FAIR Act Needs to be Protected (Originally published in the Pacific Cititizen)FAIR Act Needs to Protected (Originally published in the Pacific Cititizen)
by Lori Kido Lopez
I don’t remember exactly how old I was when I learned about the Japanese American internment in school. But it must have been a clear lesson, because I always knew it was an important part of our country’s history, as well as my own family history. It was the reason my Nisei grandparents lived in Nyssa, Oregon and became farmers, and it was the reason my grandpa was never able to finish his college degree or fulfill his dream of becoming an engineer. I also grew up knowing that there was a reason Americans valued personal freedom no matter what your racial heritage might be—because we had made a terrible, shameful mistake in locking up over 100,000 innocent Japanese Americans, and it had taken us a long time to finally acknowledge and make amends for our mistake.
I tell this story because we can never underestimate the importance of growing up feeling that your own stories are being woven into the fabric of our education system. I was always so excited on the days when we got to learn about the histories of Asian Americans, rare though those lessons might have been. But more importantly, all of my non-Asian classmates got to hear those stories too. Together we learned that Asians could be as American as anyone, and that they did not deserve to be treated differently than any other group. It was a simple lesson that any grade school child could grasp, and I’m so thankful that this message was passed on to every student.
This is the basic idea behind California’s Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act, which Governor Jerry Brown signed into law last April. The law amends the Education Code so that teachers must include the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in instructional materials, and prohibits the adoption of discriminatory content. This means that the accomplishments of LGBT activists like Harvey Milk and the history of the LGBT civil rights movement can now be taught in a factual, age-appropriate way, just as teachers already must include discussions of the contributions of both men and women, Asian Americans and people of color, and other historically underrepresented groups. California’s students can also learn about LGBT Japanese Americans like Tak Yamamoto and Lia Shigemura, who helped attain same sex benefits at the JACL. Or Dean Goishi, who was born in an internment camp himself, and fought for funding to help gay Asian men living with AIDS.
Anyone who has seen an “It Gets Better” video on YouTube or heard a terrible news story about an LGBT teenager who committed suicide knows that school environments can be incredibly traumatizing and stressful. LGBT and gender non-conforming students are routinely bullied and harassed, and often have no support system to turn to. Think how powerful it would be to hear a discussion in class about the achievements that LGBT people have made, and to know that the histories of LGBT people are just as important as any other group. Such a small addition to the curriculum might not seem like it makes a huge difference, but it is simply another step toward creating a world where LGBT students are not constantly living in fear for their personal safety.
Although the law will officially go into effect on January 1, 2012, there is no guarantee that students will learn about the history of LGBT people right away. Under the California education code, school districts are given much flexibility to implement the law as they see fit and the state has few resources to enforce the new law. In addition to obstacles in the school districts, ultra right-wing organizations have already tried put the FAIR Education Act on a referendum ballot. Even though they failed to gain enough signatures for the June 2012 ballot, they have vowed to try again.
So what can we do to make sure that California students will have the opportunity to learn a complete and honest account of history that includes LGBT people? Parents of school-aged children can call the district office to make sure that these changes are being implemented. And we can all tell our friends and colleagues that FAIR Education Act is simply about schools integrating age-appropriate LGBT history into existing social science lessons. Our histories, our role models, and the accomplishments of people from all backgrounds deserve to be taught to our students so that we can all have the chance to learn where our communities came from, and just how far we have to go.
Lori Kido Lopez is a graduate student at the University of Southern California in Communication and a volunteer at API Equality Los Angeles.I don’t remember exactly how old I was when I learned about the Japanese American internment in school. But it must have been a clear lesson, because I always knew it was an important part of our country’s history, as well as my own family history. It was the reason my Nisei grandparents lived in Nyssa, Oregon and became farmers, and it was the reason my grandpa was never able to finish his college degree or fulfill his dream of becoming an engineer. I also grew up knowing that there was a reason Americans valued personal freedom no matter what your racial heritage might be—because we had made a terrible, shameful mistake in locking up over 100,000 innocent Japanese Americans, and it had taken us a long time to finally acknowledge and make amends for our mistake.
I tell this story because we can never underestimate the importance of growing up feeling that your own stories are being woven into the fabric of our education system. I was always so excited on the days when we got to learn about the histories of Asian Americans, rare though those lessons might have been. But more importantly, all of my non-Asian classmates got to hear those stories too. Together we learned that Asians could be as American as anyone, and that they did not deserve to be treated differently than any other group. It was a simple lesson that any grade school child could grasp, and I’m so thankful that this message was passed on to every student.
This is the basic idea behind California’s Fair, Accurate, Inclusive and Respectful (FAIR) Education Act, which Governor Jerry Brown signed into law last April. The law amends the Education Code so that teachers must include the contributions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people in instructional materials, and prohibits the adoption of discriminatory content. This means that the accomplishments of LGBT activists like Harvey Milk and the history of the LGBT civil rights movement can now be taught in a factual, age-appropriate way, just as teachers already must include discussions of the contributions of both men and women, Asian Americans and people of color, and other historically underrepresented groups. California’s students can also learn about LGBT Japanese Americans like Tak Yamamoto and Lia Shigemura, who helped attain same sex benefits at the JACL. Or Dean Goishi, who was born in an internment camp himself, and fought for funding to help gay Asian men living with AIDS.
Anyone who has seen an “It Gets Better” video on YouTube or heard a terrible news story about an LGBT teenager who committed suicide knows that school environments can be incredibly traumatizing and stressful. LGBT and gender non-conforming students are routinely bullied and harassed, and often have no support system to turn to. Think how powerful it would be to hear a discussion in class about the achievements that LGBT people have made, and to know that the histories of LGBT people are just as important as any other group. Such a small addition to the curriculum might not seem like it makes a huge difference, but it is simply another step toward creating a world where LGBT students are not constantly living in fear for their personal safety.
Although the law will officially go into effect on January 1, 2012, there is no guarantee that students will learn about the history of LGBT people right away. Under the California education code, school districts are given much flexibility to implement the law as they see fit and the state has few resources to enforce the new law. In addition to obstacles in the school districts, ultra right-wing organizations have already tried put the FAIR Education Act on a referendum ballot. Even though they failed to gain enough signatures for the June 2012 ballot, they have vowed to try again.
So what can we do to make sure that California students will have the opportunity to learn a complete and honest account of history that includes LGBT people? Parents of school-aged children can call the district office to make sure that these changes are being implemented. And we can all tell our friends and colleagues that FAIR Education Act is simply about schools integrating age-appropriate LGBT history into existing social science lessons. Our histories, our role models, and the accomplishments of people from all backgrounds deserve to be taught to our students so that we can all have the chance to learn where our communities came from, and just how far we have to go.
BIO
Lori Kido Lopez is a graduate student at the University of Southern California in Communication and a volunteer at API Equality Los Angeles. To learn more about the work of API Equality-LA, please visit www.apiequalityla.org.
