Arizona as Testing Ground for School Censorship

Abstract

As censorship in the United States focuses on critical race theory and arguments about the ways history is taught in our schools, this essay examines Arizona’s 2010 law HB 2281. Passed in a politically charged context, HB 2281 was widely seen to target for elimination a Mexican American studies program in Tucson’s public schools. This essay locates this legislation as a precursor to today’s bills, laws, and guidelines being proposed and passed by local and state governments, as well as school districts across the country. The essay argues that Arizona’s law was more a reflection of the noisy political discourse from the time and disregarded both the need for and success of the Mexican American studies program in Tucson Unified School District. Indeed, research has more than demonstrated that the culturally relevant pedagogy used in Tucson produced academic success by multiple measurements. Despite this, the political discourse of the moment ruled the day, the law was passed, and the Mexican American studies program ceased to exist in the form that it was conceived. Lastly, this essay couches this discussion in political terminology from the past and argues for the need of a new definition that will help us look to the future.