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Dear Tucson Students, It Gets Better
It's spring-time in the Sonoran Desert, and as la maravilla of the wild flowers stretches across the valleys of southern Arizona, caravans of literary heroes and national education advocates will be descending on the Old Pueblo this weekend for a series of celebrations in support of Tucson's outlawed Mexican American Studies program.
And just in time.
Students protesting dismantling of the Mexican American Studies program (Photo: D.A. Morales)
The trauma and stress over the dismantling of the Mexican American Studies program, including the confiscation of books in front of young middle school and high school students, and the unbridled demonization of Tucson's deeply rooted Mexican American community, has never been addressed by Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) officials. In truth, while TUSD Superintendent John Pedicone continues to refer to the whole Mexican American Studies crisis as a "distraction," not one assistant superintendent in his office or member on the Tucson Unified School Board, with the exception of Adelita Grijalva, has ever addressed the emotional, psychological and academic fallout over their hit-and-run decision to pull the plug on one of the most successful and acclaimed educational programs in the nation.
TUSD spokesperson Cara Rene, despite repeated requests, refused to even answer whether TUSD had assigned any special counselors or planned to consider any issues or problems for reassigned Mexican American Studies (MAS) students.
Listen to the testimonies of these MAS students at a special forum last week in Tucson, joined by students and faculty from California State at Northridge, courtesy of the Three Sonorans blog:
It gets better, dear Tucson students.
As the keynote speaker at the huge Tucson Festival of Books, New York Times bestselling author Luis Urrea, whose nationally acclaimed books were included the unprecedented roundup and ban on all Mexican American Studies curricula in the TUSD classrooms (limited copies in a handful of libraries remain), will be delivering his own personal message to the city:
The irony for me is that AZ is the place my work is afforded the greatest kindness. Just weeks before the banning, I was awarded the Southwest Books citation for best work about the Southwest. In Tucson. Ahem. Next month, I will go frolic at the Tucson Festival of Books. What is happening here? What it is ain't exactly clear... It's about the kids. I don't care about your politics.
As part of the festival, celebrated Mexican American Studies literature teacher Curtis Acosta will hold a public workshop on Saturday, March 10th, at 11:30 at the Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs Lounge Room 205.
As one of the most inspiring literary movements in decades, literary wizard Tony Diaz and his "librotraficante" caravan will also be arriving in Tucson this week, in preparation for a weeklong celebration of literature, intellectual freedom, and anti-censorship traditions, and to remind Arizona of its great literary pioneers.
As O'odham poet Nathan Allen always reminded me in Tucson: Sup un thun thuth mumth e tha da. I'm so glad you have come.
"Perhaps the humble appearance of El Hoyo justifies the discerning shrugs of more than few people only vaguely aware of its existence," Tucson author Mario Suarez wrote in 1947, in his pioneering fiction work about barrio life, Chicano Sketches. "Yet El Hoyo is not the desperate outpost of a few families against the world." Suarez is considered the first author to used the term "chicano" in modern literature: "Chicano is the short way of saying Mexicano," he wrote, "it is the long way of referring to everybody."
It gets better, dear Tucson students.
Yesterday, the National Association for Chicana and Chicano Studies (NACCS) and 26 education and civil rights organizations filed an Amicus Curiae "Friend of the Court" brief in U.S. District Court in Tucson, as part of the historic Mexican American Studies lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Arizona's bizarre ban.
Devon Peña, NACCS Past Chair, said:
We support the Mexican American Studies Program in the Tucson Unified School District and are united in opposition to academic discrimination against Mexican American and Ethnic Studies. This respected field of study has been unjustly targeted and demonized by Arizona authorities, which is strangling the pursuit of a comprehensive education and silencing the perspective of Mexican Americans and their cultural background. This law has resulted in censorship of important books and eliminated a program with proven academic success for traditionally neglected students.
It gets better, dear Tucson students.
