TUSD BANNED BOOKS LIST(s)

The lists of banned books comes from the Cambium report, which was gathered from MAS-TUSD. Searn Arce, director of MAS-TUSD affirms that all the books on the lists below have been banned.

In this format, they were compiled (the firt ones) by Manuel Hernandez at U of A, and the next part, by librarian and scholar, Debbie Reese.



These are the Arizonan Chican@ authors suppressed in TUSD: Dictionary of Latino Civil Rights History (2006) by F. A. Rosales, Codex Tamuanchan: On Becoming Human (1998) by R. Rodríguez, The X in La Raza II (1996) by R. Rodríguez, Let Their Spirits Dance (2003) by S. Pope Duarte, Mexican American Literature (1990) by C. M. Tatum, and New Chicana/Chicano Writing (1993) by C. M. Tatum.



Other suppressed authors are: Gloria Anzaldúa, César Chávez, Rodolfo Acuña, Tomás Rivera, Luis Valdez, and, believe it or not, many others.



Ironically, all banned authors from Mexican American Studies in TUSD write in English. Many have national and international prizes.



Please find below the list of books prohibited for students in MAS, an academically advanced program that successfully channeled 85% of its high school participants into college or the university:



Debbie Reese has compiled this list from the May 2, 2011 Cambium Report.



High School Course Texts and Reading Lists Table 20: American Government/Social Justice Education Project 1, 2 - Texts and Reading Lists

Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years (1998) by B. Bigelow and B. Peterson
The Latino Condition: A Critical Reader (1998) by R. Delgado and J. Stefancic
Critical Race Theory: An Introduction (2001) by R. Delgado and J. Stefancic
Pedagogy of the Oppressed (2000) by P. Freire
United States Government: Democracy in Action (2007) by R. C. Remy
Dictionary of Latino Civil Rights History (2006) by F. A. Rosales
Declarations of Independence: Cross-Examining American Ideology (1990) by H. Zinn


Table 21: American History/Mexican American Perspectives, 1, 2 - Texts and Reading Lists

Occupied America: A History of Chicanos (2004) by R. Acuña
The Anaya Reader (1995) by R. Anaya
The American Vision (2008) by J. Appleby et el.
Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years (1998) by B. Bigelow and B. Peterson
Drink Cultura: Chicanismo (1992) by J. A. Burciaga
Message to Aztlán: Selected Writings (1997) by R. Gonzales
De Colores Means All of Us: Latina Views Multi-Colored Century (1998) by E. S. Martínez
500 Años Del Pueblo Chicano/500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures (1990) by E. S. Martínez
Codex Tamuanchan: On Becoming Human (1998) by R. Rodríguez
The X in La Raza II (1996) by R. Rodríguez
Dictionary of Latino Civil Rights History (2006) by F. A. Rosales
A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present (2003) by H. Zinn


Course: English/Latino Literature 7, 8

Ten Little Indians (2004) by S. Alexie
The Fire Next Time (1990) by J. Baldwin
Loverboys (2008) by A. Castillo
Women Hollering Creek (1992) by S. Cisneros
Mexican White Boy (2008) by M. de la Pena
Drown (1997) by J. Díaz
Woodcuts of Women (2000) by D. Gilb
At the Afro-Asian Conference in Algeria (1965) by E. Guevara
Color Lines: "Does Anti-War Have to Be Anti-Racist Too?" (2003) by E. Martínez
Culture Clash: Life, Death and Revolutionary Comedy (1998) by R. Montoya et al.
Let Their Spirits Dance (2003) by S. Pope Duarte
Two Badges: The Lives of Mona Ruiz (1997) by M. Ruiz
The Tempest (1994) by W. Shakespeare
A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America (1993) by R. Takaki
The Devil's Highway (2004) by L. A. Urrea
Puro Teatro: A Latino Anthology (1999) by A. Sandoval-Sanchez & N. Saporta Sternbach
Twelve Impossible Things before Breakfast: Stories (1997) by J. Yolen
Voices of a People's History of the United States (2004) by H. Zinn


Course: English/Latino Literature 5, 6

Live from Death Row (1996) by J. Abu-Jamal
The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven (1994) by S. Alexie
Zorro (2005) by I. Allende
Borderlands La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1999) by G. Anzaldua
A Place to Stand (2002), by J. S. Baca
C-Train and Thirteen Mexicans (2002), by J. S. Baca
Healing Earthquakes: Poems (2001) by J. S. Baca
Immigrants in Our Own Land and Selected Early Poems (1990) by J. S. Baca
Black Mesa Poems (1989) by J. S. Baca
Martin & Mediations on the South Valley (1987) by J. S. Baca
The Manufactured Crisis: Myths, Fraud, and the Attack on America's Public Schools (1995) by D. C. Berliner and B. J. Biddle
Drink Cultura: Chicanismo (1992) by J. A Burciaga
Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States (2005) by L. Carlson & O. Hijuielos
Cool Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Growing up Latino in the United States (1995) by L. Carlson & O. Hijuelos
So Far From God (1993) by A. Castillo
Address to the Commonwealth Club of California (1985) by C. E. Chávez
Women Hollering Creek (1992) by S. Cisneros
House on Mango Street (1991), by S. Cisneros
Drown (1997) by J. Díaz
Suffer Smoke (2001) by E. Diaz Bjorkquist
Zapata's Discipline: Essays (1998) by M. Espada
Like Water for Chocolate (1995) by L. Esquievel
When Living was a Labor Camp (2000) by D. García
La Llorona: Our Lady of Deformities (2000), by R. Garcia
Cantos Al Sexto Sol: An Anthology of Aztlanahuac Writing (2003) by C. García-Camarilo et al.
The Magic of Blood (1994) by D. Gilb
Message to Aztlan: Selected Writings (2001) by Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales
Saving Our Schools: The Case for Public Education, Saying No to "No Child Left Behind" (2004) by Goodman et al.
Feminism is for Everybody (2000) by b hooks
The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child (1999) by F. Jiménez
Savage Inequalities: Children in America's Schools (1991) by J. Kozol
Zigzagger (2003) by M. Muñoz
Infinite Divisions: An Anthology of Chicana Literature (1993) by T. D. Rebolledo & E. S. Rivero
...y no se lo trago la tierra/And the Earth Did Not Devour Him (1995) by T. Rivera
Always Running - La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A. (2005) by L. Rodriguez
Justice: A Question of Race (1997) by R. Rodríguez
The X in La Raza II (1996) by R. Rodríguez
Crisis in American Institutions (2006) by S. H. Skolnick & E. Currie
Los Tucsonenses: The Mexican Community in Tucson, 1854-1941 (1986) by T. Sheridan
Curandera (1993) by Carmen Tafolla
Mexican American Literature (1990) by C. M. Tatum
New Chicana/Chicano Writing (1993) by C. M. Tatum
Civil Disobedience (1993) by H. D. Thoreau
By the Lake of Sleeping Children (1996) by L. A. Urrea
Nobody's Son: Notes from an American Life (2002) by L. A. Urrea
Zoot Suit and Other Plays (1992) by L. Valdez
Ocean Power: Poems from the Desert (1995) by O. Zepeda



UPDATE, Monday, January 16, 2012

The list above is not complete. As I learn of other titles that have been boxed, I will add them to the list.

