The lines have
been drawn. Or rather, the date has been set and the countdown has begun. If
Arizona State Schools Superintendent Tom Horne has his way, after Dec 31, 2010,
Tucson Unified School District's highly successful Mexican American Studies K-12
department will cease to exist.
Despite Gov. Jan
Brewer having signed HB 2281, the anti-Ethnic Studies measure - in May of this
year - supporters have good reason to feel confident that on Jan 1, Raza
Studies will be alive and well.
The measure bans
schools from teaching hate, anti-Americanism and the violent overthrow of the
U.S. government. Horne, 2281's "intellectual author," claims that Raza Studies advocates
these things, and promotes "ethnic solidarity" and results in racial
segregation in schools.
The Draconian
measure and Orwellian effort does not call for the outright elimination of
Raza/Ethnic Studies. Instead, it calls for the withdrawing of 10% of district
funds every month that a program is found to be out of compliance. For TUSD,
that would amount to $3 million
per month, a sum it can ill-afford to lose.
The day after
2281 was signed and after Horne threatened to show up to TUSD headquarters to
do a victory lap - hundreds upon hundreds of K-16 students and community
activists laid siege to both TUSD headquarters and then later the state
building, resulting in 15 arrests. During this siege, TUSD's Board of Governors
issued a May 14 statement from the acting superintendent. In its entirety, it
reads:
"TUSD
proudly supports our Ethnic Studies classes. We have no plans to eliminate or
reduce course offerings. We believe these courses are relevant, engaging, meet
state standards and are in full compliance with the law. Additionally, they are
part our unitary status plan. We stand firmly behind our Ethnic Studies
Department, staff members and students."
The statements
are a clear indication that if the program is ruled out of compliance, it will
be the anti-thesis of local control and the epitome of foreign [state]
intervention. His goal - as he has repeatedly stated - is to rule Raza Studies
out of compliance and to eliminate it by the end of the year.
As a result, a historic
lawsuit against Tom Horne is forthcoming. The consensus amongst Tucson's
Mexican American community is that come Jan. 3, Raza Studies will be fully
operational - continuing to educate and inspire minds and continuing its
successful mission of preparing its students to attend colleges and universities
nationwide. This program is virtually an anti-dropout program (more than a 90%
graduation rate) and more than that, it is now virtually a college student
factory (upwards of 70%). But Horne doesn't care about that. Instead, his
primary concern is ensuring that only Greco-Roman knowledge - the purported
basis for Western Civilization - is taught in Arizona schools.
Raza Studies grounds students in Critical Thinking, and
in Indigenous Pedagogies - on
maiz-based or Maya-Nahua knowledge(s) that is thousands-of-years old and that
originates on this very continent. Despite this, Horne and his legislative
allies claim that Raza Studies is un-American. In court, Horne will have his
hands full in defining these terms. Can things that originate in Greece and Rome
be considered American, while knowledge that originates on the American
continent be considered
un-American and not part of Western Civilization.
The measure makes a clumsy attempt to isolate Raza Studies;
it allows for the teaching of the Holocaust and purportedly exempts both
American Indian Studies classes [required by federal law] and African American
Studies classes [that are open to everyone). These are false exemptions because
all Ethnic Studies classes are open to everyone and there are no American
Indian Ethnic Studies classes required by federal law. Despite this, the measure appears to be
a clear discriminatory effort to eliminate Raza Studies.
In the realm of definitions - will maiz-based knowledge also
be ruled as not Indigenous or "American Indian"?
The forthcoming lawsuit will be historic in nature. Think
Monkey Scopes Trial or Brown v. Topeka Board of Education. What happens here in
Arizona will set a legal precedent of not simply what can be taught in public
schools - but also whether states have the right to restrict, censor, dictate,
intimidate and overrule what
districts and educators can teach in local schools.
HB 2281 is the epitome of [cultural] mind control or forced
assimilation. Ultimately, the struggle - as depicted in the in the forthcoming Precious Knowledge documentary (https://vimeo.com/15062646
) -- is about the inherent right - also enshrined in treaties and international
laws - of children to learn about their own histories and cultures. At TUSD, it
is about the right of all children to learn about these histories and cultures
and thus the forthcoming lawsuit (Saveethnicstudies.org).
Notes:
A
national mobilization in support of TUSD's Raza Studies is currently underway
and the primary focus of National Ethnic Studies Week. For more information, go
to: https://ethnicstudiesweekoctober1-7.org/
A
National conference on hate, censorship & Forbidden Curriculums will take
place at The University of Arizona Dec 2-4. For info: https://drcintli.blogspot.com/ or: rodrigu7@email.arizona.edu or