Efforts are now underway by the Citizens for Educational Excellence, a broad bipartisan group of parents, educators, community activists and concerned Tucsonans to recall disgraced TUSD board member Michael Hicks, the embarrassing Tea Party extremist that has openly taunted students at board meetings, issued conflicting statements on board meeting facts, and compared Mexican American Studies professors to Penn State child sex abusers.
In an interview earlier this winter, veteran Chicano educator and author Salomon Baldenegro, Sr. reflected on the cycles of anti-democratic efforts to marginalize Latinos and indigenous people in their native land of Arizona. Baldenegro's extraordinary contributions, in fact, were included in the textbook Chicano: History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement, one of the books banished from TUSD classrooms.
"We are resilient," Baldenegro reminded us. "Our history is not one of victimization. Our history is one of achievement. We have not only survived all manner of attacks, we have gone forward. And we're going to win again."
Here's an excerpt from his interview, courtesy of the Three Sonorans blog:
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20 Comments so far
Show AllThanks for presenting this issue in such a thoughtful and meaningful way. This article has done what I wish all articles on important issues did: present the issues while keeping the humanity fully in sight
Like women, chicanos are only valued as per their level of cooperation to the staus quo. Farmers and businesses value chicanos for their seeming volutary acceptance of poor working conditions and low pay. The western world values women for their acceptance of a male dominated society. Nothing really changes as long as white penile subservience is observed.
Afterall "god" is white , male and rich.
Well, gardenernorcal, it seems like in the corporate state no one is valued beyond their usefulness to the Company. The U.S,. really has been quite democratic in it's exploitation of humanity, gobbling up every defenseless being it could get it's hands on regardless of race, age or gender.
Chicanos have no more voluntarily accepted poor working conditions and low pay than any other group. Cesar Chavez (from Arizona) and Delores Huerta (from New Mexico) founded the United Farm Workers, certainly one of the hardest fighting organizations in the U.S.
Those who for generations have endured the most brutal treatment the U.S. can deal out are Mexicans, those in the U.S. without papers as well as those in Mexico who have been exploited by NAFTA and border factories and devastated by drug wars that all experts agree could not be going on without the connivance of the U.S. government and the international financial community.
"Chicanos have no more voluntarily accepted poor working conditions and low pay than any other group."
Oh but they have. Check out any farm in California, the laborers sign up and harvest and maintain the crops according to the farmer's guidelines. Cesar Chavez did a lot, but it's all been undone. Farm workers no longer know what their rights are. They no longer even know basic safety laws. If you think otherwise you're an ostrich.
You don't out get to California much do you? Otherwise you'd know the difference between "Chicanos" and "Mexicanos."
Most of the migrant farm workers in California are Mexicanos, not Chicanos, and they don't know their rights because unless they have documents they have no rights. Obviously no one in the field is going to say they're not an American citizen.
By the way, I support UFW with more than just talk.
Now 'fess up to it, what have you done to Sioux Rose? Didn't she disappear about the time you turned up?
You have found the wolf in sheep clothing. Old Nor Cal Not-a-gardener is up to the usual tricks. Mouthing platitudes and slipping the knife in.
"In an interview earlier this winter, veteran Chicano educator and author Salomon Baldenegro, Sr. reflected on the cycles of anti-democratic efforts to marginalize Latinos and indigenous people in their native land of Arizona."
What if the intent is even more diabolical? What if the purpose is to create one more wedge issue to keep us fragmented and quarreling among ourselves and to assure we focus our rage and hatred at one another?
Of course there would be Tea Party (meaning Koch) involvement. That's what hate groups do, they generate hatred to further their own goals.
Tucson (and Pima County) has historically been the most progressive enclave in AZ. Unlike much of the Southwest, the land it sits on wasn't stolen from Mexico, and after Tucson joined the U.S., its old Mexican families continued to hold wealth and power -- as they still do today.
This is not a simple issue between Anglos and Chicanos. Chicanos themselves are divided on Chicano Studies programs. (Half the school board is Latino.) If there is a divide, it is between the longtime residents, who likely as not have a foot in both cultures, and relative newcomers who want to make Arizona an honorary member of the Confederacy.