Bless Me Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya
Yo Soy Joaquin/I Am Joaquin by Rodolfo Gonzales
Into the Beautiful North by Luis Alberto Urrea
The Devil's Highway by Luis Alberto Urrea

Inspirational video: Tucson's Los Niños Heroes & Banned Books petition

First they suspended MAS. Then they came after the books. Students walked out. And now they've suspended the students.

If you missed Thursday's teach-in at the U of A by suspended Wakefield Middle High School students, and one Pueblo H.S. student, watch the highlights here: http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/2012/01/27/twisted-pedicone-logic-punishing-middle-school-students-that-walked-out-by-kicking-them-out-of-school/comment-page-2/#comments

Here are highlights of high school student, Juan, from Pueblo High School, that was suspended. He is third from right at photo above: http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/

Here's a link to story in the Arizona Daily Star: http://azstarnet.com/news/local/education/precollegiate/students-in-walkout-suspended/article_e63dcb6f-9954-5cd9-936a-0577e8ba7044.html

The students were suspended for walking out in protest of TUSD's decision to suspend the district's Mexican American Studies department. Because they were not permitted to return to their schools, they were at the UA, attending MAS classes there, plus conducting the teach in. After the last class they attended, they were notified that their suspensions were lifted. The classes they attended were: The History of the Chicano Movement and Indigenous Thinkers/Indigenous Philosophers. There is no word if their suspensions were rescinded or if there may be other suspensions of the other participating high school students from Tucson and Cholla High Schools.

Inspired by the teach-in, UA student officials are planning a much larger teach-in at the end of February where everyone will be invited, including TUSD and state officials.

Aside from dismantling the MAS program and thrashing the discipline, and despite denials from the district, as a result of HB 2281, books have also been banned/confiscated from the classrooms. While the media has reported that seven books were boxed and confiscated, the number is actually some 50 book titles. The teachers were actually instructed to remove all books, art, posters, etc from their classrooms. The list of books can be accessed at: http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2012/01/mexican-american-studies-department.html

*** If you have not signed the petition re the TUSD book banning, you are welcomed to do so. Go to: https://www.change.org/petitions/tucson-school-board-dont-lock-up-knowledge-return-books-to-students-now

*** Also, reminder: On Feb 1, there will be a national Chicano/a Studies teach-in. This will actually trigger other teach-ins thereafter every Saturday in Arizona, but also, nationwide. Stay tuned.

Thanks & Sincerely

Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez
PO BOX 3812
Tucson, AZ 85722
520-626-0824

For other background stories on this topic, go to:
http://drcintli.blogspot.com/

For up-to-the minute stories, including videos, etc. go to: http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/

La Defensa de la Gran Tlamanalca has begun!

La Defensa de la Gran Tlamanalca or the defense of La Gran Tlamanalca (Tucson) has begun. Make no mistake, while the media tells a story about a program and a curriculum being in violation of the "law," the reality is that the school district and the state have managed to wage war, 1500s style in Arizona against Indigenous peoples.

The attack is against the Indigenous knowledge -- the foundation of the MAS-TUSD program -- and thus this defense is an Indigenous revolt that will wind up at the United Nations this May. We will be asserting our rights to Culture, History, Identity, Language and Education -- all of which are protected by the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples... and nearly a dozen other human rights treaties and conventions.

For day to day updates on the situation in Tucson, go to: http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/

For info regarding the march to the United Nations, stay tuned here. There will be a regional hearing in Tucson in March or April before going to the UN. It will be our youths primarily making these presentations.

Dr. Cintli
XColumn@gmail.com

Some people say that the defensa of La Gran Tenochtitlan did not succeed. The defensa of La Gran Talmanalca will not suffer the same fate.

THE "UNDOCUMENTED" MAS BOOKS

by Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez

The following list is what TUSD claims are the MAS books that "have not been banned." The list is taken from the 2010 Cambium report that gave MAS-TUSD two thumbs up and recommended expanding the program.

Regarding the list below, the context is that the list is not the biggest story; the story is that this discipline has been viciously attacked by state officials and MAS-TUSD has now been dismantled. It's is not an overnight story. The attack on the culture, history, identity, language and education -- of the people of Tucson, primarily the Mexican American community, has been ongoing since 2006. This act violates every international human rights treaty and convention.

When I asked my colleague Norma Gonzales, one of the MAS teachers at TUSD, what had been banned, she replied: "It's not just the books. It's everything we've ever created." This includes slide shows, art, posters, etc. The books total not seven, but more than 50.

In fact, to clarify, she noted today that she was told that she cannot teach the Aztec Calendar to her students. "Nothing related to Mexican history or culture."

"

It matters little if the district minces or redefines the meaning of "banned," "outlawed," "confiscated" or "stored." By dismantling the highly successful program that graduates nearly 100% of its students and that sends over 70% of its students to college, they in effect have banished all these books and the accompanying teaching materials.
This is but the tip of the story.

Rodriguez Dr. Cintli can be reached at XColumn@gmail.com
For related stories, go to: http://drcintli.blogspot.com/

Arizona's 'banned' Mexican American books

Arizona's 'banned' Mexican American books
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/18/arizona-banned-mexican-american-books

First, the Tucson school district came for the Mexican American studies program. Now, it's come for its books

Roberto Cintli Rodriguez
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 18 January 2012 13.07 EST
Article history

A book 'banned' by the Tucson school district in Arizona
Cover detail from one of the books on the Mexican American studies program 'banned' by TUSD. Photograph: guardiannews.com

In the aftermath of the suspension of the Tucson Unified School District's Mexican American studies department, TUSD has confiscated and continues to confiscate MAS teaching materials. Besides artwork and posters etc, that includes books. This move came in response to an unconstitutional measure, HB 2281, which was specifically created to dismantle the highly successful MAS-TUSD department.

Amid a massive backlash, TUSD officials have backpedaled, claiming that the confiscation of the books that took place after the 10 January MAS suspension does not constitute a banned books list. While TUSD claims that only seven book titles were ordered boxed and carried off, the fact is that the confiscation – in some cases, in front of the students – involved more than the seven titles. But the seven books that are "not banned" (but merely "confiscated") are:

Critical Race Theory, by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic
500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures, edited by Elizabeth Martinez
Message to Aztlán, by Rodolfo Corky Gonzales
Chicano! The History of the Mexican Civil Rights Movement, by F Arturo Rosales
Occupied America: A History of Chicanos, by Rodolfo Acuña
Pedagogy of the Oppressed, by Paulo Freire
Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, by Bill Bigelow

The MAS-TUSD curriculum comprises some 50 books. All have been or are being removed or confiscated from every classroom; teachers are being told to turn in the books that have not been "confiscated". This might strike the average person as odd: it's as if the presence of these books inside classrooms constitutes a distraction or bad influence. Apparently, students should not be able to even see those books in the classrooms.

