Here’s the history that will no longer be taught at USF if Florida’s “Stop Woke” order is lifted.

Today, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit will hear oral arguments regarding Florida’s controversial HB7, the Personal Liberty Act (also known as Florida’s Stop Woke Act). Passed by the Florida Legislature in 2022, the law provides that “imposing certain standards on individuals under certain circumstances constitutes discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, or national origin.”

Elizabeth Aranda [ Provided ]

In its opposition to HB7, the American Civil Liberties Union argues that the law would prohibit the teaching of subjects related to race, sex, national origin, the effects of slavery, and patriarchy within the K-20 education system. In fall 2022, a federal judge issued an injunction blocking the law’s implementation, calling it “dystopian” and violating free speech and academic freedom. As a professor at Florida State University, I have been educating students about Latino immigrants and the challenges they face for more than 20 years. But if the injunction is vacated and the law is found to be legal, I now face the grim possibility that I will no longer be able to teach some of my core classes.

Below are three important lessons I may no longer be able to offer my students.

1. History of the formation of the Latino community in the United States: A common phrase heard when explaining the origins of Latino migration in the United States is, “We are here because they were there.” Digging into the history of the Latino community requires a deep dive into the military and economic interventions of the United States in Latin America and the Caribbean. Only then can students understand how these patterns of intervention led to the colonization of some territories such as Puerto Rico, the annexation of lands belonging to other countries such as Mexico, and the transformation of Latin American economies through structural adjustment policies that led to the promotion of migration and emigration to the United States.

Why does this violate HB7? Because the colonization of peoples racially classified as “Other” relied on white supremacist beliefs about the inferiority of the peoples of the colonized lands. The institutionalized racism at the heart of colonization cannot be taught under HB7. Thus, students will not learn about the mechanisms by which peoples from Latin America and the Caribbean migrate to form communities in the United States and are displaced.

2. Latino Immigrant Disparities: When discussing differences in socioeconomic, educational, and occupational outcomes between Latino immigrants and their U.S.-born children, social scientists often examine contextual factors such as the conditions of departure from their home countries, the context in which immigrants arrive (including the types of communities in which they settle), the nature of immigration policies that favor or penalize certain nationalities, labor market contours that favor some immigrant nationalities over others, and other social attributes.

HB7 casts a shadow over these debates, labeling the focus on contextual factors as undermining meritocracy: if we prioritize critical analysis of why some immigrants are successful and others are not, we risk being accused of disrespecting the concept of meritocracy, which is explicitly protected by the law. Thus, under HB7, critical analysis of why some immigrants are more successful than others cannot be outweighed by the value of meritocracy.

3. Discrimination faced by Latinos: If discrimination were a simple construct that could be explained as the result of prejudice against people with darker skin, it wouldn’t be on this list. However, discrimination in the United States is much more complex and subtle, especially when applied to multi-ethnic groups. Discussing any form of discrimination that deviates from the skin color/prejudice model is problematic under HB7.

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For example, discussing whether light-skinned Latinos may be discriminated against triggers a debate about the state’s racial formation and institutional discrimination, a topic that runs counter to laws that promote color blindness as a core value. If a student asks me whether light-skinned Latinos may be discriminated against, I risk running afoul of Florida law’s emphasis on color blindness. Answering this question runs counter to the value of color blindness that the state specifically lists as a value to be protected. However, championing color blindness to address deeply ingrained racial disparities in a seemingly “color-blind” society fails to challenge institutionalized discrimination and only exacerbates racial inequality.

Four centuries of institutionalized discrimination and segregation cannot be erased by nearly six decades of race neutrality and color blindness, yet such conversations are taboo under HB7.

These three themes represent central themes in understanding how Latinos first settled in the United States, the circumstances of their establishment, and why some communities have thrived while others have struggled. They also illuminate the challenges facing Latino communities and Latino individuals.

After years of teaching these topics, I have heard from my students, especially Latino students, that they appreciate the opportunity to learn about their family histories and current issues facing their communities. These topics are critical in a state like Florida, where the Latino population is growing rapidly. The question is, if I and others like me cannot teach the most important aspects of the Latino experience and history, how will my students learn about what has made Latinos the largest minority group in the United States?

Elizabeth Aranda is a professor of sociology at the University of South Florida in Tampa and founding director of the Center for Immigrant/Migrant Well-Being Research. She is co-leader of the Florida chapter of the Scholars Strategic Network and co-founder of the Immigrant/Migrant Well-Being Scholars Collective.

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