The Arce v Douglas ethnic studies trial, in Tucson’s Federal Court, is expected to commence in early 2017. The suit was filed against the state of Arizona, as a result of the state passing an anti-Ethnic Studies HB 2281 legislation in 2010. Yet for all intents and purposes, it is the discipline itself and, specifically, Tucson Unified School District’s former Raza Studies K-12 program that has been on trial since 2006.
That is the year when Arizona State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne began a relentless campaign to eliminate the program (created in 1998), charging that it promoted racism, segregation, the overthrow of the U.S. government and that it was founded upon non-Western values.
It was none of that, though students in fact were being taught to be critical thinkers; Enter Paolo Freire’ Pedagogy of the Oppressed, but not in Horne’s schools.
While the case has taken many turns, at the moment, the trial will focus on whether the state was motivated by racism while attempting to shut down the program.
A careful examination of this case will provide the answer in the affirmative as virtually everything the state has ever alleged was all concocted by non-educators. And yet asking whether there was racial animus involved is like asking if Sheriff Joe Arpaio is motivated by anti-Mexican hate. However, beyond racial motivation is what this case has unleashed upon this state.
A study I conducted, (Arizona on Fire), examined the many thousands of letters to the editor in the Arizona Republic and the Arizona Daily Star, during the height of this effort (2010-2012), in response to articles regarding HB 2281 and the racial-profiling SB 1070 legislation. The letters reveal an extreme hate toward Mexicans/Mexican Americans not seen since the era of segregation.
But as far as the courts are concerned, racism apparently still is an open question, this while, out of the four sub-disciplines within Ethnic Studies (African American, American Indian, Asian and Raza Studies), only Raza Studies was targeted for elimination.
