Local opinion: Banning historical facts and experiences in the name of DEI

“Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” — James Baldwin

Banning materials in schools and libraries focused on race and racism is one of the top three reasons given for today’s book bans. Fueled by the anti-DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) animus of the current administration, banning historical facts is on the rise (again) here in Arizona.

Regarding the Peoria Unified School District (PUSD) board policy to remove DEI materials, PUSD school board member Janelle Bowles, as quoted by ABC15 Arizona, proudly proclaimed her understanding of banning books based on DEI: "Simply stated, students should earn their grades and their scholarships by merit and not based on race or the color of their skin.”

I’m curious how Ms. Bowles thinks reading “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave,” by Frederick Douglass, or “A Raisin in the Sun,” a novel by Lorraine Hansberry, or "Summer of the Mariposas,” a novel by Guadalupe Garcia McCall (all just banned by PUSD) negatively impacts what a student achieves in school or in life. Where is the harm in reading books focused on historical facts, the lived experiences of authors, or their culturally held beliefs? How does excluding the lives of people of color in the curriculum give students an understanding that people can only receive the privileges they earn?

So far in Arizona, censorship decisions such as these in PUSD are being enacted at the local school board level. In other states, such as Florida, Texas, and Tennessee, the current top three states for book banning, bans are being enacted at the state level. In the last legislative session in Arizona, Republican members introduced bills focused on censorship that did not pass out of committees. There are current threats to ban books at the federal level as well.

Many Tucson Unified School District students, educators, and community members remember the harm that was caused in 2010 when the Republican-controlled Legislature passed HB 2281, which targeted Mexican American Studies classes in TUSD. Our thankfully soon-to-be retired Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne financially threatened the district until they removed selected books from the curriculum used in ethnic studies courses. At that time, TUSD administrators advised Mexican American Studies teachers to avoid teaching any units that raised “race, ethnicity, and oppression as central themes.”

By banning books based on historical facts, some decision-makers, such as those in PUSD, are limiting young people’s right to read. They are also destroying the knowledge base youth need to become informed citizens.

A decision-making body or government mandating a singular version of history or culture is no testament to freedom. It is censorship – plain and simple – on display for all to see. By banning these books, PUSD is clearly communicating to every student, White, Black and Brown, that they are too fragile to know the complete and complex truth of the history of our country and the experiences of their fellow citizens.

That’s shameful.