by Roberto Dr. Cintli Rodriguez
TRUTHOUT
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/13387-5000-signatures-in-support-of-raza-studies
Monday, 17 December 2012 11:00 By Roberto Cintli Rodriguez, Dr. Cintli's Blog | Op-Ed
In the battle over Mexican American Studies in Tucson, there
are three things people need to know; 1) we have already won (due to the
desegregation case), though we will continue to battle on to ensure
that TUSD does not misinterpret or dilute our victory; 2) TUSD is a very
distrustful institution; 3) so is the state, particularly as
represented by former and current state schools’ superintendents, Tom
Horne and John Huppenthal.
Horne is the current state attorney general and the intellectual
author of the anti-ethnic studies HB 2281. He also just happens to be
under several ethical grey clouds, this while continuing to
be a thorn in the side of Raza Studies.
Many people are aware of that epic struggle to defend Ethnic/Raza
Studies from 2006-2012. The current desegregation plan submitted by the
court-appointed special master calls for both the expansion of Mexican
American and African American culturally relevant courses, and it also
calls for dual language bilingual education (as opposed to the current
model which segregates students wrote to 4 hours per day). Not
unexpectedly, TUSD is in opposition to this development. Fortunately, as
of this past election, MAS now enjoys the support of the majority of
the board, 3-2. However our community, especially MAS, does not enjoy
the support of the current TUSD superintendent: John Pedicone. Also,
because the district has a long history of noncompliance, our community
will remain vigilant (It also has a long history of hostility towards
our community).
One of the unseen battles during this same time has been the right wing
attack against Raza Studies at the University level (Huppenthal ran for
his position on a promise to destroy Raza Studies at the University
level also).
The intent of this unseen struggle has been to drive a wedge
between youths and adults, between students and teachers, between
students and parents and students and professors and between K-12 TUSD
Raza Studies and UA-Raza Studies.
In this campaign, the right wing has been applying intense pressure
for several years with the intent of ensuring that UA Raza Studies and
its professors are not engaged in the battle to defend TUSD Raza
Studies, this while permitting other UA professors to participate in its
destruction.
This attack against UA Raza Studies has been waged via a stealth
campaign, and yet, it has also been waged in public by both right wing
groups and some of the TUSD school board members (two of whom are UA
professors, as is/was the TUSD school superintendent. One of the
recently ousted anti-MAS board members was/is a UA student). The
outrageous lies against the department and its professors resulted in an
apology by one school board member (Michael Hicks) who had been
involved in spreading malicious innuendo. But that didn’t and hasn’t
stopped the right wing campaign to silence UA Raza Studies.
While these attacks have in the past been generally directed at
individual professors (resulting in threats and harassment), the attacks
are now attempting to discredit the entire department. What’s important
to know is that the right wing and its most visible group are at best
fringe characters with little or no connection to Raza Studies. Yet,
despite this, they appear to both have the ear of the media and the ear
of the University.
Equally important, we should all be aware that this campaign
against Raza Studies resembles the global warming “debate.” Virtually
the entire scientific community is united in agreement that global
warming indeed is man-made. Those that disagree are primarily
non-scientists who appear to be members of the flat-earth society or
employed by big oil, etc.
In the same way, scholars from throughout the country – from all
disciplines, including Ethnic Studies – have weighed in on Arizona’s
anti-Ethnic Studies HB 2281 and TUSD’s subsequent elimination of its
Raza Studies department.
At the moment, there are some 5140 signatures (initiated by UA
professor Gary Rhoades), primarily from educators and scholars from
across the country who have intimate knowledge of Raza/Ethnic Studies
and who are in complete support of Tucson’s MAS department. Separate
from these signatures, many dozens of major national education and
national library organizations, have also weighed in, in support of MAS
and against the district’s censorship (book bannings). All of this
support is buttressed by data from TUSD, and from the 2011 Cambium, and
the 2012 Cabrera, Marx and Miles reports, all of whom demonstrate the
undeniable success of the MAS department.
Not to be outdone, the opposition counts on their side, mostly non-educator and non-scholar extremists, without the benefit of any independent studies that support their biases. Rather than thousands, their side simply counts on two handfuls of adults and a few students, most of whom do not live in the district, but who love to write vicious hate letters to the editor, attacking this highly successful program.
Without question, those extremist voices are few, though loud and most likely cajoled, with little or no connection to TUSD, MAS or the MAS discipline. Their primary function is spreading disinformation and bullying university administrators.
That is the importance of the petition; so that the world, the state and TUSD know, and that the media and university administrators come to know, that the scholarly community – comprising of scholars and educators from all disciplines, and students and parents with intimate knowledge of MAS – is virtually united in its support of the soon to be revived program.
* As of Tues morning, Dec 18, 2012 there are 5276 signatures
To see or add your name, go to:
Rodriguez can be reached at: XColumn@gmail.com - http://drcintli.blogspot.com/
