The following is the opinion and analysis of the writer:
When the Arizona Board of Education voted December 8 to remove anything smacking of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” from our Structured English Immersion curriculum and the Arizona Professional Teaching Standards, they were succumbing to this year’s witch hunt for words.
In previous waves of ideological attacks on teachers and students, states have often been the battlefields. Historically, these attacks have narrowed the education that students receive, removing student access to effective teachers and to books that are part of our national heritage. The Arizona Board of Education’s vote should be seen as part of this longer history, this time focusing on a list of forbidden words.
The move spearheaded by Superintendent Tom Horne mirrors national efforts to punish states and programs that use the “wrong” words. National Public Radio recently reported that the Trump administration was requiring that Head Start grant applications delete any of a long list of words and phrases, including diverse or diversity, inclusive or inclusion, equal opportunity or equality, accessible, at risk, disability or disabilities, belong, female or women, historically, and Native American or tribal.
This witch hunt is not just a word game. The opposite of diversity is segregation. When President Trump signed several executive orders claiming to prohibit all diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, this was part of his effort to unravel the accomplishments of the post-WW2 civil rights movement.
Superintendent Horne’s efforts are an echo of historical attempts to block civil rights and narrow the scope of education. In the late 1950s, Arizona segregationist politicians accused civil rights organizations of being Communist and passed laws trying to ban the Communist Party and require a loyalty oath in state government and schools — with a signature form that suggested teachers could be jailed if they held membership in organizations like the NAACP and ACLU.
Tucson teacher Barbara Elfbrandt sued the state in 1961 over its loyalty-oath statute, which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in 1966. But that was too late for teachers like Clyde Appleton, who was hounded out of Arizona because of his opposition to the loyalty oath.
Past attacks on education have also targeted books. Beginning in the late 1950s, the state’s teachers regularly noted censorship efforts. In fall 1968, for example, Arizona teachers reported that dozens of books had been censored. Targeted books included Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, Anne Frank’s diary, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm, and dozens of others — 59 in total.
Spoiler for today’s politicians: history is not kind to censors. Courts have blocked the orders that Superintendent Horne used as an argument to push the Arizona Board of Education into action. Is he just concerned about federal funding he says is threatened, or is he fully on board with the Trump witch hunt?
Barbara Elfbrandt and Clyde Appleton risked their careers to fight Arizona’s version of McCarthyism, and they are the heroes we can look to today, not legislators and others who have tried to threaten teachers and schools for doing their job. The witch hunt for words should stop now and permanently; no student will benefit from it.
Follow these steps to easily submit a letter to the editor or guest opinion to the Arizona Daily Star.
