Friday, June 04, 2010
So Arizona's reputation as a haven for racist folks just keeps growing. Now artists have been asked to "lighten" the skins of a Mexican-American and African-American children depicted in a mural in Prescott, a town located in central-northern Arizona. I was surprised that the artists are complying with the request, but I suppose mural-painting jobs are few in Prescott.
So let's review what's happening:
1). Dark-skinned children in a mural are not allowed
2). The governor has signed legislation banning school programs based on ethnicity or race. So it is now illegal to have a class devoted solely to Native American history or a club devoted to African culture. Classes devoted to White history (e.g., American or World History) are of course fine and dandy, and in fact are typically required.
3). The Arizona Board of Education has banned teachers with accents or poor grammar from teaching English. Exactly who decides what constitutes an accent (I have a northern Michigan accent) or poor grammar (lord knows I am sometimes puzzled by apostrophes) has not been defined. But basically this is meant to fire a bunch of Spanish-speaking teachers that were hired a while back to help Spanish-speaking students learn English.
4). And starting next month, Arizona police officers have to ask for identity papers for anyone they suspect might be in the United States illegally. And if you can't provide them, you get arrested. I note that a driver's license or even a birth certificate does not prove citizenship, so there are going to be a lot of innocent people arrested and dragged to jail, and a lot of people who will not be calling 911 because they are scared of the police.
Ironically, Arizona was supposed to get a 9th Congressional seat after the 2010 census was completed. But many people have left the state and many others are avoiding the census takers. The end result, Arizona may not be getting that 9th seat after all. Which serves the fucking racist Republicans just right.
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So let's review what's happening:
1). Dark-skinned children in a mural are not allowed
2). The governor has signed legislation banning school programs based on ethnicity or race. So it is now illegal to have a class devoted solely to Native American history or a club devoted to African culture. Classes devoted to White history (e.g., American or World History) are of course fine and dandy, and in fact are typically required.
3). The Arizona Board of Education has banned teachers with accents or poor grammar from teaching English. Exactly who decides what constitutes an accent (I have a northern Michigan accent) or poor grammar (lord knows I am sometimes puzzled by apostrophes) has not been defined. But basically this is meant to fire a bunch of Spanish-speaking teachers that were hired a while back to help Spanish-speaking students learn English.
4). And starting next month, Arizona police officers have to ask for identity papers for anyone they suspect might be in the United States illegally. And if you can't provide them, you get arrested. I note that a driver's license or even a birth certificate does not prove citizenship, so there are going to be a lot of innocent people arrested and dragged to jail, and a lot of people who will not be calling 911 because they are scared of the police.
Ironically, Arizona was supposed to get a 9th Congressional seat after the 2010 census was completed. But many people have left the state and many others are avoiding the census takers. The end result, Arizona may not be getting that 9th seat after all. Which serves the fucking racist Republicans just right.
