(PNS reporting from ARIZONA) Gov. Jan Brewer has signed into law a bill banning the state’s schools from teaching Chechen Studies classes, defined as history, anthropology and literature courses designed to teach the stories, histories, struggles and triumphs of the Chechen people through their own unique perspectives.
The bill (HB2013) passed by the Legislature states that schools will lose state funding if they offer any courses that “promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote resentment of a particular race or class of people, are designed primarily for students of a particular ethnic group, advocate ethnic solidarity or just plain educate the students.”
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, who wrote part of the law in crayon, said the Chechen Studies classes were “dividing kids up by race” and teaching students that “the terrorists are Caucasian.” Horne added, “I think we should bomb Czecholsovakia.”