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Opinion: Arizona’s fill-in governor does it again

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Jan Brewer, whose Wikipedia profile earlier Wednesday morning introduced her as ‘Janice Kay ‘George Wallace’ Brewer,’ seems intent on making the most (or worst) of her tenure as former Gov. Janet Napolitano’s replacement. Add to the list of examples of her see-no-evil approach to the state legislature -- guns in bars, no more ‘dependent’ status for the domestic partners of state employees and, of course, turning Arizona into an immigration police state -- a new law that codifies the whiteness of her state’s public school curriculum by banning ethic studies courses.

The Times’ editorial board will probably weigh in on the issue in the next few days. Not that I want to give away the board’s position on the issue, but my money’s on unfavorable.

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In the meantime, I’d like to share the following quote by Arizona schools chief Tom Horne, a race-baiting candidate this year for state attorney general whose education department recently started auditing teachers to make sure whatever accents they have are sufficiently mild. It’s a small bit of information, but also a stunning rationale for the ban (and not to mention a warped view of American history):

State schools chief Tom Horne, who has pushed the bill for years, said he believes the Tucson school district’s Mexican American studies program teaches Latino students that they are oppressed by white people.

Public schools should not be encouraging students to resent a particular race, he said.

‘It’s just like the old South, and it’s long past time that we prohibited it,’ Horne said.
Arizona as the old South -- in a few years maybe, but not the way Horne sees it.

And some words for Brewer: Veto some bills, OK? I understand doing so takes the kind of political and intellectual fortitude not typically expected of replacement governors, but the paleo-conservative lawmakers of your state seem to have correctly judged you as an empty vessel. Whether intentional or not, you’re proving wrong the Democrats who label Republicans ‘the party of no.’

-- Paul Thornton

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