Archive for the ‘Latinos’ Category:
Class dismissed: Ethnic studies under fire in Arizona
It just gets crazier: Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law Tuesday a bill targeting ethnic studies classes in K-12 schools. From the L.A. Times today:
HB 2281 bans schools from teaching classes that are designed for students of a particular ethnic group, promote resentment or advocate ethnic solidarity over treating pupils as individuals. The bill also bans classes that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government.
The bill was written to target the Chicano, or Mexican American, studies program in the Tucson school system, said state Supt. of Public Instruction Tom Horne.
School districts that don’t comply with the new law could have as much as 10% of their state funds withheld each month. Districts have the right to appeal the mandate, which goes into effect Dec. 31.
Tucson Unified School District officials say the Chicano studies classes benefit students and promote critical thinking. “We don’t teach all those ugly things they think we’re teaching,” said Judy Burns, the president of the district’s governing board.
I understand that ethnic studies are sometimes controversial (as one voice in the article points out) because they sometime attempt to replace one voice with another. But trying to bar voices and ideas, especially when they’re aligned with historically marginalized and minority communities, borders on censorship and xenophobia.
Subscribe to the comments for this postNo problemo, Arizona? Hay muchos problemas!
There are two main problems with Arizona’s SB1070, according Dan Kowalski, editor of the online Bender’s Immigration Bulletin. I had the privilege of meeting Dan during an immigration conference last month. He’s a great guy and has been an immigration attorney for 25 years! Here’s the breakdown:
1. The federal preemption question — This is the major issue in two Arizona city council lawsuits. The state law purports to import federal law onto the state level by criminizaling the unlawful presence of a person inside Arizona’s borders.
2. Technical problems for law enforcement officers & issues of racial profiling — The law also empowers state and local law enforcement officers to question and detain individuals if they believe there is “a reasonable suspicion” to believe that a person is in the county unlawfully.
But just how does a law enforcement officer form “a reasonable suspicion” that a person detained is or is not in lawful immigration status? There are a variety of legal statuses — literally dozens, from U.S. citizens to green card holders to nonimmigrant visa holders to refugees — which according to Dan present a “very real and practical problem” for police officers, state troopers, etc., to determine someone’s legal status. It goes beyond the superficial because the determination of someone’s legal status can only made by an immigration judge or a member of a board of immigration appeals. Listen to Dan’s entire podcast from today’s LexisNexis Emerging Issues series. I highly recommend it!
On a lighter note, while catching up on my weekly dose of Stephen Colbert’s daily show, I ran across this April skit. It is both ingenious and hilarious. Again, highly recommended! Happy Cinco de Mayo!
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The Word – No Problemo | ||||
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Will other states join Arizona?
It’s no surprise that state lawmakers in Utah and Iowa want to follow Arizona’s lead to require local law enforcers to question and detain those they believe are in their state without documentation.
The Arizona Republic put out a pretty clear-eyed editorial analysis this weekend of the key players in the immigration debate. As state officials pander to public fear and federal officials abdicate their duties to the border, all that results is a state law that intimidates Latinos while doing nothing to curb illegal immigration. The two most interesting “failures” on their list? From the Republic:
JANET NAPOLITANO came down with amnesia after she abandoned her job as governor of Arizona and moved to Washington, D.C., to be Homeland Security secretary. Ensconced in a Democratic administration, she forgot all the arguments she once used to demand that the Bush administration address immigration reform and reimburse Arizona for the costs of the broken border. Put in charge of Obama’s effort to craft immigration reform, she couldn’t get the thing out of neutral.
JOHN McCAIN, the one-time maverick and former champion of comprehensive immigration reform, also came down with a convenient loss of memory and principle. Facing a primary race against J.D. Hayworth, whose demagoguery on this issue is practiced and predictable, Sen. McCain became a man afraid of his own record. He locked himself behind a door marked “Do not disturb until the border is secure.” Here’s some straight talk the senator should understand: The border cannot be secured as long as the current irrational border policies remain unchanged.
Also, glad to see the news today that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s not running for governor … I didn’t even know he was considering it, but, phew, what a relief!
AZ Immigration Law Generates First Legal Challenges
Dozens attend a news conference where it was announced that The National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian Leaders, with the support of several other activist groups, had filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction preventing authorities from enforcing the new Arizona immigration law at the Arizona Capitol Thursday, April 29, 2010, in Phoenix. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Three lawsuits were filed Thursday in response to Arizona’s new immigration law by the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and Christian leaders and one each by police officers in Tucson and Phoenix — were filed to block the state’s legislation from taking effect. Listen to the full NPR story.
The roots of AZ’s new law
Earlier this month, I and several other reporters had the privilege of sitting down with Dan Stein, FAIR’s president, to talk candidly about his views on immigration reform. This was during a conference at the University of Oklahoma’s Gaylord College in mid-April. Stein was very clear in his belief that immigration laws and national policy don’t fit the modern era, but many of his and his organization’s views are far from fair. During his talk, Stein accused big business and pro-immigrants groups of wanting no limits to immigration and fighting reform efforts in the hopes of keeping a supply of cheap labor and like-minded voters. FAIR seeks to end illegal immigration through improved enforcement strategies (read: deporting as many people are possible) and reducing levels of legal immigration to around 300,000 annually … though he couldn’t answer any questions about how he or his organization ever came to that number.
Oklahoma has had a similar anti-immigrant law to Arizona’s on the books for nearly nearly two-and-a-half years now. (Read one of my colleague’s columns about how it is affecting the lives of local Oklahomans.) When we spoke to Stein, just days before Arizona announced its big news, Stein upheld Oklahoma’s law as “the gold standard” for all states. I’m sure there’s a new gold standard now, and I’m not surprised to find that FAIR is also behind it.