They’ve been targeting Mexicans. Whole states have banned our books and classes in the last decade! “The banned books by mainly Chicano/Latino authors including author @Urrealism , came from a larger attack targeting the Mexican American Studies Program in TUSD...”
“This targeting of Mexican American Studies in TUSD led to the approval of the 2010 State of Arizona S.B. 2281 which outlawed classes or courses that:”
“(1) promote the overthrow of the United States government; (2) promote resentment toward a race or class of people; (3) are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group or (4) advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.”
“This law led to TUSD declaring the Mexican American Studies Program was out of compliance with the state law. By January 2012 the program was dismantled and by April 2012 the former Director @temachtiani13 was fired.“
“After a seven year legal battle the case Arce v. Douglass had a final ruling in 2017. It was found that the ban of Mexican American Studies was done with racial animus towards Mexicans and thus unconstitutional under the First and 14th amendment.”
I wrote this piece bc #AmericanDirt reminds how harmful & violent things are for our communities due to racism & discrimination so for @jeaninecummins & her publisher to allege threats of “violence” is a tired but very real stereotype they say about us as “dangerous”.
Our books and classes are dangerous (inciting violence) so they ban them? No folks not in last 100 years. The last 10!!! We go 100 years back we’re talking Mexicans schools, but I’d argue we have them with the ways our schools are still segregated. #history #edutwitter
This just happened August last year! 2019! El Paso/Gilroy! History is important to know folks when we talk about impact of the real dangerous books that are embedded with stereotypes on our gente
#targetingmexicans
cnn.com/2019/08/05/opi…
#targetingmexicans
cnn.com/2019/08/05/opi…
You can’t call it what it is if you don’t know #history @temachtiani13 stood up to the State of AZ for them banning the books and classes & telling us our knowledge is unlawful. I see folks don’t fully see how our communities are targets in history & today
xicanaphd.com/2019/08/04/you…
xicanaphd.com/2019/08/04/you…
I told my students yesterday it isn’t so much #history “repeats” itself, it continues until we alter its course. What are we going to do then? Like an elder in our community who visits sometimes asks “Are you going to watch history or make history?”
#ushistory #ethnicstudies
#ushistory #ethnicstudies
The class I’ve been teaching @temachtiani13 started after leaving AZ and I’m grateful to him for his fight for our young folks and that I do what I do, but even for us here in CA-classes and content we teach face opposition
sgvtribune.com/2018/12/14/azu…
sgvtribune.com/2018/12/14/azu…
It’s hard to forget any of this when you walk in the face of hostility often like I have and do. That’s why I turned to writing more after I started teaching. If you don’t tell your own story, someone else will. Or they won’t, but I refuse to be silent.
It took how many years to get our #ownvoices in our curriculum in our schools? Being the daughter of parents born and raised in East LA & being Chicana (Xicana) comes with a responsibilities I don’t take lightly. We are still fighting for our students.
huffpost.com/entry/opinion-…
huffpost.com/entry/opinion-…
When we know this history-that is historically and currently denied at a systemic level-we learn and understand we are part of a legacy and something larger than ourselves.
We are movement. We recognize our students can better understand themselves and their place in the world knowing this. At a basic level my hope as a mama/teacher is you want them to walk w/their heads held high or as Sal Castro (Teacher during ELA walkouts-East LA 13) said...
“...with their heads held high with dignity. It was beautiful to be a Chicano that day.”-Sal Castro 
Recovering our history/stories helps us see ourselves and how others have defined us. It always leads us to the conclusion that they don’t get to define us anymore. With this knowledge we decide. It’s our time and it’s long overdue. #ethnicstudies #education #DignidadLiteraria
This is why we work in education and will continue to push for our #ownvoices and our #owncurriculum Too much is at stake if we don’t. They’ve banned it once in the last decade, we can’t let it happen again. @temachtiani13 @ollineducation