Officially, the 50 books (listed at the end of the independent Cambium report (http://www.scribd.com/doc/58025928/TUSD-ethnic-studies-audit) which actually gave the MAS-TUSD program a big thumbs up and recommended that it be expanded) are not banned. But it could be said that their apparent status is now that of "undocumented books".

As a result of the banning of the MAS program, there has been much unrest. One action involved a walkout and march from Cholla High School to the TUSD headquarters, a distance of five miles. When the marchers reached TUSD headquarters, they were met by several bureaucrats, including administrator, Lupita Garcia, an opponent of the MAS program who oversees the district's ethnic studies programs. She unabashedly told the students that racism has nothing to do with color and that Mexico is where Mexican studies is taught, not America!

This was, of course, inaccurate: what was suspended by HB 2281 was Mexican American studies, not Mexican studies. When students asked why European studies has not been banned, nor any other area studies discipline, the administrators had no response. And regarding the issue of this being America, apparently this administrator believes that Mexican Americans don't belong in America (as she presumably meant the United States).

In a development typical of Arizona, the students who walked out on Thursday, protesting the elimination of the district's Mexican American studies program, have – without a hearing – been directed to perform janitorial duties this Saturday: an amazing message, right out of Newt Gingrich's playbook (he has been campaigning in the GOP presidential nomination race, proposing the idea that students should be hired as janitors to teach them a work ethic). Apparently, TUSD administrators are paying attention.

The further message of this punishment, then, appears to be that the state and the district do not want students to study Mexican American studies, but they do want them to clean toilets. Perhaps, Gingrich should consider relocating to Arizona, where his message is being fully embraced.

While the issue of which books are banned, or "not banned" but confiscated, continues to be sorted out, more unrest can be expected. Widespread condemnation has been swift – to the point that TUSD officials are not only claiming that they do not have a banned books list but even that they have not eliminated MAS; they are simply in the process of "improving" it.

Rodriguez, Dr. Cintli, can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com

TUSD REMANDS BOOKS TO UNDOCUMENTED STATUS

TUSD REMANDS BOOKS TO UNDOCUMENTED STATUS
By Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez

In the aftermath of the suspension of Tucson Unified School District ‘s Mexican American Studies department, TUSD has confiscated and continues to confiscate MAS teaching materials, which includes books, artwork and posters, etc.

This came in response to an unconstitutional measure, HB 2281, which was specifically created to dismantle the highly successful MAS-TUSD department.

Amid a massive backlash, TUSD officials have backpedaled, claiming that the confiscation of the books that took place after the Jan. 10 suspension, does not constitute a banned books list.

While TUSD claims that only 7 book titles were ordered boxed and carried off, the fact is that the confiscation, in some cases, in front of the students, involved more than the 7 titles.

The seven books that are "not banned" are:

Critical Race Theory by Richard Delgado
500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures edited by Elizabeth Martinez
Message to AZTLAN by Rodolfo Corky Gonzales
Chicano! The History of the Mexican Civil Rights Movement by Arturo Rosales
Occupied America: A History of Chicanos by Rodolfo Acuna
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years by Bill Bigelow

But the removal has included not just books, but also, other teaching materials, including artwork and posters. In a further irony, some teachers are still being told to turn in the books that have not been banned.

The MAS-TUSD curriculum comprises some 50 books. All have been or are being removed or confiscated from every MAS classroom... which would strike the average person as odd. It’s as if the presence of these books inside classrooms constitute a distraction or bad influence. Apparently, students should not be able to even see those books in the classrooms.

Officially, the 50 books (listed at the end of the independent Cambium report (http://www.scribd.com/doc/58025928/TUSD-ethnic-studies-audit) which actually gave the MAS-TUSD program two thumbs up and recommended that it be expanded) are not banned. But their apparent status is now that of UNDOCUMENTED BOOKS.

As a result of the banning of the MAS program, there has been much unrest. One action involved a walkout and march from Cholla High School to the TUSD headquarters, a distance of five miles.

When the marchers reached TUSD headquarters, they were met by several bureaucrats, including anti-MAS administrator, Lupita Garcia, who oversees the districts Ethnic Studies programs. She unabashedly told the students that racism has nothing to do with color and that Mexico is where Mexican Studies is taught, not AMERICA!

The demeaning manner in which the students were addressed was also filled with inaccuracies. What was suspended was Mexican-American Studies, not Mexican Studies. When students asked why European Studies has not been banned, nor any other area studies discipline, the administrators had no response. And regarding the issue of this being AMERICA, apparently this administrator believes that Mexican Americans don't belong in America (she probably meant the United States).

In a development typical of Arizona, the students who walked out on Thursday, protesting the elimination of the district's Mexican American Studies program, without a hearing, have been directed to perform janitorial duties this Saturday. An amazing message, right out of Newt Gingrich’s playbook. He has been campaigning throughout the country, proposing the idea that students of color in poor communities should be hired as janitors to teach them a work ethic. Apparently, TUSD administrators are paying attention.

The further message of this punishment: The state and the district do not want students to study Mexican American Studies... but they do want them to clean toilets... Perhaps Gingrich should consider relocating to Arizona where his message is being fully embraced.

The suspension of MAS-TUSD has caused further unrest with more to come. Students at Tucson’s Wakefield middle school occupied the administration of their school this past week. Much more unrest can be expected.

While the issue of which books are banned or confiscated continues to be sorted out, the reaction worldwide has been swift to the point that TUSD officials are also claiming that they do not have a banned books list and that they haven’t eliminated MAS-TUSD; they are simply in the process of improving it.

* Here's a printable version of the books banned as a result of the banned curriculm, books that were not necessarily boxed, but books that can no longer be taught or that can no longer be in the former MAS classrooms http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2012/01/mexican-american-studies-department.html

Rodriguez, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona and a member of the MAS-TUSD Community Advisory Board has several books as part of the MAS curriculum. He can be reached at 520-626-0824 or XColumn@gmail.com

Chomsky in Tucson & Forbidden Curricula

If I were on the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board, I'd be quaking in my boots. The world's leading intellectual, Noam Chomsky, will be in Tucson on Feb 7-8 and he has something to say about the recent banning of Mexican American Studies and also the banning of the MAS books.

Seem like its time for another national conference on Hate, Censorship and Forbidden Curricula.

Stay tuned.

Tucson schools bans books by Chicano and Native American authors

CENSORED NEWS

Tucson schools bans books by Chicano and Native American authors
Posted by Brenda Norrell - January 14, 2012 at 11:53 pm

Banned books fuels calls for revolution in Tucson

Native authors in banned book include Leslie Marmon Silko, Buffy Sainte Marie and Winona LaDuke

By Brenda Norrell

Breaking news: Updated Sunday with response from banned author Roberto Rodriguez

TUCSON -- Outrage was the response to the news that Tucson schools has banned books, including "Rethinking Columbus," with an essay by award-winning Pueblo author Leslie Marmon Silko, who lives in Tucson, and works by Buffy Sainte Marie, Winona LaDuke, Leonard Peltier and Rigoberta Menchu.

