African American Studies Commons^™

Introduction To The Special Issue Defending Ethnic Studies In Arizona: Obama, The Rise Of The Hard Right, Arizona And Texas And The Attack On Racialized Communities Studies, Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua

Sundiata K Cha-Jua

Arizona’s and Texas’s recent anti-ethnic studies enactments have a long and sordid history; they represent the culmination of Eurocentric, nativist and racist initiatives begun decades ago, though their roots go back nearly two hundred years. Arizona House Bill 2281 represents rightwing responses to the current national socioeconomic crisis and the state’s failing economy. According to Duane Campbell, a progressive political economist, “with little else to offer the unemployed, scapegoating immigrants has become a substitute in Arizona for having a real solution to solving the economic needs of its residents.” Collectively, HB 2281 and the Texas State Board of Education revisions …