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There are many things in life that occur with near universal certainty. One of those is our propensity to experience irrational fear. When irrational fears dominate public and political discourse, lasting painful legacies are often left in their wake.
We have been down this road before with the state of Arizona, most notably with their passing of the anti-immigrant (read: anti-Mexican) SB 1070. Though this law was mostly struck down by the Supreme Court recently, one of its less discussed legacies remains: HB 2281, otherwise known as the Mexican American Studies Ban.
In fact, many of you reading this article are probably reading about HB 2281 for the first time, in spite of the fact that it has been in effect since the beginning of 2011. This law was passed under the (false) presumption that such ethnic studies classes serve only to teach students to “resent or hate other races or classes of people.” Let’s put aside the fact that this statement is so unsupported by research, that it can only be deemed laughably absurd. Ethnic studies programs have instead been shown to produce significant increases in self-esteem and school engagement.
An investigation into the motivations behind the law reveals something more sinister. This law is a prime example of policy driven not by fact, but by moral panic. Recall that in a previous article, I described moral panic as the sense of outrage amongst a group of people that is directed towards a source, which, upon further examination, does not merit such outrage. Written under the guise of “American exceptionalism,” HB 2281 was motivated by the asinine idea that the very act of merely acknowledging the shortcomings of the United States will (A) lead individuals to hate the country and (B) provoke such individuals to enact violent aggression towards white folks.
As a result of this law, something even more frightening has occurred: the production of a list of books that are banned from being a part of the public educational curriculum. And to no surprise, most of these books have either Latino authors or include the mere discussion of racial issues. These books include Drown by Junot Diaz, Zorro by Isabel Allende, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros, Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya, and The Tempest by William Shakespeare.
Yep, apparently Shakespeare is a threat to impressionable young minds.
Let’s put aside the irony of trying to promote colorblindness by subjugating a particular ethnic group. Let’s also put aside the hypocrisy of small-government conservatives who nonetheless use government action to target a particular group of people. We are still left with a level of ethnic censorship that is reminiscent of South Africa during Apartheid, as well as other countries with oppressive regimes.
To deny or otherwise attempt to eradicate the history, struggles, culture, customs and language of a group of citizens – particularly under the disingenuous and narcissistic concept of “American exceptionalism” – is to engage in one of the most deplorable actions known to humankind.
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I remember seeing an article on CNN a while back about a group that distributes these banned books to students in Arizona. I’ll look them up and see if they’re requesting donations.
EDIT: Here’s the article http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2012/03/12/opinion-i-am-a-book-trafficker/?iref=allsearch
You are referring to Tony Diaz, Librotraficante. Doing some great work in that part of the country.
It’s a shame that Mario Ramirez is single handedly helping to shut down critical and sensitive conversation on BL with his constant racist, hateful, and narrow-minded comments. He clearly doesn’t know what he’s talking about regarding many issues. However, he’s one of the first to comment on everything.
His bigotry adds nothing to BL.
The state or the taxpayer should not have to pay for this program especially if it’s of an anti American nature. Nothing was banned. You can still get these books in book stores or through mail order.
What you need to do is stop complaining and do what all the other cultures and ethnic groups do and set up privately funded day, Saturday and Sunday schools that teach the language and heritage of the said groups. In New York City the Jews, Chinese, Japanese, Argentines, Africans, Armenians, Polish…have their Saturday schools where parents send their kids to be educated in the culture. Not state funded but private.
Ethnic studies shouldnt even be banned, especially not mexican-american history which is also part of this country’s history, are those idiots forgetting that Arizona once use to belong to MEXICO, that the people who populated ARIZONA were nothing more than MEXICANS who were send there by the king of Spain to populate that area. Are the forgetting that many people in Arizona have roots in MEXICO??? How the hell are they going to ban ethnic studies if its part of their damn history!!! i could careless about other ethnic studies because they have nothing to do with US history.
The government nor the American tax payer should not pay for this. No one is banning you or stopping your group from doing this with their own private funds. Have all the anti American revisionist grievance studies you want – no one is stopping you – it’s your freedom of speech rights, just get rid of your chauvinistic attitude and don’t expect tax payers to coddle you. No wonder the rest of the nation is loosing patience with your group. Have Mexico pay for the studies. There is no law against that.
I remember when I found out about this travesty I was extremely offended. As an avid reader and fan of people reading, in general, I still am offended by the fact that these people are trying to stop kids from reading. I was not aware that we were supposed to discourage a thirst for knowledge in children today. What even worse is that people are not aware of it; I was informed about the ban by some people in my social circle, but the general public is simply unaware of this or simply do not grasp the severity of the situation. Personally, I happen to believe that censoring the truth is simply wrong.
Like, seriously? They’re trying to ban books because they offend their delicate sensibilities? Also, weren’t kids punished for simply bringing one of the censored/banned books onto school property? And protestors were punished with toilet-cleaning duty. What the actual hell? Um, no. This is just not acceptable.
gg– you may not agree with his point of view but he is not shutting down the discussion; he is pointing out the facts. The books are not banned. This is the United States; we have the freedom to meet where ever and whenever we want, and to say whatever we want, although it is inflammatory and insensitive to the multiple other ethnic groups that have also contributed to the development of this great nation.
This nation has many traditions that have evolved based on customs from many cultures from all over the world. No country’s contributions are more important than any other’s, not even Mexico’s. Can any of you tell me where our tradition of Halloween came from, or the Easter Bunny? When you went to school, did your school spend whole semesters or give classes about the Italian contributions, or the contributions of the Irish??
We are a diverse country. No ethnic group is entitled to special treatment when it comes to the curriculum in a public school. If you want to reach in your own pocket and fund a private school, that is a different matter.
Josh do you understand how racist and offensive your comment is? The White King of Spain had no more right to send a White man to populate this land than the German/Italian/Irish/American immigrants did who came a few years after them. This land was already populated by various indigenous nations who did not even know the White king of Spain existed. Spanish is not a language native to the America’s; it is the language of the slave master.
I wonder if the books in question ever note the fact that the first African slaves in the Americas were Spanish slaves; or that Mexico slaughtered and enslaved indigenous peoples by the millions. Or discuss that marginalized status of Black people and the indigenous people in Present day Mexico. Aparthied—come on you gotta be kiddin!!!
The America bad–Mexicoico good monologue does nothing to push this great nation forward. It merely inculcates in very young minds a sense of entitlement and resentment I don’t see how that contributes to the common good.