The decision to ban books follows the 4 to 1 vote on Tuesday by the Tucson Unified School District board to succumb to the State of Arizona, and forbid Mexican American Studies, rather than fight the state decision.

Students said the banned books were seized from their classrooms and out of their hands, after Tucson schools banned Mexican American Studies, including a book of photos of Mexico. Crying, students said it was like Nazi Germany, and they were unable to sleep since it happened.

The banned book, "Rethinking Columbus," includes work by many Native Americans, as Debbie Reese reports, the book includes:

Suzan Shown Harjo's "We Have No Reason to Celebrate"
Buffy Sainte-Marie's "My Country, 'Tis of Thy People You're Dying"
Joseph Bruchac's "A Friend of the Indians"
Cornel Pewewardy's "A Barbie-Doll Pocahontas"
N. Scott Momaday's "The Delight Song of Tsoai-Talee"
Michael Dorris's "Why I'm Not Thankful for Thanksgiving"
Leslie Marmon's "Ceremony"
Wendy Rose's "Three Thousand Dollar Death Song"
Winona LaDuke's "To the Women of the World: Our Future, Our Responsibility"

The now banned reading list of the Tucson schools' Mexican American Studies includes two books by Native American author Sherman Alexie and a book of poetry by O'odham poet Ofelia Zepeda.

Jeff Biggers writes in Salon:

The list of removed books includes the 20-year-old textbook “Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years,” which features an essay by Tucson author Leslie Silko. Recipient of a Native Writers’ Circle of the Americas Lifetime Achievement Award and a MacArthur Foundation genius grant, Silko has been an outspoken supporter of the ethnic studies program.

Biggers said Shakespeare’s play “The Tempest," was also banned during the meeting this week. Administrators told Mexican-American studies teachers to stay away from any class units where “race, ethnicity and oppression are central themes."

Other banned books include “Pedagogy of the Oppressed” by famed Brazilian educator Paolo Freire and “Occupied America: A History of Chicanos” by Rodolfo Acuña, two books often singled out by Arizona state superintendent of public instruction John Huppenthal, who campaigned in 2010 on the promise to “stop la raza.” Huppenthal, who once lectured state educators that he based his own school principles for children on corporate management schemes of the Fortune 500, compared Mexican-American studies to Hitler Jugend indoctrination last fall.
http://www.salon.com/2012/01/13/whos_afraid_of_the_tempest/singleton/

Bill Bigelow, co-author of Rethinking Columbus, writes:

Imagine our surprise.
Rethinking Schools learned today that for the first time in its more-than-20-year history, our book Rethinking Columbus was banned by a school district: Tucson, Arizona ...

As I mentioned to Biggers when we spoke, the last time a book of mine was outlawed was during the state of emergency in apartheid South Africa in 1986, when the regime there banned the curriculum I’d written, Strangers in Their Own Country, likely because it included excerpts from a speech by then-imprisoned Nelson Mandela. Confronting massive opposition at home and abroad, the white minority government feared for its life in 1986. It’s worth asking what the school authorities in Arizona fear today.
http://rethinkingschoolsblog.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/rethinking-columbus-banned-in-tucson

Roberto Rodriguez, professor at University of Arizona, is also among the nation's top Chicano and Latino authors on the Mexican American Studies reading list. Rodriguez' column about this week's school board decision, posted at Censored News, is titled: "Tucson school officials caught on tape 'urinating' on Mexican students."http://drcintli.blogspot.com/

Rodriguez responded to Narco New about the ban on Sunday.

"The attacks in Arizona are mind-boggling. To ban the teaching of a discipline is draconian in and of itself. However, there is also now a banned books list that accompanies the ban. I believe 2 of my books are on the list, which includes: Justice: A Question of Race and The X in La Raza. Two others may also be on the list," Rodriguez said.

"That in itself is jarring, but we need to remember the proper context. This is not simply a book-banning; according to Tom Horne, the former state scools' superintendent who designed HB 2281, this is part of a civilizational war. He determined that Mexican American Studies is not based on Greco-Roman knowledge and thus, lies outside of Western Civilization.

"In a sense, he is correct. The philosophical foundation for MAS is a maiz-based philosophy that is both, thousands of years old and Indigenous to this continent. What has just happened is akin to an Auto de Fe -- akin to the 1562 book-burning of Maya books in 1562 at Mani, Yucatan. At TUSD, the list of banned books will total perhaps 50 books, including artwork and posters.

"For us here in Tucson, this is not over. If anything, the banning of books will let the world know precisely what kind of mindset is operating here; in that previous era, this would be referred to as a reduccion (cultural genocide) of all things Indigenous. In this era, it can too also be seen as a reduccion."

The reading list includes world acclaimed Chicano and Latino authors, along with Native American authors. The list includes books by Corky Gonzales, along with Sandra Cisneros’ “The House on Mango Street;” Jimmy Santiago Baca’s “Black Mesa Poems,“ and L.A. Urreas’ “The Devil’s Highway.“ The authors include Henry David Thoreau and the popular book “Like Water for Chocolate.”

On the reading list are Native American author Sherman Alexie's books, “Ten Little Indians,“ and “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven.“ O’odham poet and professor Ofelia Zepeda’s “Ocean Power, Poems from the Desert” is also on the list.
DA Morales writes in Three Sonorans, at Tucson Citizen, about the role of state schools chief John Huppenthal. "Big Brother Huppenthal has taken his TEA Party vows to take back Arizona… take it back a few centuries with official book bans that include Shakespeare!"

http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/2012/01/13/did-you-know-even-shakespeare-got-banned-from-tusd-with-mas-ruling/

Updates at www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com

brendanorrell@gmail.com

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2012/01/tucson-schools-bans-books-chicano-and-native-american-authors

Arizona School Officials Caught on Tape “Urinating” on Mexican Students

Arizona School Officials Caught on Tape “Urinating” on Mexican Students
By Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez

Fresh from the international furor in which four U.S. Marines are seen urinating on 3 Taliban corpses, another videotaped desecration of equal insult has just surfaced on the other end of the globe in Tucson, Arizona.

In this second videotape, Tucson School officials are clearly seen [metaphorically] urinating on Mexican students near the end of a contentious school board meeting on Jan. 10, 2012, right before the board voted 4-1 to immediately suspend the highly successful Mexican American Studies program. The classes, in effect, have already been cancelled as students have been turned away from their classrooms. This has already triggered walkouts in the district, one of a series of actions to come.

It was evident that board members ignored the audience as the anti-MAS resolution had already been typed, along with prepared anti-MAS speeches.

Unlike the top brass of the U.S. Marine Corps, who recognize the urination to be an insult to Muslims everywhere, Arizona officials, rather than apologize, have resorted to denial, this despite the unmistakable footage of TUSD school officials clearly and grossly demeaning the audience.

