[lg policy] MALCS Protests Arizona Ban on Ethnic Studies

[Harold Schiffman]

Forwarded From:  edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu


http://mujerestalk.malcs.org


MONDAY, JANUARY 30, 2012

MALCS Protests Arizona Ban on Ethnic Studies


>>From the Executive Committee of MALCS

Last week important works of literature, history and philosophy by
world-renowned writers and scholars such as Leslie Marmon Silko,
Sherman Alexie, Ofelia Zepeda, Paulo Freire, Rodolfo Acuña, Carmen
Tafolla and others were removed from classrooms and some libraries in
the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD). The perspectives and
insights about diverse ethnic, racial and gender communities contained
in these works as well as the penetrating visions of human community
they offer contribute in Arizona, as they do elsewhere, to cultivating
in students appreciation for difference and diversity, knowledge of
wide-ranging ideas and fearlessness in engaging with the ideas of
others. The TUSD Board’s action in banning and removing these works,
in contrast, promotes fear and suspicion about select ethnic and
racial groups and fear of free and democratic discussion and debate.
Such attitudes have no place in the public school system that serves
ALL children.

The Tucson Unified School District in compliance with the State of
Arizona Revised Statutes Sections 15-111 and 15-112 (formerly House
Bill 2281 that was signed into law May 11, 2010) eliminated its
Mexican American Studies (MAS) Program, resulting in the subsequent
removal of textbooks and books on the MAS Program Reading List. Some
of the banned and removed books are allowed in other classrooms, but
not ethnic studies, making this a highly discriminatory action about
who gets to teach. Why is a Mexican American Studies teacher prevented
from teaching The Tempest but an English teacher is not? The removal
of books amounts to censorship that undermines the United States’
commitment to democracy.

While the Board argues that the new legislation was intended to
promote unity, the effect is to reject  multiculturalism and pave a
path back to Jim Crow practices of segregation and racism where the
culture and values of ethnic groups go unrecognized in public
education. Research has shown that multicultural education that
addresses the history and identity of ethnic minorities in fact closes
the achievement gap between white students and students of color.[i]

Mujeres Activas en Letras y Cambio Social (MALCS), a national
professional association of Chicanas, Latinas, Native American and
Indigenous women, calls on the Tucson Unified School District Board to
reverse the decision to ban books from Tucson schools. MALCS
encourages efforts to intervene through the use of non-violent tactics
in order to guarantee democracy and freedom of expression. We appeal
to all:

To send letters and email messages supporting Arizona State Rep. Sally
Gonzales’ HB 2654 that would repeal the ban on ethnic studies in
Arizona: Sgonzales at azleg.gov

Sign the petition on The National Black Education Agenda:
http://signon.org/sign/repeal-the-arizona-governmen

Work to pass resolutions in your associations and organizations
opposing the elimination of ethnic studies and censorship of Latin@
faculty and students in Arizona

Write to the Educational Opportunities Section of the U.S. Department
of Civil Rights requesting that they investigate Arizona state
superintendent of public instruction John Huppenthal, who has
disregarded independent consultant reports on the value of the Mexican
American Studies Program in Tucson. By e-mail to education at usdoj.gov
     By telephone at (202) 514-4092 or 1-877-292-3804 (toll-free)



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