These are just a few select titles banned in Arizona, on display at the Modern Times Bookstore on 24th Street in the Mission District, August 2012. Photo Alexandra Amaya

The local bookstore collective Modern Times, on 24th Street, is showcasing books currently banned under Arizona’s HB 2281 law.

HB 2281 prohibits schools from teaching courses that “promote the overthrow of the United States government or promote resentment towards a race or class of people,” and calls for banning books that are “designed primarily for pupils of one particular ethnic group and advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.”

Modern Times is also providing books to students taking ethnic studies courses at local universities.
“We often do [feature censored books] in September, at least at the beginning of school,” said Ruth Mahaney, a founding member of the collective. “We’ll talk about that and it seems particularly important right now because of what’s happening in Arizona.”

The ban mostly focuses on books read in ethnic studies courses, but some of those on the list are just novels, such as Laura Esquivel’s “Like Water For Chocolate” and Sandra Cisneros’ “The House On Mango Street.” It’s not just Latino literature titles that are on the list either, but texts about social justice and the Mexican American perspective.

“So I think with a law like [this] the boundaries would be endless,” said Graciela Trevisan, who is in charge of the Spanish collection at Modern Times. “I mean if you start by scapegoating culture and language then it can go on and on.”

Native American authors who contributed to the writing of “Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years” were surprised to find that their book made the list as well. Even Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil

Disobedience” is on the list although it has little to do with either Native Americans or Mexican Americans.
“The whole rationale is that they object to a curriculum they believe to be outside of Western civilization,” said Roberto Rodriguez, assistant professor at the University of Arizona.

Rodriguez believes there is connection with SB 1070, the controversial Arizona law that requires any person who looks Latino to produce documentation of their immigration status.

“There is a very anti-Mexican attitude in this state, if you don’t get rid of them one way you get rid of them another way,” he said.
For a complete list of banned titles please visit: www.azethnicstudies.com/banned-books.