Ironically, as the students and community protested these dehumanizing acts, TUSD officials are clearly seen and heard, imploring them to be quiet and to be civil, this as they prepared to take Arizona back again into the 19th century. In effect, with that one vote, the board violated virtually every international human rights treaty and convention that were ratified after the horrors of World War II, designed precisely to prevent the physical and cultural genocide of peoples, and to guarantee their full human rights and humanity.

As the audience implored, everyone of those treaties protects the rights of all peoples to culture, history, identity, language and education. In that one vote, the board violated the:

1948: UN Declaration of Human Rights
1948: American Declaration of the Rights of Man
1960: Convention against Discrimination in Education
1966 & 1976: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
1969 American Convention on Human Rights (Organization of American States)
1989: The UN Convention on Rights of the Child
1990: The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families
1994: The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
2007: UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples

Aside from state and federal lawsuits, etc, it can be expected that several cases will come before the UN/OAS, as early as this year. In fact, UN special rapporteurs have already issued a report in 2010 that found both Arizona’s notorious racial profiling SB 1070 and the Anti-Ethnic Studies HB 2281 as most likely being in violation of a series (the above) of international human rights laws.

The elimination of the MAS-TUSD program came on the heels of a modern-day witch hunt and Inquisition, orchestrated initially by former Arizona schools’ superintendent, Tom Horne, and his successor, John Huppenthal. Their actions go beyond urinating on this community.

What Horne’s efforts have actually accomplished is the unleashing of unprecedented hate against Arizona’s Mexican-Mexican American community, culminating with Governor Jan Brewer’s signature of HB 2281. Shortly thereafter, Horne found MAS-TUSD out of compliance (incredible circular logic). Before the law went into effect, Huppenthal, who campaigned to “stop La Raza,” commissioned an independent study that actually praised MAS-TUSD and recommended its expansion. Despite this, Huppenthal ruled MAS-TUSD out of compliance. After TUSD waged a losing half-hearted appeal, Huppenthal again ruled TUSD out of compliance, resulting in the losing of $15 million. Fearing the loss of those millions, TUSD caved in.

Ironically, as noted by one of the youth organizers, the state succeeded by employing a tactic of war against the Mexican American community: economic sanctions – a tactic reserved for enemies of the state.

For peoples who have sacrificed their lives in every war this nation has waged, winning an inordinate amount of medals for bravery and courage, the death knell to the MAS program was worse than urinating on dead corpses. For a state and local [apartheid] school board to treat such a community with such contempt is below insulting.

It is instructive that a U.S. Marine official noted on CNN that “that the desecration of a body by U.S. troops could be considered a potential war crime.”

But in Arizona, those that preach racial and cultural superiority, desecrating, demeaning and dehumanizing live human beings – an entire culture and people – is not a crime, but something perfectly permissible.

More irony. Both the state and TUSD actually believe that Mexican-Mexican American culture is perfectly fine, as long as it is kept and taught inside the home. Supporters of MAS have indicated that MAS will not be remanded to the home; it will henceforth continue to be taught in public.

• The videotape re the anti-MAS action can be found at: http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/

THE UN DEFINITION OF HUMAN RIGHTS:

“Human rights are inherent; we are simply born with them and they belong to each of us as a result of our common humanity. Human rights are not owned by select people or given as a gift. They are inalienable; individuals cannot give them up and they cannot be taken away — even if governments do not recognize or protect them. They are universal; they are held by all people, everywhere – regardless of age, sex, race, religion, nationality, income level or any other status or condition in life. Human rights belong to each and every one of us equally.”

Rodriguez, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona, can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com

La guerra del apartheid de Arizona contra los Estudios México-Americanos

Roberto Rodriguez
Traducido del inglés para Rebelión por Germán Leyens
http://www.rebelion.org/noticia.php?id=142543


Cuando llegó día séptimo, Dios escribió el HB 2281 [proyecto de ley, N. del T.] y descansó.

Así ven los arizonianos conservadores esa medida claramente inconstitucional e inmoral contra el departamento de Estudios Étnicos.

Los oponentes al departamento de Estudios México-Americanos (MAS por sus siglas en inglés) de Tucson –que actúan como si esa medida estatal también estuviera inscrita en las tablas que Dios entregó a Moisés– utilizan esa lógica circular. Un juez del contencioso administrativo, Lewis D. Kowal, también intervino la semana pasada respecto al asediado departamento de MAS, con un fallo de 37 páginas con la misma lógica torcida. Opinó que MAS-TUSD [Distrito Escolar Unificado de Tucson, N. del T.] no cumple las normas y que el HB 2281 es legal porque no se ha declarado anticonstitucional. Confirmó que el fallo puede costar a TUSD un 10% de su presupuesto mensual estatal, totalizando hasta 15 millones de dólares por año. Es verdad que el HB 2281 no se ha declarado inconstitucional... solo porque la medida todavía no se ha implementado realmente y el litigio federal Acosta 2010 todavía no ha llegado a la etapa procesal. No solo eso, el proceso legal, como ha sido establecido por la medida estatal, todavía no se ha agotado legalmente. Dentro de unos días, se espera que el superintendente de las escuelas estatales, John Huppenthal, quien hizo campaña con la promesa de “detener la raza”, confirme el dictamen no vinculante de Kowal. TUSD puede ahora pedir a la Corte Superior que rechace el dictamen de Kowal, aunque el superintendente del TUSD, John Pedicone, ya ha indicado que quiere que el distrito cumpla el dictamen.

En el papel, los detractores de MAS-TUSD se oponen al departamento porque viola el HB 2281, sin conocer, por lo que parece, que el único motivo por el cual existe esta medida del Estado es porque el antiguo superintendente de las escuelas del Estado, Tom Horne, la amañó para asegurarse de que se considerara que el departamento no cumple las normas y el único remedio fuera eliminarlo. Horne, a propósito, ha afirmado desde hace tiempo que su esfuerzo por eliminar MAS-TUSD fue inspirado por el discurso “Tengo un Sueño” de Martin Luther King en 1963.

Bernard Lafayette Jr., un colega de Martin Luther King Jr. [MLK], y viajero por la libertad, junto con prácticamente toda la comunidad de derechos civiles de toda la nación, se permite discrepar de Horne. Irónicamente, junto con la ley de Arizona SB 1070 de uso de perfil racial, su animosidad contra MAS es lo que ha desencadenado una cantidad de odio sin precedente contra los mexicanos y mexicano-estadounidenses en este Estado, una pista que indica que Horne no tiene derecho a invocar el nombre de MLK por ningún motivo.

Hay solo cuatro cosas que han bloqueado el camino de Horne: la verdad, los hechos, el Informe Cambiun independiente, solicitado por su sucesor, John Huppenthal, y la Constitución de EE.UU.

Desde luego, tampoco nada de esto ha detenido a Huppenthal; a pesar del informe independiente Cadmium de 100.000 dólares que estableció que los MAS-TUSD están conformes al HB 2281, y que recomienda que se expandan, se las ha arreglado para decidir que el departamento no cumple las normas. La decisión de Huppenthal provocó una [débil] apelación del TUSD ante el juez Koval. En unos días, claro está, se espera que Huppenthal confirme su propia decisión.

