Arizona, no turnin' back...

In a recent move that might have garnered more national attention than any move Arizona as a state has received since opting out of celebrating MLK day and more recently signing the new immigration bill, the slippery slope shows no signs of stopping.

*click*Ban of Ethnic Studies*click*

Between removing educators from the public school systems based off of dialects and "accents" and apprehending persons who LOOK like illegal immigrants with no other predicate to go off of other than skin color and being bilingual, the most recent social/political folly AZ has fallen into is Mayor Brewer signing a bill that seeks to ban ethnic study classes that advocate "the overthrow of the United States government", "promote resentment" of other racial groups, and are "designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group". These concerns seem to be a tetrahedron of sorts.

What exactly is American history? And how accurately can we explore that history if it does not chronicle the contributions of other ethnicities through all of their success, trials, and tribulations? I'm interested in her dissection of what content is designed for a particular ethnic group. To put it like it is, my textbooks were filled with old white men. Does that mean it wasn't designed for women? For me? And if it was, then how are Mexican American studies any different? What does she presume of celebratory events such as black history month or asian pacific heritage month? What are the reasons for these events? Is it for the same reason as womens history month? Is it because there is a significant lack of representation along the color and gender lines? It is documented that a greater sense of pride and knowledge in the youths heritage and the feeling of being included, rather than the feeling of being excluded, improves academic performance of students. The truth is our linear system of education is not broad enough to include any "particular" ethnic group, except for those with pale skin and who have more closely descended from European ancestors than myself, and other minorities. AZ is pulling out an aggressive political statement and and confirming what was harrowingly suspected for nearly the past two months: "we're sick of brown skinned people".

I remember some time ago reading about how many Southern textbooks referred to the Civil War as the "War of Northern Aggression". I guess the Civil Rights Movement would in effect have been coined the movement for "Negroes Special Privileges". Being raised in the midwest, I can't say I know how the state of affairs is waging in the southern education system today. But when contrasting the demographic that AZ bills are pandering to, I'm inclined to believe that any kind of education rhetoric that doesn't historically illustrate white people as the benevolent people who taught black folks hard work, or shows Columbus as the first REAL discoverer of North America while subverting the humanity of Native Americans, and portrays internment camps more like summer camps and talks about the construction of the intercontinental railroad without even mentioning chinese oppression...that Mayor Brewer believes teaching anything except the above historical fiction fosters an attitude that upholds "resentment of other racial groups" i.e. privileged white people and is endemic of "overthrowing" the government. Where she draws these conclusions is amiss and poorly rationalized. Her tetrahedron theorizes that if there is group of solidarity in class (which there is not, these classes are available and encouraged for all students), this will create resentment based off of the knowledge acquired about minorities in America and how their niche has been carved for them. Now it should not be alarming that the history of this nation WILL upset students. It should! What has happened in the past does not stay in the past, it moves with us. But we have the power to cultivate it and express ourselves in creative ways...to rise and overcome. Something that these classes can also equip minorities with - knowledge of self, pride, and the understanding they can surmount what will befall them. With that said, is it the resentment of a certain ethnicity or class that we are so afraid to excite, or is it the resentment of inescapable privilege that many overlook and perhaps the education system is intent on keeping outta sight and outta mind of minorities? I'll call a spade a spade and state that I believe the entire idea of "overthrowing the government" is more proudly advocated by teabaggers in "solidarity" who wish to "take their country back!" It is a mere strawman attack in the tetrahedron of it all.

What I do know is that if Mayor Brewer and the rest of Arizona consider the real and bitter history of this nation to incite resentment on a scale large enough to cause a coup d'etat, it's a good thing they amended gun laws making it legal for a state of angry white people to carry concealed weapons without so much as a permit to protect themselves from all those scary mexicans.

No Guns? No Problem! Gettem faster than ever!

That was just signed not even a month ago when all of this racial fuckery first started going downhill. Is that to protect themselves for when the government is overthrown? To protect themselves from the deadly illegal immigrants, right? The pernicious ones who are intent on harming your family and slashing your tires as opposed to staying as FAR under the radar as possible since they're more afraid of being profiled, questioned, and deported for being suspects than anything else. What's with this marshall law BS and the coinciding effects of paranoia.

Can anyone HONESTLY tell me that in the litany of all this tripe spilling out of AZ, profiling will not be an ongoing problem? Seriously? SERIOUSLY?

The superintendent of the AZ school district, in defending her support of this bill, had to let everyone know that she is indeed of latina descent. And Michael Steele is black. Big fucking deal.