Arizona
I'm pretty disgusted. If you read the short clip above, Arizona is trying to eliminate public funding to race based student organizations at higher ed institutions.
Lets visualize this for a second.
Imagine the University of Maryland's Black Student Union without any funding from SGA. The Pan Hellenic Council, NAACP, Black Graduate Student Association. Latino Student Union, Asian American Student Union. Literally ALL would cease to exist because they would be DENIED funding.
No program through the BSU to mentor freshmen, the Honors program could no longer fund the Black Honors Caucus or Latino Honors Caucus. We would be telling students of color that college was no longer a place where you could embrace your culture and learn about others.
If this doesn't make your stomach turn, the rationale will.
It is that these groups do not create an "inclusive America; therefore they: “denigrate American values and the teachings of Western civilization.”
So here in lies the story of one of the most racist states this union has, rationalizing is hatred of ethnic minorities by denying us the opportunity to form communities of strength and unity on predominantly white campuses.
What happened to celebrating our diversity? What happened to remembering that American values rest in capitalism which seldom aids the rest of the world?
Righteous Minds wants to know your thoughts on this extremely important issue. What can happen in one state opens the floodgates for other states to try to pass similar laws.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
What are American Values?
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6 comments:
i'm extremely annoyed by this as well, but not at all surprised. this kind of thing has been going on for years; however i would like to make one clarification: the amendment does not specifically say race-based groups denigrate western values; that statement was made in reference to school curriculum. the ban on race-based groups operating on campus is not given any rationale; however, one doesn't have to guess the reasoning for this. but i just wanted to clarify that.
other than that, i agree that racism and fear are definitely the underlying factors for this amendment. hopefully, enough folks with common sense in arizona will not let this pass the senate.
here is a link to the amendment:
http://www.azleg.gov/FormatDocument.asp?inDoc=/legtext/48leg/2R/adopted/H.1108%2DSE%2DAPPROP%2EDOC.htm
The following quote from the article in the Chronicle struck me the most:
“This bill basically says, ‘You’re here. Adopt American values,’” State Rep. John Kavanagh, a Republican, told The Arizona Republic. “‘If you want a different culture, then fine, go back to that culture,’” he said. —JJ Hermes
I don't know if this State Rep is confused, but I thought American values included diversity of perspective and tolerance and acceptance of differences? Secondly, this reasoning is fatally flawed--black people are American, so are those of Asian and Hispanic (and other other ethincities) decent who are citizens. This ban on funding would prevent AMERICANS from participating in a facet of American culture... this guy needs to get a clue. I'd almost rather the state fail to give any comments on its justifications for such an absurd implementation than to feed us BS about the reasons this type of amendment is appropriate.
What we fail to realize continually as African Americans is that Diversity is not just a color thing (as if 'white' americans do not posses a culture). The truely open mind would see that this decision is in fact a good one in that it forces those people with such vast differences to work together. If i recall organizations like Black Student Union, NAACP and other 'race'based organizations grew out of a need to give voice to the voiceless, that argument no longer holds true. Stop lying to yourselves and accept the fact that by assuming the position that we are commenting on you too are becoming a part of the problem.
What is happening in Arizona is a result of the rampant colorblind theory that is rearing its ugly head across America. Cultural organizations (ie. Black, Latino, Asian, LGBT, and others) are very necessary on college campuses. These organizations whether academic or social provide an outlet and support for these students. For example, currently there is not an Latino Studies Major at the university, in fact, students and faculty have been fighting for over 10 years to have it created. The Latino Student Union has spearheaded the efforts and has met with campus faculty to advocate on their behalf. Just last week, they held a silent protest to urge those in power to vote for the program. Without a Latino Student Union advocating on their behalf, who knows how long it will take to get the major.
There are many instances like this and others happening across the country where these organizations are a voice for the voiceless.
Ever since I moved to the West Coast I've been getting this constant argument from people saying, "Yeah we don't have race issues here, that's a East Coast and Southern thing." What they don't realize is that while CA, AZ, NV, WA, and OR might not have dramatic events like the Jena 6 case, they do have a lot of forced assimilation, which to me is a form of institutionalized racism.
The University of California, like AZ is trying to force everyone to be on large group, slowly blotting out great cultural differences and hues that are supposed to make America unique. Since White American culture is dominant, naturally the other great cultures that exist will assimilate into that one if not given a platform or place to survive.
Black Student Associations, NAACP chapters, Pan-Hellenic councils, and Latino student orgs. are not about separating the underrepresented from the White students, but about preserving and highlighting the diversity on campus for everyone to see.
Just my thoughts... Good post Jackie!
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