Lots of Tea Party opportunity here to stir up hatreds that will take generations to heal, and as a bonus, it can be used to further the destruction of Tucson's public schools.
No, these people are not trying to stir up hatred. They need to speak to offset the hatred already there.
Here is a post I put up at Occupy Tucson earlier today (OT will be in attendance at the book fair this weekend) :
Just a thought for your consideration,
Once again, the fascists are dictating what the topic of conversation will be and therefore pursuing their goals unwatched.
The hispanic studies curriculum, the banned books, and even TUSD as the largest school district in the state and as a bonus located in the middle of the one liberal bastion of this very red state are all not but thinly veiled WEDGE issues. The prize you must keep your eyes upon is public education. Privatization is on steroids and austerity will soon be shoved down your unemployed throats.
You have a choice still. Stay focused and keep your brains engaged, or continue to allow the fascists to dictate what will be the topic du jour. Not for much longer though, if you continue to fall for this simpleton's ruse of divide and conquer. Think about it (one clear example of this is the sorely underfunded TUSD spending money they didn't have on law suits). Sounds like a win/win for the fascists to me........cut the funding (or force defensive expenditures) and then point out the inability of the school district to function properly.
Robert Alexander Dumas
P.S. (@ GollyGee)
It is time to stop demonizing the Tea Party. They are your countrymen, and they are not the 1%. Which part of the main impetus of what you wrote did you not understand?
Thanks Robert.
Yes, you are right. Unless we learn to band together and quit demonizing everyone who has a different take on things, we are indeed done for.
I admit I'm often guilty of encouraging wedge issues myself.
Hey GollyGee, De Nada.
Go after the Koch brothers and the the rest of the sorry no good sociopathic 1% and I've got your back, you'll have to throw elbows to keep ahead of me.
It's easy to get sidetracked, it's hard to stop frustration from causing you to dismiss, or worse, those whom you should be striving with all your might to persuade. Wasn't preaching even a little. Just been there done that.
Fuck that noise- the tea party is a constructed funded movement. They need to be confronted and discredited- they are not a bunch of misguided misanthropes- they are the real deal fascists. Bring your elbows and what you got- if we are fighting for the same things I won't mind the black eye or the gut shot.
But, what are you fighting for? For racists and fascists to be protected? FUCK THAT NOISE.
Sober up and I'll talk at ya.
If you are sober, check it out.....Fuck You. Straight up. We don't need anybody that stupid.
@ScarcityAna........Robert Alexander Dumas........Nice Psuedonym, but as long as you are using it, how do I tell if you have the courage of your shouted supposed convictions?
"What if the intent is even more diabolical? What if the purpose is to create one more wedge issue to keep us fragmented and quarreling among ourselves and to assure we focus our rage and hatred at one another?"
To hell with wedge issues with all the money and power on one side. Focus on changing the system and bringing real democracy to the country - just as the Occupy movement has articulated.
Parallax? Yet another........ fully possessed of the courage of their convictions. What exactly is it you are afraid of, why not attach your name so that we know you believe what you say so forcefully?
Robert Alexander Dumas
It is time to stand up and be counted folks. Real simple stuff this is.
"If there is a divide, it is between the longtime residents, who likely as not have a foot in both cultures, and relative newcomers who want to make Arizona an honorary member of the Confederacy."
You're only half right. The "newcomers" are the mestizos with their anchor babies who want it an honorary member of Mexico. Activists like Acuna, Rodriguez, etc need validation and what could be better for their cause than some fresh young minds needing indoctrination into victimhood.
The liberal hijack of the political left, causing its moral and intellectual failure as an effective opposition to right-wing extremism, has transformed weary frustration into great enthusiasm among the people as we finally learn to abandon liberalism wholeheartedly and shift our path back to where we belong, on the far left. This article is typical of liberal junk press which intentionally fails to draw the people into a political issue, because the liberal philosophy is designed to erode the people's stake in public policy, as well as industrial production.
