Well it appears that Arizona has done it again. As if reaching into the past and enacting Nazi immigration laws were not enough, they are now working to prevent people from learning about their own cultures. A new law passed and signed by Governor Jan Brewer suggests that ethnic studies are programs designed to instill hatred of other races. The Articlein the New York Times has now further gone down the road of Nazi Germany. Strong words one may thing! Not so. In addition to requiring people to now be able to show they are citizens if asked, just like the German Reich laws in the early 1930s, now the state wants to prevent the teaching of Ethnic Studies in high schools. As the article states the law was designed to Prohibits a school district or charter school from including in its program of instruction any courses or classes that:

•Promote the overthrow of the United States government.
•Promote resentment toward a race or class of people.
•Are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.
•Advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.

Well at least that is clear. Again we are going down that road isolating ethnic groups for not looking like an "American" and for their heritage. The problem is that like Texas almost 50% of the students in Arizona public schools are of Mexican, Latino, or Hispanic descent. So, learning about their own culture would teach them hatred of the state government? Why would they hate the state government? It has only placed every ethnic group under surveillance calling into question each person's "citizenship". Now, they want to prevent these same minorities from learning about their past? Their could be a good reason for this. After all the United States attacked Mexico in the 1840s to start a war that ended in obtaining most of the states of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. The traditions that were in those states prior to US "purchase" were of mixed lineages already. The Spanish had over 200 years of governance before the US decided to free the peoples of those areas. Prior to the European discovery of America, the Natives had great empires such as the Aztecs, Myans, and the Inca. Are we now on the path to begin separating various ethnic groups to prevent "inter-ethnic" strife. The law that has now passed will begin a new era of strife, for the law will cause the exact problems it proposes to end. Instead of harmony and history, the law will only serve to make the vast population of the southwest second class citizens. In fact, a great majority of them are not. And when high school students in Tucson protested this law, the dressed up as several of their leaders has in the past. This led one legislator to use this as "proof" that the law needed to be passed. Ignorance works in mysterious ways. Mr Horne, who is running for Attorney General and making banning ethnic studies apart of his campaign, has hearkened back to a more sinister era. Like Herman Goebbels, he is attempting to show that the actions of his opponents are proof that he is right. Instead, what has happened is a reaction to laws that were passed. The laws had to occur "first". Otherwise, there is no reason to protest. Ethnic studies does not promote hatred of other races. Though true historical fact may show that they have every reason to have some animosity. As a nation, We cannot go back to the days of thematic historical interpretation were all was good and history books read like a child's first reading book. The truth is this type of history was the fiction. Times were never that good for working Americans. Women have been working in the labor forces for over 160 years to support their families. What this law aims to start is a process of indoctrination that cannot lead to a good ending. History is not a public relations tool. It is non-negotiable. It exists and, though it can be hidden and twisted, the truth does come out; the truth shall set us free.