Incluso si Huppenthal confirma su propia decisión, los tribunales todavía tienen que intervenir en el asunto. Calificar de ley el HB 2281 es prematuro. El motivo por el cual Horne, ahora fiscal general del Estado, inició esa medida es que siempre ha afirmado que el fundamento filosófico de MAS-TUSD está fuera de la civilización occidental. En efecto, Horne tiene razón; MAS no se basa en la cultura greco-romana, sino en una filosofía basada en el maíz, que tiene muchos miles de años y es indígena en este continente. Pero Horne, junto a otros oponentes, también afirma que los MAS no son estadounidenses. La medida estatal implica que los MAS-TUSD: promueven el derrocamiento del gobierno de EE.UU.; promueven el resentimiento racial, se han diseñado primordialmente para un grupo (mexicanos-estadounidenses), y propugnan la solidaridad étnica, en lugar de tratar a la gente como individuos (Esta última provisión es un intento aparente de codificar el individualismo, mientras intenta destruir la cultura, que siempre ha sido colectiva).

El departamento fue absuelto de todas estas acusaciones por Cambium. Insatisfecho con el informe, Huppenthal procedió a desecharlo, afirmando, sobre la base de su propia “investigación”, que MAS-TUSD violan tres de las cuatro provisiones, excluyendo la acusación de que promueve el derrocamiento del gobierno de EE.UU. Al confirmar la decisión de junio de Huppenthal, Kowal, experto en la ley de alcoholes, se basó en la testigo principal la doctora Sandra Stotsky. Esta "especialista", que reconocidamente no es experta en Estudios Étnicos ni Mexicanos-Americanos, en realidad no presenció nada; nunca se presentó en una sala de clases, nunca habló con algún maestro o estudiante de MAS. Es lo contrario de Cambium. Sin embargo en el dictamen de Kowal se minimizan los resultados de la auditoría de Cambium mientras se prefiere la evaluación de Stotsky. Esto apunta a lo que se ha provocado posteriormente: un torrente de personas que parecen confundir la idea de que la oposición a MAS les confiere de alguna manera un estatus de expertos.

Las audiencias a las que asistí se parecieron en mucho a una Inquisición sobre lo que es enseñanza, aprendizaje y pensamiento aceptable y permisible. Fue el epítome de intentos de control del pensamiento dentro de un contexto cultural. La suposición es que porque Estudios Mexicanos-Americanos es crítico, contestatario y opositor – en su búsqueda de enseñar la verdad (Panche Be)– por ello es no-estadounidense. Palabras como Raza o Chicano, refundidas con militancia por Horne, Huppenthal y Kowal, se consideran evidencias de de esa suposición. Incluso el favorable informe Cambium recomendó que el término Raza se borre del currículo. En el mejor de los casos, el dictamen supone que el cuestionamiento de la opresión y de la supremacía racial y la defensa del indigenismo, hace que los MAS sean “racistas”, anti-estadounidenses y que crean resentimiento. Casi indiscutiblemente, lo que generan los MAS es realmente un deseo de paz, dignidad, igualdad y justicia.

Es posible que TUSD haya presentado en su apelación una defensa menos que brillante, como representantes de un distrito que es más de un 60% mexicano-estadounidense (se acerca a un 80% en la enseñanza elemental). Sus abogados no cuestionaron agresivamente a los dos miembros del consejo escolar del TUSD, Mark Stegeman y Michael Hicks, quienes nunca han ocultado su desdén por el departamento. No cuestionaron agresivamente a nadie. Peor todavía, podrían haber convertido el informe Cambium en el centro de su apelación, pero no lo hicieron. Ni uno solo de las docenas de académicos universitarios de Arizona que enseñan Estudios Étnicos, o que han estado dentro de clases de MAS-TUSD, fue llamado a testificar. Nadie de la Asociación Nacional de Académicos Chicanos o de la Asociación Nacional de Académicos Étnicos fue llamado a testificar, a pesar de que ambas organizaciones han confirmado su apoyo a MAS-TUSD. Es el mismo distrito, dirigido por el superintendente Pedicone, el que ha tratado con desdén a los partidarios de los MAS, militarizando efectivamente sus reuniones del consejo escolar, haciendo que mayores y estudiantes sean arrestados e incluso golpeados (26 de abril y 3 de mayo de 2011), mientras proclamaban su apoyo al programa de los MAS.

En efecto, Kowal, Huppenthal, el Estado e incluso el TUSD contemplan que se permita la enseñanza de unos MAS castrados, mediante lentes microscópicos antisépticos, como un fenómeno del pasado, y no sacar jamás a la luz leyes injustas y tratamiento desigual en la actualidad. Si el Estado emerge victorioso, es concebible que la enseñanza del HB 2281 y del papel de los estudiantes de los MAS en la defensa de su propio programa también se prohiban.

El juez Kowal eligió cuidadosamente pasajes de libros, artículos (incluyendo los míos) e incluso letras de canciones e ilustraciones y afiches, para “probar” que los MAS no cumplen las normas. Lo único que logró probar el juez es que los mexicanos-estadounidenses no han aceptado sentados el robo de tierras, linchamientos, brutalidad, segregación, leyes discriminatorias, desigualdades, educación inferior, deportaciones masivas y la deshumanización. También logró inferir que los valores basados en el maíz, como In Lack Ech (Eres mi otro ser) y Panche Be (Buscar la raíz de la verdad) son no-estadounidenses.

A decir verdad, el departamento no debería estar de acuerdo con las normas de una ley claramente inmoral e inconstitucional, cuyo objetivo primordial parece ser un retorno a las políticas de asimilación forzosa de los años cincuenta. Durante la era colonial, se habría considerado una reducción, un intento de obliterar la historia, el conocimiento, la cultura y la memoria de los pueblos indígenas. Quinientos años más tarde el HB 2281 parece ser un intento de implementar la reducción final.

Sin embargo, 500 años después, el derecho internacional está realmente de parte de los MAS: virtualmente cada tratado, carta y convención de derechos humanos protege la cultura, la historia, identidad, lenguaje y educación de todos los pueblos. Esas cartas de los derechos humanos existen para impedir el genocidio cultural. Este ataque contra los MAS es en realidad un ataque contra toda educación, no solo los Estudios Étnicos. La noción de censura y de prohibición de la enseñanza de ciertas materias –convirtiendo lo que se puede enseñar en un queso suizo– es la antítesis del propio precepto de educación.

Irónicamente, el movimiento contra los MAS tiene un efecto opuesto no intencional; está “re-indigenizando” a las comunidades mexicano-estadounidenses y latinas en todo el país. La gente que antes menospreciaba todo lo que era indio, o que lo veía como parte del pasado, ahora comienza a comprender que el motivo por el cual se oponen ferozmente a los MAS es precisamente por las raíces indígenas de los pueblos y sus culturas.

