglow3]

19. Agreed, but I am concerned with "very few" as well

In college I took a women's studies course that was great. My girlfriend at the time took a different one (same course, different professor) that was clearly anti-male. Education should be about educating and not brain washing.

[CreekDog]

21. there's no point in talking to you if you actually believe "there were very few Kill Whitey classes"

at the University of Arizona.

no point in even talking.

(I didn't realize I had to actually tell you that I was joking and that in fact the course catalog at University of Arizona never contained *any* classes called "Kill Whitey")

now i'll go back to more useful discussions.

[joeglow3]

25. I am simply speaking from experience

I took a couple sociology courses that were great. However, you are naive if you think CLEAR biases don't exist in courses. I had a VERY conservative professor that pushed their point of view in "20th Century Fiction" of all courses.

I did not think I needed to actually say I did not think there are courses called "Kill Whitey." However, if it makes you feel better, I would bet my life savings there is no course called Kill Whitey. I can also guarantee there are no courses called Anti-Hippy Fiction in the 20th Century. Still does not change what IS in fact taught in some courses.

[donquijoterocket]

28. maybe not called that

But in practice that's what it amounts to.I had a similar experience with a near reactionary professor in a humanities survey course. Guy was a gung ho Vietnam war supporter and I was back from indian country about 11 months and often intimated he was full of it. I've wondered if he resented my combat experience for his having none though being of an age where he could have enlisted and maybe acquired some if he'd wished to. Reactionaries of the sort we're now seeing in AZ seem to be of that fearful sort who just can't deal with a world in flux nor accommodate themselves to the reality that they may not be the ethnic or political majority they once were.I can see no other explanation for a decision of this sort. Bigotry of the most bare-faced sort though I'm sure the people most involved would vehemently deny it.

[joeglow3]

35. I had a high school Spanish teacher who was the nephew of the Ruler of Cuba

His last name was Machado. He was a military officer during the Bay of Pigs. You can imagine what he had to say about Kennedy.

[Cybergata]

33. Ethnic Studies studies began . . .

because schools taught a very slanted view of U.S. History. Classes started with the idea of telling the African-American story, including African-American cultural contribution. It also started so people could feel a pride in their own culture. No one is ever forced to take Ethnic Studies. Arizona might as well have said that no school is to have a Spanish or French class or that the Hispanic point of view of U.S. History isn't allowed in school. Luckily the Navajo Reservation doesn't have to follow this law because their classes on Navajo Culture would be illegal.

While I was growing up, my father really stressed having pride in being Hispanic. I never thought about it much until I started facing racism when I was a teen. He was teaching me to believe in myself and gave me a shield from which the racism bounced off. That is a part of Ethnic studies, plus it gives people who are not of that ethnic group an understanding of that group and helps to alleviate racism in the first place. IMHO, Arizona is legalizing racism.

[EC]

2. Does this include language classes?

Good luck with college without language credits. I don't know of any classes that " advocate ethnic solidarity, that are designed primarily for students of a particular race or that promote resentment toward a certain ethnic group." Of course I haven't been to school in a while so some things I'm sure have changed...but the only classes I recall even close to this were civics classes and American history...with all the hype about "USA is the best" etc., etc.....

[ieoeja]

4. They just outlawed American history classes that do not teach the bad side!!!

:)

[Igel]

32. No, it doesn't.

I've known college classes that engaged in serious "consciousness raising," and I've been the recipient of some diatribes from students that were enrolled in these classes. Usually because I point out something that goes against the worldview that the course(s) inculcated.

Those kids come out of those classes sporting a serious hate.

[AlphaCentauri]

3. Classes should not promote resentment toward a race or class of people

According to this law but the law it self is promoting resentment and hate toward other cultures

[lynne]

5. No class should be for one group to the exclusion of others -

- or promote resentment towards any group of people. That goes for sex, race, age, creed and religion. I hate to say it but I agree with this.

[AlphaCentauri]

12. Let Arizona teach amnesia instead of history then n-t

[EFerrari]

13. Then Arizona will have to stop teaching only white history.

In fact, this is a First Amendment violation and I expect it to be thrown out.

[joeglow3]

20. Is a Republican only course also a first amendment issue?

If you are right, expect these to pop up everywhere in schools.

[EFerrari]

22. They're running out of red meat for their rabid base.

I'm almost afraid of what they'll try next. It's only May.

[AlbertCat]

16. No class should be for one group to the exclusion of others -

So... a class about the history of Pakistan and India should also include a chapter on Argentina? Wouldn't want to leave them out!

A class about Christianity should also cover Shinto?

A science class on Evolution should also include ID??????


Or do you think whites are excluded from taking any of these Hispanic/ Naive American classes. Is there evidence of that?


What the hell are you.... and this bill... talking about? Are Whites being turned away from the classes? If not... then the bill is unnecessary.

[harmonicon]

24. but most, if not all, classes already do this

... history is written by the victors.

[louis-t]

6. This might be a case of repugs yelling at clouds.

There might not BE any classes that fall into this category, but a repig thinks he can get political mileage out of it.

[superconnected]

7. I'm guessing the intent of the bill is RACIST.

Just a hunch.

"He's been trying to restrict it ever since he learned that Hispanic civil rights activist Dolores Huerta told students in 2006 that "Republicans hate Latinos."

