They Used To Wear Bedsheets & Hoods

Governor Jan Brewer

I did a post a couple of weeks ago called "Who's a True American?" about Arizona's new "immigration" bill that masquerades as a justification for racial profiling. Now, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer has signed into law another bill that is equally controversial and so blatantly racist, it makes me wonder if she's secretly a member of the White Citizens Council or the local branch of the White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

Last week, she signed a bill targeting a school district's ethnic studies program, hours after a report by United Nations human rights experts condemned the measure. State Schools Chief Tom Horne, who has pushed the bill for years, said he believes the Tucson school district's Mexican-American studies program teaches Latino students that they are "oppressed by white people." Public schools should not be encouraging students to resent a particular race", he said. Is he serious? What world do these legislators live in?

I mean, seriously... with all of the real problems we have in this country... unemployment, education, the infra-structure, etc., you mean to tell me that they have time for this nonsense? And, get this... He went on to say, "It's just like the old South and it's long past time that we prohibited it," giving me further proof that these Republicans are out of their minds, or at least they live in another world that only vaguely resembles this one.

Brewer's signature on the bill Tuesday comes less than a month after she signed the nation's toughest crackdown on illegal immigration — a move that ignited international backlash amid charges the measure would encourage racial profiling of Hispanics. The governor has said profiling will not be tolerated.

The measure signed Tuesday prohibits classes that advocate "ethnic solidarity", that are designed primarily for students of a particular race or that promote resentment toward a certain ethnic group. Some of you may say "Keith, you're African American and that's about Mexicans... What do you care?" Yeah, well for the short-sighted amongst you, here is why I care...

The Tucson Unified School District program offers specialized courses in African-American, Mexican-American, and Native-American studies that focus on history and literature and include information about the influence of a particular ethnic group. For example, in the Mexican-American Studies program, an American history course explores the role of Hispanics in the Vietnam War, and a literature course emphasizes Latino authors.

The African-American History program is simular and these courses exist primarily because for centuries, if you weren't white, your participation in AMERICAN history was largely left out. All of this is American History and, hopefully, it will all be included one day and there will be no need for African American studies, Latino studies, or Asian American studies. But, I just checked and that time ain't now!

In their defense, supporters of this bill say the measure doesn't prohibit classes that teach about the history of a particular ethnic group, as long as the course is open to all students and doesn't promote "ethnic solidarity or resentment." Oh, come on... there is actually a hidden political agenda in this entire thing!

Republican Tom Horne, who is running for Attorney General, said these programs promote "ethnic chauvinism" and racial resentment toward whites while segregating students by race. He's been trying to restrict it ever since he learned that Hispanic civil rights activist Dolores Huerta told students in 2006 that "Republicans hate Latinos" and that's what this is really about. He now has an ally in Governor Jan Brewer and Sarah Palin, who has agreed to come to Arizona to campaign for him.

Wow! Ku Klux Klanners used to wear hoods and bed sheets... now they just use the stroke of a legislative pen instead of the hangman's noose. This is why I urge everybody everywhere to get out and vote. Every election is important. You don't want nuts like this in office anywhere. You can vote and make sure they don't get a job. It's a little too late to picket the statehouse, city council, or the governor's mansion after these "kooks" have already been elected!