En Arizona, se podría considerar que este esfuerzo por eliminar los MAS, junto con la ley anti-inmigrantes SB 1070, constituyen una forma de Remoción de los Indios, un esfuerzo para exterminar, capturar o poseer la mente, el cuerpo y el espíritu [de los mexicanos]. La remoción de 2012 se traduce en encarcelamientos y deportaciones masivas a través de medidas de perfil racial y prácticas discriminatorias. Y para los que no pueden ser deportados o encarcelados, esto se traduce en des-indigenización, des-mexicanización y asimilación forzosa. El Sueño Estadounidense.

Aunque el TUSD tiene la opción de apelar contra la decisión Kowal/Huppenthal ante el tribunal estatal, no existe seguridad de que lo haga (es posible que otras partes puedan apelar en el tribunal estatal). Tal como Horne diseñó la medida, el TUSD, con otro giro a la derecha tras la adición de otro miembro conservador del consejo escolar, puede no estar dispuesto a arriesgar 15 millones de dólares para salvar un departamento que apenas apoya. Su diseño tiene solo un objetivo: eliminar los MAS.

Después de que los recursos legales se han agotado al nivel estatal, todavía queda el asunto del litigio federal Acosta: se planifica que el noveno juez de segunda instancia de EE.UU., A. Wallace Tashima, estatuya primero sobre un interdicto temporal y otros asuntos de procedimiento, y luego examine la constitucionalidad de la medida.

Lo que actualmente es un obstáculo para la implementación del HB 2281 y MAS-TUSD es el grupo estudiantil UNIDOS, Justicia Social, y estudiantes de MECha [Movimiento Estudiantil Chican@ de Aztlán, N. del T.], junto con los miles de partidarios, jóvenes y mayores, que se han enfrentado a arrestos, al uso innecesario de fuerza y amenazas de muerte, afirmando que nunca aceptarán el HB 2281 como ley. Tienen plena conciencia de que el esfuerzo para desmantelar el departamento, por lo que parecen ser fuerzas del apartheid, incluido el consejo escolar TUSD, se debe, no a que esté fracasando, sino a todo lo contrario: elimina el problema de la deserción escolar. Es muy exitoso, gradúa prácticamente al 100% de sus estudiantes y envía a más de un 70% a las universidades.

Aparentemente, eso constituye un problema y una amenaza.

* El dictamen de Kowal de 37 páginas se encuentra en: http://www.scribd.com/doc/76617576/ALJ-ruling-against-Ethnic-Studies-in-TUSD#fuente:facebook

Hupenthal, encargado de la educacion del estado de Arizona


* NOTA FINAL: Huppenthal acepto la decision de Kowal la semana pasada. Ahora se espera la decision de TUSD; el distrito puede aceptar la decision o apelarla.

Roberto Rodriguez, es profesor de la Universidad de Arizona y miembro del Consejo Asesor Comunitario de Estudios México-Americanos. Contacto: XColumn@gmail.com

Tucson’s Maiz-Based Curriculum: MAS-TUSD Profundo

Tucson’s Maiz-Based Curriculum: MAS-TUSD Profundo

By: Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodríguez

1. At a time of sky-high dropout rates nationwide, the Mexican American Studies (MAS-TUSD) K-12 program in Tucson Unified School District is a highly successful department that graduates nearly 95% of its students and sends more than 70% of them to college.1 MAS-TUSD students also score higher on state-mandated standardized tests in English, History and Math.2 By all rights, the nation’s premiere Mexican American Studies K-12 program should be exported nationwide; instead, it is embattled and on an inexplicable path to eventual extermination. The conflict over Tucson’s Mexican American Studies has been a six-year-long struggle, including several courtroom battles, and continues with no end in sight. Despite its phenomenal success, the MAS-TUSD curriculum has raised the ire of the state of Arizona because, according to the former State Schools’ Superintendent Tom Horne, the intellectual author of the anti-ethnic studies measure HB 2281, it purportedly teaches hate and separatism and advocates the violent overthrow of the U.S. government. The objective of this essay is thus to examine the MAS-TUSD curriculum, a curriculum that Horne as well as Governor Jan Brewer and current Superintendent John Huppenthal have actively disparaged for the past several years, and one that is generally unknown to the public because the media deals primarily in sound bites. As a result, few people other than TUSD educators are familiar with its contents beyond the caricature, an effect I hope to correct in this essay.

For rest of NAKUM journal article, go to: http://indigenouscultures.org/tucsons-maiz-based-curriculum-mas-tusd-profundo

And on the 7th Day…
Arizona’s Apartheid War Against Mexican American Studies
Special length column
Column of the Americas
By Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez

Early on the morning of the 7th day, God wrote HB 2281; then he rested.

That’s the way conservative Arizonans view this clearly unconstitutional and immoral anti-Ethnic Studies measure.

The opponents of Tucson’s Mexican American Studies (MAS) department – who act as though this state measure was also inscribed on the original tablets God handed to Moses – use this circular logic. An administrative law judge, Lewis D. Kowal, also weighed in on the embattled MAS department, with a 37-page finding last week with the same twisted logic. He opined that MAS-TUSD is out of compliance and that HB 2281 is legal because it has not been ruled unconstitutional. If affirmed, the finding can cost TUSD 10 percent of its monthly state budget, totaling up to $15 million per year. That HB 2281 has not been found to be unconstitutional is true... only because the measure has yet to be actually implemented and the 2010 Acosta federal lawsuit has not yet reached the trial stage. Not only that, the legal process, as established by the state measure, has not yet fully played out. Within a few days, state schools’ superintendent John Huppenthal, who campaigned with the vow to “stop La Raza,” is expected to affirm Kowal’s non-binding ruling. TUSD can now petition the Superior Court to reject Kowal’s finding, though TUSD superintendent, John Pedicone, has already indicated he wants the district to comply with the ruling.

On paper, MAS-TUSD detractors oppose the department because it violates HB 2281, seemingly not cognizant that the only reason this state measure exists is because the former state schools’ superintendent, Tom Horne, crafted it to ensure that the department would be deemed out of compliance, with the only remedy being elimination. Horne incidentally, has long-claimed that his effort to eliminate MAS-TUSD was inspired by Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 “I have a Dream” speech. Bernard Lafayette Jr., a colleague of MLK Jr. and a freedom rider, along with virtually the entire civil rights community nationwide, begs to differ with Horne. Ironically, along with the racial profiling SB 1070, his animus toward MAS is what has unleashed an unprecedented amount of hate toward Mexicans and Mexican Americans in this state, a clue that Horne has no business invoking MLK’s name for any reason.

Only four things have stood in Horne’s way: the truth, the facts, the independent Cambium Report, which was commissioned by his successor, John Huppenthal, and the U.S. Constitution.

Of course, none of that has stopped Huppenthal either; despite the independent $110,000 Cambium report finding MAS-TUSD in compliance with HB 2281, and recommending that it be expanded, he still managed to rule that the department was out-of-compliance. Huppenthal’s ruling triggered an [weak] appeal by TUSD before judge Kowal. Within days, Huppenthal of course is expected to affirm his own decision.

