Divanee – South Asian news and entertainment

Today Arizona Governor Jan Brewer’s controversial piece of legislation putting a ban on all Ethnic Studies in the state (HB 2281) takes into effect. The Arizona Daily Star reports that today the TUSD board voted to keep the district’s ethnic studies program claiming it complies with the new law intended to end the program. However, it is still rumored that Superintendent Tom Horne will soon announce the school district in non-compliance.

Although the bill mainly targets Mexican-American studies classes, Horne’s vague words encompass and offend all communities of color, including South Asian Americans.  The law makes any class promoting solidarity among a specific race or ethnicity—Latino/a American, African American, Asian American, and Native American Studies—illegal with the penalty of up to a 10% hold on the school’s funding. Specifically, the new law prohibits curricula that:

“1. Promote the overthrow of the United States government.

2. Promote resentment toward a race or class of people.

3. Are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.

4. Advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.” (HB 2281)”

The unclear and highly contentious language in HB 2281, a reminder of Arizona’s recent anti-immigration bill (SB 1070), has led many South Asian Americans to speak out. In a letter to Arizona legislators, Dr. Snehal Shingavi of University of Texas’s literature department writes, “…taken alongside SB 1070, HB 2281 is responsible for creating a climate of intolerance and suspicion against ethnic minorities and their allies.  If the state of Arizona is genuinely interested in creating an inclusive citizenry, then it must repeal both of these acts.”

What makes this bill so offensive to South Asian American activists, educators, and communities? Lets start with Horne’s own explanation of the bill. During a CNN interview with Anderson Cooper, Horne stated, “We should be teaching these kids that this is the land of opportunity, and if they work hard they can achieve their dreams and not teach them that they are oppressed… I believe very deeply that people are individuals. They are not exemplars of the race they were born into, and this race obsessed philosophy….is wrong for the American public schools.”

Horne’s words are a blaring reminder of how deep rooted and current racial oppressions can be glazed over by politicians with imaginary buzz-words. If every American had the privilege of “individuality” and access to “the land of opportunity” perhaps there would be no need for Ethnic Studies. If Horne’s words held true, our standard History curricula would include Asian American history—from the bleeding hand of a railroad worker to the fisted one of Yuri Kochiyama. Edger Alan Poe and Louis The Great would be side by side with Tagore and Ashoka. Simply put, if minorities were given a place in mainstream curriculums, then Ethnic Studies would not be so necessary, and perhaps Horne’s words would have some value.

He fails to acknowledge, however, the fact that these students face and deal with issues of oppression and racism every day. Growing fear, resentment, and racism against the South Asian American community is far from resolved as we give front page headlines to priests threatening to burn the Qur’an and watch Indian stereotypes wobble their way across prime-time television screens. His assumption is that if oppression is not spoken of in Ethnic Studies courses, students will not know it exists. Perhaps he does not realize that for minorities, living with racism is not a choice.

The number one concern now is that this bill takes away a foundational tool that will lead to a more tolerant and equal society: education. Arizona has thus far successfully, with little national resistance, rid itself of one of few venues that have the power to truly abolish ignorance. In a time when false assumptions about the South Asian American community has led to real acts of violence and hate, there is no room or time for such a step backward. In an eloquent piece written by History Professor Derek Chang of Cornell University, he states, “To seek justice requires us first to recognize injustice. This is the very dynamic that banning ethnic studies is designed to eliminate.”

On a hopeful note, efforts to strike down HB 2281 have led to a large amount of positive cross-racial collaboration. Standing strong in support of the many student protests and sit-ins the bill has sparked, educators, scholars, and community members of all racial and ethnic backgrounds have come together for a solution. There are high hopes that its poor word choice and obvious narrow-minded intentions will lead it to a well-deserved death. In fact, in September, Colorlines reported an increase in popularity of Ethnic Studies courses among Arizona high schools students. I guess the plan is backfiring.