Niceness as Whiteness in the Avoidance of Studying Arizona's S.B. 1070

• In Event: Roundtable Session 56
  In Roundtable Session: Exploring Race, Gender, Sexuality, and Ability From a Systems Perspective

Abstract

Teacher avoidance of classroom discussions about Arizona’s SB 1070 and related concepts (immigration, race, ethnicity) are investigated. Using critical whiteness studies as its frame, this qualitative analysis describes perceptions Mexican American high school students have about why teachers refrain from discussing SB 1070 and the effect on the students of such exclusions. Findings include perceptions that teachers practiced silence to maintain tranquility; a tranquility dependent on a status quo that would be threatened by discussions that agitate those that benefit from the status quo of whiteness as niceness. Avoiding disruption of the status quo classroom tranquility of whiteness through protections of the feelings of teachers and white students is lost in the continued tumult that these Mexican American students describe.

Author

• Richard A. Orozco, The University of Arizona