More bad news about Arizona

by Jessica Shiller · 2010-05-05 06:48:00 UTC
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Arizona has a bad history. Over the last 100 years, it was home to schools to assimilate Native American children against their families' wishes, the site of Japanese internment camps, and was one of the last states to make Martin Luther King Day a holiday. Now Arizona has made its mark again with its new immigration law. As if that was not bad enough, now Arizona is trying to eliminate ethnic studies programs and is trying to fire teachers who speak English with an accent.

They are really on a roll. And it seems like there is a theme. Keep Arizona free of multiculturalism. The bill banning ethnic studies programs has passed in the legislature and is going onto the governor for a signature. If it passes, it will be "illegal for a school district to teach any courses that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment of a particular race or class of people, are designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals."

How will they decide if a teacher is teaching courses that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government or the resentment of a particular race? Teachers will really need to watch their backs. What if a teacher wants to teach about the 1960's and the anti-war movement during Vietnam War? Or about the Civil Rights movement? Will they be fired for stirring up the pot of advocating for ethnic solidarity or anti-government sentiment?

If that was not bad enough, Arizona's state education department is asking teachers who have an accent to step down as teachers for students learning English. State auditors were especially upset by teachers pronouncing words such as violet as "biolet," think as "tink." Despite their qualifications as strong teachers, accents could force teachers out of classrooms. Really Arizona? Taken together these policies can only be called racist.  Governor Jan Brewer needs to hear from the rest of us on this set of policies aimed at containing people of color and immigrants. Please sign the petition that will go directly to Jan Brewer asking her not to sign these new bills into law.

Photo credit: Chicago2016

Jessica Shiller is the education policy director for Advocates for Children and Youth in Baltimore, MD.
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