So we're invited by the liberal to smell the Sonoran desert wildflowers, instead of feed and exercise our minds, when the topic at hand is public policy.
If the liberals really cared about the people and their needs, including the need to know themselves, help themselves, govern themselves, the liberals would devote the first one or two paragraphs of their articles, such as this one, to conveying the views of their opponents, but the author didn't. So I'm thinking "oh I will have to go research this issue for hours before I know what the hell he is talking about". How many hours will be wasted by all the people researching the issue because the journalist failed to convey a sliver of background?
So I dug it up. I found this in Michael Hicks' political website:
"There has been much to say about TUSD’s ethnic studies programs and its curriculum. I’m not proposing the cancellation of any ethnic studies, but I do believe that any curriculum that promotes "the overthrow of the United States government" or "resentment toward a race or class of people." should be canceled."
Ok, the news today is that the people are learning to make hay with some real information, like the Hicks quote gives us. The quote is crucial because it is directly "from the horse's mouth". His propaganda claim is that the Mex/Am studies program promotes the overthrow of the Merkan thug empire. The liberals could have conveyed this but they didn't. We the people are figuring it all out for ourselves as part of our campaign to take the whole left side of the political spectrum out of liberal hands.
We've weighed this kind of thing over and over so we know it's ok that the Mex/AM studies program promotes the overthrow of a wickedly oppressive imperial racket. Many konservatives would even agree that it's ok - but there's nobody to form a coalition with. Liberals can't be trusted. They hide their opponents' propaganda, rather than convey it in their articles, thereby demonstrating that they care more about keeping the people happy in their slave shackles than about their fulfillment through self-determination.
The people need both sets of propaganda on the table at the same time.
The resentment of Mexicans and Mexican/Merkans toward whitey anglos is very well-founded. It's well-known everywhere that whiteys are radically bent on world domination through their evil ways of manipulating the minds and hearts of people. Mexicans are particularly vulnerable to the spell of gringo lunacy, as it shows in their absolute lack of passenger rail (which the whole rest of the planet has outside gringoland and its client dictatorships). Mexicans also forfeited their many-thousands year old farming traditions, allowing gringos to corner their maize market. Mexicans are vulnerable. They need to ban gringo propaganda AND gringo corn AND gringo everything, and instead join with the rest of Latin America as it experiences its renaissance outside the sphere of gringo influence.
Arizona needs to get closer to Latin America too. We all do. Hicks and his ilk probably need to go back to merry old england if they can't handle living in solidarity with the people of the world. Notice how the liberal media continues to feed gringo racism with its endless flood of entertainment set in medieval britain. Liberals are so mixed up, but the big news today is the people are finally throwing the liberal bathwater out with the liberal baby, and building an effective deterrent to right-wing extremism.
"liberal hijack of the political left"; "moral and intellectual failure "; "liberal media continues to feed gringo racism ": "Notice how the liberal media ";
What planet you residing on rt?
Well done though, clever sabotage. Much respect. Too bad you lack any morals, you could actually accomplish something that mattered; like improve people's lives.
Robert Alexander Dumas
Yawn. More conspiracy theory BS. You're not from around these parts, are you?
Still clinging to that Hollywood Mexican village stereotype and the imagined "revolucion" where every latino is a potential Che...LOL.
If you think "mesican thuggery" is better than "merkan" thuggery you might want to actually immerse yourself into their "culture" to see what the reality is about. It "ain't all that"; it's just what they want you to see or what you need to believe. After they trick you, they have a good laugh, it's a cultural thing that every anglo born in the SW knows well. I'm ambivalent, it's just mexicans up to their usual antics and demand for special treatment rather than equality; afterall, as you admit, they've been here a long time. Why would you think they wouldn't have a few advantages over whitey?
There is more than one way and one action required to bring this den of oppressors down--no need to denigrate anyone's action. It can all make a difference.
I think a new Freedom Summer in Arizona is in order--summer school for omitted history, and lessons in direct action, for example.