Reading the Gorski article immediately prompted me into thinking about Arizona and the immigration laws that have been extremely controversial: HB 2281 & SB 1070.
Below is a portion of an article I found from 2010--and here's another link that is from 2011:
http://www.hyphenmagazine.com/blog/archive/2011/06/audit-finds-tucsons-ethnic-studies-program-legal
If you're unfamiliar, encourage you all to google the laws yourself to find out more info.
See you all manaña!
-Michelle
New Reason to Protest the Arizona D-backs: House Bill 2281
As Phil Aliff, an Iraq war vet and protest organizer said to me, "We are protesting at the Diamondbacks game in order to send a clear message to Major League Baseball, the state of Arizona, and legislatures across the country that racial profiling and scapegoating is unacceptable. Everywhere the Diamondbacks go, we should demand that Major League Baseball pull the all-star game out of Arizona in order to hit the state where it really hurts... their wallet."
In Miami, the Florida Immigrant Coalition (FLIC), the South Florida Jobs with Justice, SEIU Florida, UNITE HERE Local 355, the Episcopal Diocese of Southeast Florida, the Rabbinical Association of Greater Miami, and South Florida AFL-CIO are all on board.
The protests matter because they allow people to nationalize an issue that far transcends the state of Arizona. They also shine a light on Diamondbacks CEO Ken Kendrick who while he says through his public relations people that he opposes the bill, continues to support and promote politicians who wear SB 1070 as a badge of honor.
Now we have another reason to isolate, expose, and protest Ken Kendrick, the Diamondbacks, and the state of Arizona. Gov Jan Brewer just signed into law a bill that should curl the toes of anyone with a thread of anti-racist conscience. Thanks to HB 2281, the Tucson school district’s academically successful ethnic studies program has been outlawed. Brewer made this move hours after United Nations Human Rights Commission formally opposed the bill on the basis that any ethnic group has the inherent right to learn their own history.
The Tucson ethnic studies program, which serves 1,500 primarily Mexican students, is an interdisciplinary curriculum that focuses on contributions made by Mexican Americans, African Americans and Native Americans in literature, history, and science. Destroying the program has long been a pet project of State schools chief Tom Horne who in the words of the Associated Press, “believes the Tucson school district's Mexican-American studies program teaches Latino students that they are oppressed by white people." Well, if students didn't believe it before, they would be forgiven for believing it now. Ironically, Horne's crusade was inspired when a Tucson guest speaker, United Farm Workers leader Dolores Huerta, said in a classroom in 2006 that “Republicans hate Mexicans.” Hard to see how this bill will disavow any students from agreeing with this assessment. Horne is running for state attorney general and he clearly sees wedge politics as a path to promotion.
The bill's chief promoter in the State Senate is Russell Pearce, who in addition to being the sponsor of SB 1070, has gotten in hot water for hugging Neo-Nazis on camera and forwarding emails from white supremacist websites. Pearce said on the Senate floor, "History is one thing. Misinformation, hateful speech, sedition is not appropriate with my tax dollars." No, but ordering police to stop people without just-cause and having the state monitor classrooms for "sedition" is in his twisted mind, appropriate use of public money.
The bill is equally twisted. HB 2281 bill specifically forbids classes...
http://www.thenation.com/blog/new-reason-protest-arizona-d-backs-house-bill-2281
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