Haahhahahaha. And so he proves Republicans hate Latinos.

[superconnected]

8. Ah, the classes they are talking about:

"The Tucson Unified School District program offers specialized courses in African-American, Mexican-American and Native-American studies that focus on history and literature and include information about the influence of a particular ethnic group.

For example, in the Mexican-American Studies program, an American history course explores the role of Hispanics in the Vietnam War, and a literature course emphasizes Latino authors."

"Horne, a Republican running for attorney general, said the program promotes "ethnic chauvinism" and racial resentment toward whites while segregating students by race. He's been trying to restrict it ever since he learned that Hispanic civil rights activist Dolores Huerta told students in 2006 that "Republicans hate Latinos."

[AlphaCentauri]

14. Dolore Huerta was right n-t

[DBoon]

30. and he's doing everything possible to prove it (nt)

[Marthe48]

9. HS classes about English, French and Spanish influences

on colonizing America are common. We study English, French and Spanish literary giants. We have classes that focus on English Literature. The entire curriculum of any high school in the US is Euro-centric and we don't think much about it. And we are the poorer for it. A Spanish student we hosted said history books in Spain told the same general history, but the Spanish were the heroes. I went to Brazil and toured the Sao Paulo State Governor's Summer Palace and was stunned to see that there was an entire parallel body of art, of which I knew nothing. The Spanish had a huge role in settling the American West and Southwest, and adding a chapter to a standard history textbook doesn't go far enough. Unfortunately, teachers have to teach to the test, so they don't have time to cover any subject in depth. I didn't see that white students were barred from any of these classes, nor that minorities were required to take them.

What if whites were the minority in America, and some other culture was writing laws that prevented us from learning about our own culture? The English did this to Ireland, banning the teaching of Gaelic, and banned bagpipes in Scotland and sent aboriginal children to English schools against their family and tribal wishes. Cutting people, even other whites, from their cultural roots didn't work at any time, and supposedly England learned from its errors.

[KeepItReal]

10. The instigator of this "believes" that teaching Mexican-American history promotes hatred

He also "believes" that even offering Mexican-American and African-American history courses "promotes "ethnic chauvinism" and racial resentment toward whites while segregating students by race".

In the African-American history course (which was not mandatory at all) I took at my public University in New Orleans, not once did I hear a derogatory comment towards White people, no matter what the subject was from Slavery, to Jim Crow, etc.

Arizona state schools chief Tom Horne needs to deal in facts and not in ideology or his own warped "beliefs".

[AlphaCentauri]

15. Horne's Trojan horse is Evangelical Steve Montenegro

State Rep. Steve Montenegro — a freshman Republican from a Phoenix suburb — say are being taught “resentment or hatred” toward whites.

http://www.projo.com/opinion/contributors/content/CW_varner9_05-09-10_9AICT17_v7.40820e6.html

[sui generis]

17. so if I understand her assumptions correctly

There are no Mexican principals, teachers or even professors in Arizona? There are only white people working there who are currently being oppressed into teaching non-white culture in addition to white culture?

I am rolling on the floor, in my chair. Every time you think that woman couldn't get any stupider she manages to set the bar higher for going lower.

[SocialistLez]

23. Anti-intellectualism at its finest! NT

[fjc]

26. It's likely a euphemism for prohibiting "Black History".

[HillWilliam]

27. There's a lot more to this legislation than meets the eye

Here's a blog post from an AZ resident and friend of mine. Pam incorporated that post in an article on the Blend.

If you think any of Arizona's new legislation is in the least innocuous, you aren't thinking it through and you aren't paying enough attention. It's not as bad as we think.

It's worse.

[SoapBox]

29. Promoting???

"Tom Horne, Republican, current state schools chief, has pushed this bill for years. He believes ethnic classes offered by Tuscon Unified School District promotes racial CHAUVINISM."

chau·vin·ism
–noun
1.zealous and aggressive patriotism or blind enthusiasm for military glory.
2.biased devotion to any group, attitude, or cause

Sooooo...chauvinism, as in....getting rid of promoting ONLY white people stuff?

OH! That is EXACTLY what you DO want to promote!

...Arizona...the new State of Insanity and Hate.

BOYCOTT!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Arizona_companies

[DBoon]

31. there is a very large native american population in Arizona

study of their culture would be banned as well?

Even though they inhabited the state for thousand of years before Europeans?

[muriel_volestrangler]

34. So I guess the Arizona Sons of Confederate Veterans will be disbanded as an illegal group, then?

Seeing as they exist to "to see that the true history of the South is presented to future generations".

http://home.earthlink.net/~cssscv/arizonadivisionsonsofconfederateveterans/

and the Arizona State Society Daughters of the American Revolution - "An applicant for membership must be no less than 18 years of age and can prove lineal, blood line descent from an ancestor who aided in achieving American independence" - http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~azsocdar/join.html

and the Arizona Society of Mayflower Descendants - http://arizonamayflowersociety.org/

:sarcasm:

[harun]

36. Don't all American History classes advocate towards ethnic solidarity of Americans

and promote resentment of the people against us in our long list of wars?

I predict this law will be used against them very quickly.

[Jefferson23]

37. SHAMEFUL Arizona. n/t

[BreweryYardRat]

38. Reeks of totalitarianism.

What's next? Is Brewer going to show up to a press conference in a SS uniform?