[Note: A chronological list of links to AICL's coverage of the shut-down of the Mexican American Studies Department at Tucson Unified School District is here. Information about the national Mexican American Studies Teach-in is here. The best source for daily updates out of Tucson is blogger David Abie Morales at Three Sonorans.]
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Last night (February 22, 2012), students from the now-banned Mexican American Studies (MAS) classes at Tucson Unified School District skyped in from Tucson to New Haven, Connecticut, for a Teach-In at Yale University.
It was an outstanding event, with a great deal of enthusiasm and support for the MAS students. The MAS students spoke of the need to censor the writing they do in classes because their work can be collected and examined to see if former MAS teachers are violating the ban by continuing to teach from a Mexican American perspective. When asked about ways of providing them with support as they continue to fight the ban of the MAS program, one student referenced a letter they prepared that asks people to send photos of teach-ins and letters to TUSD that demonstrate support for the MAS program. (See the letter below.)
Here's two photos. First is the Tucson students. Beneath it is a photo of the overview I presented at the start of the Teach-In. Both photos were taken by
Theodore Van Alst, Assistant Dean of Yale College and Director of the Native American Cultural Center.
Panel members were:
- Alicia Schmidt Camacho, Associate Professor of American Studies and Ethnicity, Race & Migration
- Stephen Pitti, Professor of History & American Studies, Director of Ethnicity, Race & Migration
- Birgit Brander Rasmussen, Assistant Professor, American Studies
- Debbie Reese, American Indians in Children's Literature
Conversations will continue between Yale professors and students, and the MAS students in Tucson.
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To Supportive Educators and Supporters Who Have Access to Students:
UNIDOS is calling upon YOU to help us launch our first NATIONAL YOUTH SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT for the youth and communit
[Note: A chronological list of links to AICL's coverage of the shut-down of the Mexican American Studies Department at Tucson Unified School District is here. Information about the national Mexican American Studies Teach-in is here. The best source for daily updates out of Tucson is blogger David Abie Morales at Three Sonorans.]
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Do you know someone in a self-involved bubble that insulates them from the fact that our civil rights are under assault by well-funded conservative politicians? If so, tell them about what is happening in Tucson, where the conservative-power-elite wrote, passed, and enforced a law banning the perspectives of Mexican Americans...
Where that same conservative-power-elite is now trying to get
a law passed (SB 1202) that prohibits teachers from teaching partisan documents like Barack Obama's 2004 DNC speech in social justice courses...
And where that same conservative-power-elite is also trying to pass a
law that prohibits teachers from using words that violate the obscenity and profanity guidelines set up by the Federal Communications Commission.
If passed, what will that mean for teachers who teach young adult literature that has the F-word in it?
Who is among that conservative-power-elite? The Chicago Tribune article points to Floyd Brown, the founding chairman of Citizens United. He complained to school administrators that a teacher used the F-word in class, but, he says, they didn't take him seriously. So he went to Klein, and now, that complaint is a bill that has passed one committee and will be voted on by the house and senate in Arizona... The photo that accompanies the Trib article shows Brown and his now-home-schooled daughter, sitting before a pile of books that includes William J. Bennett's
Our Sacred Honor: Words of Advice from the Founders in Stories, Letters, Poems, and Speeches. I wonder if that book would be in violation of the "partisan" documents bill?!
There are people who don't think either bill will pass. They might not, this first round. The Ethnic Studies law didn't pass the first two times it was considered. Third time? It passed and was signed into law by Jan Brewer.
[Note: For a chronological and comprehensive list of links to AICL's coverage of the shut-down of the Mexican American Studies Department at Tucson Unified School District, go here. To go right to information about the National Mexican American Studies Teach-in, go here.]
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In today's news from Tucson,
KNST is reporting that John J. Pedicone, Superintendent of Tucson Unified School District, sent a letter on January 27, 2012 to Dr. Tony Estrada, the Head of Mexican American Studies at the University of Arizona.
Below are screen shots of the two page letter. Read them below, or
download the letter from the KNST site.
To protest the shut-down/"suspension" of the Mexican American Studies classes, students organized a protest that consisted of walking out of school to a day-long ethnic studies teach in at the El Casino Ballroom. Once there, there were a variety of activities taking place. At one table, there was a poetry slam. During the day, professors from the University of Arizona delivered lectures.
Pedicone's letter, in essence, tells Dr. Estrada to tell his faculty and staff to mind their own business. These professors, Pedicone says, got the students in trouble! And now, the district has no choice but to follow their disciplinary policies.
Students, Pedicone writes "have been assigned consequences followed by restorative practices to create a learning experience for them."
What are "restorative practices"? Sounds a lot like janitorial work.
In fact, students who walked out a few weeks ago were assigned to do janitorial work. Someone must have figured out that was a bad move, and students went to detention instead. That, however, was a couple of weeks ago.
The Fox News network in Tucson
reported this evening that "Students who participated in walkouts from school to protest suspension of Mexican-American studies will be disciplined" and that "Students who have participated in walkouts or other activities that violate TUSD policies can face detention, suspension, or if the activity is repeated, more severe penalties." Is it time for more "restorative practices"?!
I'm sure that some people think that TUSD is running things in an appropriate way, but from my perspective, they're just digging a bigger hole. After shutting the program down, they're now trying to shut out university professors.
It is almost laughable, thinking of the superintendent, wagging his finger at the university, scolding its professors for getting students in trouble, and then turning to wag that finger at students as he directs them to do "restorative" practices.
But it isn't a laughing matter. The well-being and future of the students is at stake. Going back over a decade, teachers in the Mexican American Studies Department at TUSD created a program that should be expanded, not shut down. It has a proven track record of student success.
What will tomorrow's news hold?!
All of this is very bad for the State of Arizona. Those behind the racist laws may think all is fine and dandy, but
today's statement from over 20 national and international educational organizations
Wow.