Thread: AZ Gov signs bill targeting ethnic studies program

Updated May 11, 2010
Arizona Governor Signs Bill Targeting Ethnic Studies Program

Associated Press

State schools chief Tom Horne, a Republican running for Attorney General, says the district's ethnic studies program promotes "ethnic chauvinism" and racial resentment toward whites.


PHOENIX -- Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a bill targeting a school district's ethnic studies program on Tuesday, hours after a report by United Nations human rights experts condemned the measure.

State schools chief Tom Horne pushed the measure for years, saying the program in a Tucson school district promotes "ethnic chauvinism" and racial resentment toward whites.

The measure 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. It also prohibits classes that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government.

Tucson Unified School District officials say their program does not promote resentment, and they believe it would comply with the new law.

The 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. About 1,500 students at six high schools are enrolled.

Elementary and middle school students also are exposed to the ethnic studies curriculum.

The measure concerned six UN human rights experts, who released a statement earlier Tuesday expressing concern about the measure because they believe all people have the right to learn about their own cultural and linguistic heritage.

Brewer spokesman Paul Senseman didn't directly address the UN criticism, but said Brewer supports the bill's goal.

"The governor believes ... public school students should be taught to treat and value each other as individuals and not be taught to resent or hate other races or classes of people," Senseman said.

Brewer's signature on the bill comes less than a month after she signed the nation's toughest crackdown on illegal immigration -- a move that ignited international backlash amid charges the measure would encourage racial profiling of Hispanics. Brewer said profiling would not be tolerated.

Sean Arce, director of the district's Mexican-American Studies program in Tucson, said last month students perform better in school if they see in the curriculum people who look like them. The district is 56 percent Hispanic, with nearly 31,000 Latino students.

"It's a highly engaging program that we have, and it's unfortunate that the state Legislature would go so far as to censor these classes," Arce said.

Arce could not immediately be reached after Brewer signed the bill late Tuesday.

The law doesn't prohibit classes that teach about the history of a particular ethnic group, as long as the course is open to all students and doesn't promote ethnic solidarity or resentment.

Horne, the schools chief who wrote the law, said he believes the district's Mexican-American studies program teaches Latino students that they are oppressed by white people. Public schools should not be encouraging students to resent a particular race, he said.

"The function of the public schools is to take students of different backgrounds and to teach them to treat each other as individuals," Horne said last month.

A Republican running for attorney general, Horne has been trying to restrict the program ever since he learned that Hispanic civil rights activist Dolores Huerta in 2006 told students that "Republicans hate Latinos."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/05 ... t=My+Yahoo

Arizona taking the Lead...Very Impressive

The U S SHouldnt allow anyone to migrate here from other countries that have any kind of ethnic teachings either due to the Racism it DOES generate...Yes that is aimed DIRECTLY AT YOU MEXICO...

I thought that it was Americans that fought in Vietnam. What difference does race make? I wish something like that would happen in Ca. If you want to lealrn about your race, do some research on your own time. American history is about AMERICAN history.

Seems to me there was a controversial teacher of ethnic studies, or something like that, in Arizona that I read about....think it was 2-3 years ago.

We should get back to unifying this country, not dividing it. We all have our unique ethnic backgrounds which can be learned from grandparents, relatives or through personal research.

Good for Arizona and Governor Brewer!! Goodby MEChA!!

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-5252--0-0.html

The measure 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. It also prohibits classes that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government.

For the life of me I don't understand how such groups or classes were ever allowed in the first place.

uh...... if signed THE BILL, it is now THE LAW. the media sure is treading lightly with all the news out of arizona. jan brewer is doing the job many govs refuse or are afraid to even consider. the bag is empty.... cats are everywhere.

do we have special Aglo ethnic class in new England, do we? so why are Latinos more special. This is not good at all1

This woman has more hutzpah than even I gave her credit for. She continues to amaze.

When I was in college going for an aviation degree, I had to take two semesters of a "Cultural Studies" course. I chose Africana Studies because I wanted to understand where all the anger came from concerning black people. Boy, did I get an earful. As one of the only white students in the class, I can tell you that one of the teachers was among the worst I had ever had in college. She stood at the front of the class and argued with another student (black) over a grade for 45 minutes. At this point, there was noise, spitwads flying everywhere, etc until another student (also black) politely raised her hand and asked "Can we have some class time?"

Of course the fact that many who were sold into slavery were done so by other Africans was totally omitted from the course!

I have to agree that based on my own experience, these types of course are very anti-white, anti American.