10 years ago today, the state of Arizona passed a law that banned Ethnic Studies programs. The law prohibits any class that "advocates ethnic solidarity"

There were two main authors of the law. Up until recently they each served as the Superintendent of Public Instruction and Attorney General of Arizona

The law was enacted bc of the Mexican-American studies program gained popularity in the state. The law was challenged when enacted and upheld this year as valid. Has the media called this censorship or cultural genocide as they do with China?

And that's not all. The law also BANNED BOOKS which include the following:

- Pedagogy of the Oppressed
- Rethinking Columbus: the next 5oo years
- the Latino Condition: a critical reader
- Dictionary of Latino Civil Rights History
- Critical Race Theory: An Introduction

- United States Government: Democracy in Action
- Declarations of Independence: Cross Examining American Ideology

- The Fire Next Time - James Baldwin (they banned James Baldwin y'all lol)
- Ten Little Indians
- The X in La Raza II
- Justice: A Question of Race

There's way more books than this. This is just a few

The concept of free speech doesn't exist in capitalist countries. These same countries will decry censorship in China et al bc they banned facebook for spreading bullshit. But the real censorship is ideological in the West

That is to say, if you do not subscribe to the dominant ideology (imperialism, white supremacism, capitalism), your voice is marginalized, silenced or worse. And anything that challenges the dominant ideology is target for expulsion

Link to the law: https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/summary/h.hb2281_05-03-10_astransmittedtogovernor.doc.htm#:~:text=HB%202281%20prohibits%20a%20school,race%20or%20class%20of%20people.

They want everyone treated as "individuals"

Basically they are saying they don't want real American history taught bc it will hurt the feels of white people. And they don't want oppressed people coming together when they learn about that history bc they scares the whites.

And as our comrade @eshaLegal has so brilliantly pointed out, free speech is used to deregulate industry.

And this isn't the only place where they've banned or tried to ban books. Former republican gov of Indiana, Mitch Daniels, who is now the president of Purdue University, sought to ban Howard Zinn books, specifically "People's History of the United States" https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/07/17/e-mails-reveal-mitch-daniels-governor-tried-ban-howard-zinn-book

When Zinn passed away, Daniels celebrated, stating that "this terrible anti-american academic has finally passed away"

Funny that telling the truth about this country is anti-american. There's a lesson in there.