Where are the CA Legislative Latino Caucus (LLC), Legislative Black Caucus (LBC), and Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus (APILC) when it comes to opposing “racist AB2918” and advocating for ethnic studies and teachers of color?
by Flip P. Burnett
Why, at the Senate Education Committee hearing on AB2918 (a bill that seeks to impose additional regulations and oversight on ethnic studies in California), was it a white ally in solidarity with communities of color who spoke most clearly about why CA AB2918 is highly problematic and undermines efforts toward racial equity?
Senator Dave Cortese (D-15) did so courageously while standing against both racism and anti-Semitism and engaging as a champion for racial justice by abstaining from voting on the bill. Meanwhile, where do California’s legislative caucuses of color stand on this issue? Are they aware of what is happening with this “Gut and Amend” bill that educators of color consider “racist legislation”? Will the legislative caucuses of color also stand up and oppose AB2918, or will they be complicit in this harmful attempt to subject ethnic studies to additional scrutiny and undermine its implementation at this crucial moment?
Currently, AB2918 is in the “suspense file” of the Senate Education Committee, chaired by Senator Anna Caballero (D-14). It is worth noting that while state funding for ethnic studies curriculum and instruction development was cut to $0 for the 2024-2025 fiscal year in the budget finalized in late June, enforcing additional ethnic studies “guardrails” would require significant state spending of many thousands of dollars.
How does California reflect its values in budgeting with these decisions? If the bill passes, the obvious answer is prioritizing the twin values: further marginalizing the only part of K-12 education that is, by definition, led by communities of color (just a one-semester course in 13 years of elementary and secondary education); while simultaneously enabling the increasing oppression of teachers and students of color—California needs to be better both morally and financially in 2024.
Do the CA Legislative Caucuses of Color find it acceptable that the state budget does not provide funding for teachers of color to advance ethnic studies in 2024-2025 ($0); but conversely, AB2918 would provide state funding for monitoring, controlling, and harassing teachers of color (thousands of $$$$$)? Do they realize that this dual reality is exactly what is currently happening here? If they have not yet recognized the two major parts of this equation that disadvantage communities of color on both sides, why not? If so, why are they enabling this (and why are they waiting to publicly express this concern and take action, as Senator Cortese has already done publicly)? It is too late for the former, as the state budget was ratified in June; however, it is not too late (yet) for the latter. A decision on the bill will likely be made on August 15 (or 16) in the Senate Education Committee.
AB2918 would clearly result in a misallocation of significant resources at the state level, largely on fruitless red herrings and witch hunts against educators—eerily similar to what right-wing legislatures in deep red states are doing to suppress the teaching of ethnic studies, LGBTQ+ studies, and more. Locally across California, districts themselves would be burdened with significant additional financial costs, as well as time, energy, and resources, to protect their teachers. This exacerbates existing challenges and contributes to high turnover in the field, particularly among educators of color, who are already severely underrepresented and disproportionately impacted.
Hatred, bigotry and oppression in all their forms must be combated wherever they occur, with particular attention to the circumstances of protected groups who have historically been exposed to these realities as a matter of course, often under the pretext of ‘helping’ or ‘improving’ them through initiatives promoted by outside these groups (and as AB2918 claims), while in reality it causes harm.
Fortunately, these protections are already explicitly included in California Education Code Law Section 220, as they should be. AB2918 significantly hinders efforts to confront bigotry and racism and is misguided in its targeting of teachers of color. As the California Teachers Association (CTA) Asian & Pacific Islander Caucus, CTA African American Caucus, CTA American Indian/Alaska Native Caucus, and CTA El Sol Caucus stated, “this racist law cannot be pursued further or amended to remove the malicious intent with which it began.”
Read two excerpts from Senator Cortese’s remarks at the Senate Education Committee hearing on AB2918 (07/03/24) below and/or watch the full video here:
“THE CORRECT OPINION, WE ARE DESCRIBING THE LARGE SUBJECT OF ETHNIC STUDIES, WHICH IS A FEDERAL FRAMEWORK. IT’S FEDERAL LAW. IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT ONE ETHNIC GROUP OR ONE PROBLEM THAT WE’RE JUST TAKING INTO ACCOUNT. IT COMES TO ME THAT IF WE HAVE TO CHANGE THE WAY WE DEAL WITH IT, THEN TO ADDRESS THIS AND OTHER PROBLEMS, WE HAVE A LOT OF DOING TO DO, AS EVERYONE SAYS. BUT THAT’S THE INDIAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY. THAT’S THE AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITY, THAT’S THE LATINO COMMUNITY. WE JUST HEARD THAT, IT GOES ON AND ON. WE HAVE 100 DIFFERENT CULTURES AND SUBCULTURES. AND IN SANTA CLARA COUNTY ALONE THERE ARE OVER 100 DIFFERENT LANGUAGES AND DIALECT SPEAK…
WITH ALL RESPECT, CHANGING THE REVIEW PROCESS BY ALLOWING IN PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT NECESSARILY TECHNOLOGICAL EXPERTS RAISES HUGE QUESTIONS FOR ME ABOUT HOW THE BIG COMMUNITY FEEL ABOUT IT. AND WHEN WE GO FROM STAKEHOLDER TO STAKEHOLDER TO STAKEHOLDER, ARE YOU COMFORTABLE WITH THAT? ARE PEOPLE COMFORTABLE WITH THAT? OR HAVE YOU, FOR EXAMPLE, EXPERIENCE THAT IT’S NOT REALLY A JURY OF YOUR PEOPLE, SO TO SAY, WHO IS GOING TO END UP ON THAT REVIEW PANEL?
I CAN SEE THAT IN SOME CIRCUMSTANCES, SOME ETHNIC GROUPS WHO ARE ALREADY MARGINALIZED IN MOST DISCUSSIONS MAY THINK THAT THIS IS JUST ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY FOR US TO BE OUTNUMBERED AND TO BE PUSHED INTO A CLASSICAL MINORITY POSITION WHERE WE CAN SPEAK TRUTH TO POWER BUT WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO IMPLEMENT THE CURRICULUM AND THAT IS A POINT THAT CONCERNS ME.”
Flip P. Burnett writes about the intersections between education, social justice, and the agency needed by communities of color in decisions that directly affect us.
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Keywords:
Ethnic Studies Racism Senator Caballero Senator Cortese
