A group of teachers and students in Arkansas is suing the state over a law that was used to restrict an advanced placement African American studies course. They say the law is vague and creates a chilling effect because it tries to limit how race is talked about in classrooms.
Ruthie Walls, a history teacher at Central High School in Little Rock, is one of a handful of educators who teach AP African American Studies. Last August she was preparing for the school year, when she found out her class was canceled by the state.
“No one wants to get news like that,” she said. “I was taken off guard and I had to continue with the day.”
The Arkansas Department of Education used a new state law to remove the African American Studies course from its official AP offerings.
The Arkansas LEARNS Act prohibits “indoctrination with ideologies.” No material or teacher can encourage discrimination, or teach that one race is better than another. The law also prohibits “critical race theory” without defining the term.
Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Arkansas needed the law, which is similar to others passed in some Republican-led legislatures.
“Our goal is never going to be to teach kids what to think, but how to think,” she says often.
The law says students are allowed to learn about “ideas,” “history” and “matters of the day.” And that, Walls says, is what AP African American Studies does.
“With the institution of slavery, slave codes, the Jim Crow era, lynching, police brutality, the prison industrial complex.”
Walls continued to teach her class this school year, but only as an elective. And student Sadie Belle Reynolds, who is white, appreciates the lessons.
“We already know slavery was a big part of America,” she said. “Why do I have to go on TikTok or Instagram or Google to learn more about this stuff?”
After cutting the AP class, the Department of Education said it needed to review the curriculum to make sure it adheres to the state law. It reinstated the course as a full AP class after Walls and others filed a lawsuit in March.
Education officials say the timing is just a coincidence. Walls says the law still needs to be challenged in court.
“There are a lot of topics with the issue of race that are sensitive, so we often wonder how deep into the subject we can go,” she said.
The goal of the lawsuit is to strike any limits on the teaching of race, says attorney Mike Laux.
“I think it's poorly written because it supposed to be vague, it's supposed to be inscrutable. And it's supposed to chill,” he said.
Last month, a federal judge said the law does not limit speech, but did issue a preliminary injunction that applies only to Walls and another teacher in the lawsuit. He said teachers in Arkansas are allowed to bring up topics that could be classified as Critical Race theory while the lawsuit goes forward.