Even though Huppenthal will affirm his own decision, the courts have yet to actually weigh in on the matter. To call HB 2281 a law is premature. The reason Horne, who is now state attorney general, initiated this measure is that he has always claimed that the philosophical foundation for MAS-TUSD is outside of Western Civilization. In effect, Horne is correct; MAS is founded not upon Greco-Roman culture, but upon a maiz-based philosophy, which is many thousands of years old and Indigenous to this continent. Yet, Horne, along with other opponents, also claim that MAS is un-American. The state measure implies that MAS-TUSD: promotes the overthrow of the U.S. government; that it promotes racial resentment, that it is designed primarily for one group (Mexican Americans), and that it advocates ethnic solidarity, instead of treating people as individuals (This last provision is a seeming attempt to codify individualism, while attempting to destroy culture, which has always been collective).

The department was cleared of all these charges by Cambium. Not satisfied with the report, Huppenthal then overruled it, claiming, on the basis of his own “investigation,” that MAS-TUSD was in violation of three of the four provisions, excluding the charge that it promotes the overthrow of the U.S. government. In affirming Huppenthal’s June decision, Kowal, an expert in liquor law, relied on the state’s principal star witness, Dr. Sandra Stotsky. This hired gun, who admittedly is not an expert in either Ethnic or Mexican American Studies, actually witnessed nothing; she never set foot in any classroom, never spoke to one MAS teacher or student. This is the opposite of Cambium. Yet in Kowal’s ruling, the results of the Cambium audit are diminished, while favoring Stotsky’s assessment. This points to what has been further unleashed; a torrent of people who seem to confuse the idea that opposing MAS somehow confers expert status upon them.

The hearings, which I attended, very much resembled an Inquisition into what is acceptable and permissible teaching, learning and thinking. It was the epitome of attempts at thought control within a cultural context. The supposition is that because Mexican American Studies is critical, contestational and oppositional – in its quest to teach the truth (Panche Be) – that it is therefore un-American. Words such as Raza or Chicano, conflated with militancy by Horne, Huppenthal and Kowal, are viewed as evidence of that assumption. Even the favorable Cambium report recommended that the term Raza be stricken from the curriculum. At best, the ruling assumes that challenging oppression and racial supremacy and asserting Indigeneity, makes MAS “racist,” anti-American and breeds resentment. Arguably, what MAS actually breeds is a desire for peace, dignity, equality and justice.

In its appeal, TUSD arguably put up a less-than-stellar defense, this as representatives of a district that is upwards of 60 percent Mexican American (approaching 80 per cent in the elementary grades). Their lawyers did not aggressively question the two TUSD school board members, Mark Stegeman and Michael Hicks, who have never hidden their disdain for the department. They did not aggressively question anyone. Worse, they could have made the Cambium report the centerpiece of their appeal, but they did not. Of the many dozens of Arizona university scholars who teach Ethnic Studies, or who have been inside MAS-TUSD classes, none were called to testify. No one from the National Association of Chicana/Chicano Scholars or the National Association of Ethnic Scholars were called to testify, even though both organizations have affirmed their support for MAS-TUSD. This is the same district, led by Superintendent Pedicone, that has treated MAS supporters with contempt, actually militarizing its school board meetings, having elders and students arrested and even beaten (April 26 and May 3, 2011), this while proclaiming support for the MAS program.

In effect, Kowal, Huppenthal, the state and even TUSD envision permitting the teaching of a neutered MAS, through antiseptic microscopic lenses, as a phenomenon of the past, and not ever bringing to light unjust laws and unequal treatment today. If the state emerges victorious, the teaching of HB 2281and the role of MAS students in defending their own program, will conceivably also be prohibited.

Judge Kowal cherry picked passages from books, articles (including my own) and even lyrics and artwork and posters, to “prove” that MAS is out of compliance. The only thing the judge managed to prove is that Mexican Americans have not accepted land theft, lynchings, brutality, segregation, discriminatory laws, inequality, inferior education, mass deportations and dehumanization sitting down. He also managed to infer that maiz-based values such as In Lak Ech (You are my other self) and Panche Be (To seek the root of the truth) are un-American.

Truthfully, the department shouldn’t have to be in compliance with a clearly immoral and unconstitutional law, whose primary aim seems to be a return to the 1950s policies of forced assimilation. During the colonial era, it would have been referred to as a reduccion – an attempt to obliterate peoples’ Indigenous history, knowledge, culture and memory. Five hundred years later and HB 2281 appears to be an attempt at implementing the final reduccion.

Yet 500 years later, international law is actually now on the side of MAS: virtually every human rights treaty, charter and convention protects the culture, history, identity, language and education of all peoples. These human rights charters exist to prevent cultural genocide. This attack against MAS is actually an attack on all education, not just Ethnic Studies. The notion of censoring and banning the teaching of certain materials – making Swiss cheese out of what can be taught – is antithetical to the very precept of education.

Ironically, the movement against MAS is having an unintended opposite effect; it is “re-Indigenizing” the Mexican American and Latino/Latina communities nationwide. People who formerly sneered at things Indian, or who viewed them as part of the past, are now coming to understand that the reason MAS is fiercely opposed is precisely because of the Indigenous roots of the peoples and their cultures.

In Arizona, one could deem this effort to eliminate MAS, along with the anti-immigrant SB 1070, as a form of Indian Removal – an effort to exterminate or capture or possess the mind, body and spirit [of Mexicans]. Removal in 2012 translates into mass incarceration and mass deportations via racial profiling measures and discriminatory practices. And for those that can’t be deported or incarcerated, this translates into de-Indigenization, de-Mexicanization and forced assimilation. The American Dream.

While TUSD has the option to appeal the Kowal/Huppenthal decision in state court, there is no assurance that it will do so (it is possible that other parties may do the appealing in state court). As Horne designed the measure, TUSD, with another turn to the right with the addition of another conservative school board member, may not be willing to risk $15 million to save a department that it barely supports. His design had but one goal: to eliminate MAS.

After the legal recourses have been exhausted at the state level, there is still the matter of the Acosta federal lawsuit; U.S. 9th Circuit Judge, A. Wallace Tashima, is scheduled to first rule on a temporary injunction and other procedural matters, then examine the constitutionality of the measure.

What actually stands in the way of implementation of HB 2281 and MAS-TUSD is the student group UNIDOS, Social Justice and MEChA students, along with the thousands of supporters, youths and elders who have braved arrests, the unnecessary use of force and death threats, affirming that they will never accept HB 2281 as a law. Not lost on them is the knowledge that the effort to dismantle the department, by what appears to be apartheid forces, including the TUSD school board, is due, not because it is failing, but the exact opposite; it eliminates the dropout problem. It is highly successful, graduating virtually 100 percent of its students and sending more than 70 percent to college.

Apparently, that’s both a problem and a threat.

* The 37-page Kowal ruling can be found at: http://www.scribd.com/doc/76617576/ALJ-ruling-against-Ethnic-Studies-in-TUSD#source:facebook

Rodriguez, an assistant professor at the University of Arizona, and a member of the MAS-TUSD community advisory board, can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com. The column is also posted at: http://drcintli.blogspot.com/