Now I might be a little naive on this subject, but wasn't the United States founded through rebellion? I guess Arizona will not teach children about the American Revolution. The history of the United States is filled with atrocities that children are taught early on, such as the taking of land from Native Americans. We also have that pesky issue of slavery that spanned over 400 years. In fact, many would argue that the United States was built on the backs of slaves. Yet, years later African Americans had to fight for their Constitutional rights.

Remember how Japanese Americans were taken from their homes and placed in internment camps during World War II. Those internment camps were surrounded by barbed wire. They lived in windowless shacks with many other families. These shacks had no ventilation, no bathrooms and no electricity. Often times, these Japanese-AMERICANS were given spoiled food to eat. Take away the genocide and that sounds like a concentration camp.

Image: Tony Dowson / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Aside from Martin Luther King, Jr and the occasional mention of Harriet Tubman, U.S. History talks about prominent white men and their contribution to the United States. There is no mention of Garret Morgan, the African American who invented the gas masks used in these important wars fought by the United States (like WW I and WW II). Nor is there any mention of Severo Ochoa's contribution to the medical field (he became a U.S. Citizen in 1956). Did you know Will Rogers was a Cherokee who was in the Guiness Book of World Records and wrote over 4,000 nationally-syndicated newspaper columns?

The point of my ramblings is this:  Arizona would have to prohibit the teaching of American History to avoid creating resentment towards rich (class) white (race) Americans. Is that fair?

How many of us actually took an ethnic studies class in elementary school?
Is the removal of ethnic studies creating solidarity or discord between the races and classes?