The Case for Arizona's Ethnic Studies Law

By now I'm sure most of you have heard of Arizona's latest "WTF legislation," banning ethnic studies classes and English teachers with accents. I won't get into the English teachers with accents in this post other than to say, what the hell does that even really mean? Can Southerners no longer teach English? People from England? Canadians? What exactly constitutes "unaccented" English?

But I want to talk about the ethnic studies ban which states that schools will lose funding if they support ethnic studies classes in their curriculum because the creators of this law think such classes will cause people to overthrow the government. Also they do not want classes to "advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals." This point is particularly boggling to me, because I was previously unaware that "treating pupils as individuals" and "promoting solidarity with ethnic groups" were mutually exclusive.

(Sarcasm approaching...)
And you know what, maybe Arizona has the right idea. I must admit that I was not exposed to ethnic studies classes until college, and look how well I turned out. (Ok, that's a lie, I took a class on Native American culture in HS, but that was barely enlightening or revolutionary). I was not aware of the many injustices the US participates in at the expense of other cultures, and as a consequence I just did my work and played the good little student role, regurgitating the white history of the world in my classes, not questioning anything.

And then Amado Lascar and Amanda Harris came into my life. Now, as far as Amado's Spanish class was concerned, it was more focused on the literature of Mexico, Central and South America than US foreign policy or exposing aforementioned injustices. But he did introduce me to voices in literature that are often undervalued and left in the margins, voices that do criticize the colonial legacy in Latin America from the conquest until today. But Amanda Harris' class, "Ethnicity in the Americas" really opened my eyes. I would even go as far as to divide my life into before and after taking that class.

When I say this entry is a case for this new law, it is my tongue-in-cheek way of saying that ethnic studies classes can and do make a difference, they change people. I can see Arizona and a racist, conservative government in general being very frightened by the power that these classes can wield. It is no wonder that this happened when we see that conservatives in Texas also want to keep real information from getting into the impressionable and pliable minds of the nation's youth. If a smart cookie like me is introduced to ideas that expose the seedy underbelly of the US, we might turn out to work against the wrongful actions of the government. It is really a loss to conservatives in the US when students become aware of their wrong-doings. Although I was never really pro-America, even before the ethnic studies class because when I finally became interested and aware of politics, Bush was president for 8 years and it doesn't take a strong liberal lean to recognize the evil promulgated under his regime.

What I am saying here is that those of us who are appalled by this newest legislation should not take the path of denying the influence of ethnic studies classes. These classes do have the power to influence people and change lives, and that is something that conservatives fear. I am not one to make an argument that they do not change people's opinions of capitalism, the United States, or hegemonic powers in general, because that is what they have done for me. But as a person who embraces a post/de-colonial paradigm, I know how important these classes are to raising awareness to new perspectives, the perspectives of the marginalized whose voices have been silenced throughout History.

I was hoping we were finally in agreement within the walls of educational institutions that a new history needs to emerge, a new story needs to sound out in contrast to the white noise of History we have been exposed to our entire lives. No one should fear that the US will be demonized completely throughout social studies curricula, because the overwhelming majority of such classes are staunchly pro-US, look at colonization as a good thing, and look at events (such as the "discovery of America") through the eyes of dead white men. Even new textbooks are preserving this paradigm. The old way is not going anywhere. But the option to learn of a new perspective and take a new path is vital to the future of this nation.

I keep waiting for the turnover, for the day that these old, racist assholes are no longer in the majority in charge of things such as text books, education funding and dare I say, the government. I don't want to lose hope that things are slowly changing for the better, but when legislation such as that in Arizona is passed, I lose just a little hope that things are actually changing. When my family verbalizes their bigotry, I just try to tell myself that most people don't think that way. Unfortunately that is not always the case. But I won't lose hope because I see a lot of smart individuals doing a lot of good for the world and those who are marginalized. I hope that as the aforementioned old racist assholes die off, they will be replaced by these more enlightened individuals.

I Am Not Colorblind

I have a lot of students with the same name in the same class. In fact, I have two Zachs in my class this quarter, and they sit right next to each other. When I call on them in class, I call one Zach and one Zachary to try to avoid confusion. Zach is white, Zachary is black.

Yesterday, I had students circulate around the room to interview one another using the grammar we had just gone over. When it was time for students to share their findings, I asked "Who interviewed Zach?" When a lot of people raised their hand, I realized that people who had interviewed both were raising their hands. I looked over to them, saw Zach had a hat on, and said "The Zach with the white hat." My mentioning of white set off a wave of uncomfortable-ness. Zachary started cracking up, saying "white Zach in the white hat!" A lot of people in the class looked uncomfortable because of this declaration of race. As if we should all be colorblind.

There was a time when I thought that must be the best solution. That is, to avoid talking about race, pretending not to see it. Listening to the way my family would talk about people according to their race, at my graduation: "those black people sitting in front of us were so obnoxious during the ceremony," has made me aware of how one can bring up race unnecessarily, or in the wrong context. Had there been white obnoxious people in front of them during my graduation ceremony, I know they still would have complained. But because they prescribe to the idea that white is like the "default race," they would never have said "those white people sitting in front of us were so obnoxious during the ceremony." White would not have been a descriptor. I can't entirely blame my family for the way they see the world. I have tried to explain to them how I find that using race in this way is offensive. So when it is unnecessary, I really don't think race needs to be brought up.

However, it is quite another thing to pretend not to see race, to avoid even talking about it, and to generally invoke a policy of colorblindness. This doesn't make you enlightened, progressive or tolerant. It exposes ignorance. Why else do you think Stephen Colbert uses it as an ironic element to his on-screen personality on the Colbert Report? Colorblindness is something that intolerant people use as an excuse to pretend that they are tolerant. This is just like when people say "I don't care what gay (/trans/bi/queer) people do as long as they don't flaunt it in my face." It is a way to feign tolerance while simultaneously being intolerant.

I don't know if things will change in regards to this topic in my lifetime, but I know that I am ending a legacy of intolerance in my family by refusing to continue traditions aligning with the -isms of intolerance. I hope that many other people are similarly challenging ways in which they were brought up that might be similarly racist, sexist, classist and homophobic.