Across our classrooms in Arizona and beyond, a troubling trend has taken hold, one where our nation’s story is too often reduced to a binary of oppressor and oppressed. This distortion, pushed under the banners of Critical Race Theory and DEI ideology, asks students to view themselves and each other through a lens of division rather than unity. I reject that framework.

As we head into our 250th birthday as a nation, it is more important than ever to ensure that young Americans understand the full story of how our country came to be. Not a sanitized or skewed version, but one that celebrates our triumphs and acknowledges that people have come from all ends of the earth to live and build families here because they know that ours is a country filled with unparalleled opportunities for success. From our Founding Fathers, who risked everything to break free from tyranny to the generations of immigrants who came afterward from across Europe, Africa, Asia and South America to find freedom and the pursuit of happiness, the American story is one of people coming together, not splintering apart.  

That’s why I introduced Senate Bill 1301.

SB1301 addresses the glaring gap in Arizona’s K-12 curriculum: the near absence of Asian American, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (AANHIPI) history. As far as our state’s curriculum is concerned, Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander communities and their rich histories of accomplishments and contributions within our nation simply do not exist. Further, there is a nominal reference to the history of Asian Americans, occurring only in the third grade. In a state with over 400,000 Asian American and Pacific Islander residents and expansive local histories, including two Japanese American incarceration camps during WWII and the establishment of Arizona Public Services (APS), these minimal mentions are not enough.

SB1301 takes a measured and responsible approach to fixing this. It does not mandate a standalone course, impose new graduation requirements, or burden educators with unfunded mandates. Instead, it ensures that AANHPI histories are integrated at some point during a student’s academic career, allowing educators and local experts to determine how best to deliver that content. This is about recognizing reality. About telling the truth. And about affirming that all Americans — regardless of background — belong in our national story.

The bill has received the support of 31 local Arizona-based Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) community organizations and 42 national AANHPI civil rights and supporting organizations. U.S. Commissioner on Civil Rights Glenn Magpantay has submitted an open letter to the governor and legislative leaders in the House in support of this bill as aligned with recommendations from the commission’s bipartisan report on combating anti-Asian American discrimination.

Other states including Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, and Wisconsin have adopted similar laws with bipartisan support — Arizona should be next. I urge my colleagues to support this thoughtful and unifying legislation and I call on Gov. Hobbs to sign it into law.

Sen. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills, represents Legislative District 3.