Chapter 8: The Coloniality Of Curriculum And The Silencing Of Critical Literacies

In 2010, Arizona House Bill 2281 (HB2281) was signed into law, which banned Ethnic Studies education in the entire state and simultaneously foreclosed the possibility of redressing the salient educational issues of race, class, sexuality, and gender (Sleeter, 2011). The justification for banning Ethnic Studies was based on the following premise and accusations:

As one can easily observe, these baseless accusations have been recently repurposed to attack critical race theory (CRT) within the context of the re-emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd. This sociopolitical context also provides the background against which to read, interpret, and interrogate the resurgence of nativist and white supremacist sentiments violently expressed on January 6, 2021, with the attacks on Capitol Hill. Undeniably, the resurfacing of said sentiments, which were always present, found legitimacy under the Trump administration. With the rise of a broad-based movement that substantially altered the sociopolitical landscape, it can be contended that the violent actions manifested on Capitol Hill are intimately connected to the “ontological shudder,” as Mills (1997) once put it, that creates shockwaves that unsettle the very foundations of whiteness. It is not surprising, therefore, that historically conservative states are passing reactionary laws seeking to constrain what can or cannot be taught, namely topics that reveal the past and ongoing forms of domination and exploitation. Therefore, if one seriously considers the sociopolitical context, one also observes that reactionary discourses unfold within a particular landscape where attacks against the education of historically oppressed groups correspond to increasing social resistance that is refusing the silences of the past and present.