Originally published circa April 2012

When it comes to discussing issues of race and education, sometimes comedy raises issues more effectively than scholarship.

As a qualitative researcher, I also note how the Daily Show interviewer prompted the Tuscon board member to speak his own logic out loud:

http://www.eschoolnews.com/2012/04/04/the-daily-show-ridicules-ban-on-me...

The actual situation in Tuscon is a painful one for many involved: Raza Studies have subsequently been banned from the Tuscon public schools, with youth and teachers in the courses disallowed even from having certain books:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/18/arizona-b...

Is the erasure of facts and narratives from the written record available to young people, education?

Deep educational questions are at stake here: who can add historical facts to the record young people are taught? And, when can educators safely create voluntary spaces where youth from a racialized/ethnic group can engage potentially shared experiences? Patricia Gandara has a useful piece on the latter issue in our book Everyday Antiracism.