Has Wisconsin finally come to Arizona?
In an extraordinary uprising at the Tucson Unified School District board meeting last night, Ethnic Studies/Mexican American Studies (MAS) students chained themselves to the board members chairs and derailed the introduction of a controversial resolution that would have terminated their acclaimed program's core curriculum accreditation.
"Just like the people of Wisconsin took a stand and said 'enough is enough', the youth of Tucson are standing up and letting it be known that they are fed up with these attacks on their education and on their future," said Sal Baldenegro, Jr., a TUSD Ethnic Studies alum and member of the Southern Arizona Unity Coalition. "They have been under relentless assault by Tom Horne, John Huppenthal, and by the Arizona State Legislature, and they have had enough."
Popular Tucson blogger and activist David Abie Morales called it a "field trip for civics and democracy in action."
"Nobody was listening to us, especially the board," said MAS high school student and UNIDOS activist Lisette Cota. "We were fed up. It may have been drastic but the only way was to chain ourselves to the boards' chairs."
While hundreds of supporters packed the district meeting room in a celebratory fashion, nine MAS students and UNIDOS activists defied security officers and literally took over the board members' places minutes before the meeting was scheduled to begin.
"I'm very moved by their passion and commitment to maintain these courses and curriculum," said MAS teacher Sally Rusk. "They're brilliant. This is not a one-time event. It looks like they're not going to stop until they have an impact on this decision."
TUSD Superintendent John Pedicone canceled the board meeting, but students have vowed to return to the district office until TUSD board president Mark Stegemen withdraws his proposed resolution, which has brought stark divisions in the community.
Over the past two years, the Ethnic Studies Program in Tucson has been subjected to a controversial and costly witch hunt by Attorney General Tom Horne.
"We'll keep coming back, with twice as many people next time, each time," added Cota. "We're not going to let this happen. We're going to make it impossible for them to vote."
Through the evening, the students and their community supporters chanted: "Our education is under attack, what do we do? Fight back!"
"As Arizonans, we absolutely must stand behind our youth and say 'enough is enough' with these attacks on their education. There has never been a more critical time to stand behind our children as they fight for their rights and for their futures," Baldenegro, Jr. said.
Tucson resident and education activist Mohur Sidhwa, who attended the meeting, added: "A wonderful show of civic engagement on the part of the students. It gives me hope for the next generation."
Photos courtesy of Javier Gonzalez
Morales edited this video of the evening's action.
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"Mexico, a country, I should note, which treated their parents so badly they came here to the US for a better life!"
You forget that the history they're teaching is of a people that was already living in this region before the US won the West: ie, they didn't cross the border, the border crossed them.
There's no doubt that the literature, politics & history of the region is strife with what we today would consider contoversial excerpts, statements and actions. What you're saying is because the past was controversial we shouldn't study it today. If that's the case, then we shouldn't teach the doctrine of Manifest Destiny as a subject of American History.
You also imply that these academic classes walk a fine line close to "trying to instill a hatred of America". I'm sorry to be so blunt, but that's a lie. The AZ state legislators trying to shut the program down have also made that same accustion and have even launched an investigation (a very costly one at that) into the very same matter; they haven't posted any proof to date.
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1 hour ago (7:42 PM) “Funny how as long as white people take up 95% of the paper in a history book and are always depicted as the movers and decisionmaÂkers its not ethnocentrÂÂic - its just "the truth" of individualÂÂs acting across the timespan...
Why should we change history? Juan Adams, Jorge Washington, Carlos Jefferson, Benito Franklin and Jesus Hancock were just not present at the formation of the wonderful country.
State reps need to take heed; they are proving the history of discrimination that these students are learning about is not a thing of the past.
Discrimination against Mexican Americans by whites is still alive and well in Az.
Yet all at once when kids want to know the history of how their families who were segregated and excluded economically, physically and politically, all it once it is not about U.S history, it is about a group. The truth is they will learn more about true U.S history in an ethnic studies class than any other kind of history class. They will learn the U.S is a racist country and that the activism of their people has been crucial in trying to help America live up to its own promise of equality
Keep up the fight, people! Never mind the haters. Their days are coming to an end.
A "field trip for civics and democracy in action." Really? Democracy is the ballot box, when this kind of thugrocracy begins democracy ends.
Since this is mainly a financial issue why not take some of the billions sent to Mexico each year and put it into the kitty to pay for it?
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These kids can't even make a proper comparison. Perhaps, they should be in school, instead.
Mai 1968
I have no problem with protest--I think it's very healthy-- but I bet it was the ethnic studies teachers who told the kids to chain themselves to board members' chairs--so they can keep their jobs.
Can't read, write or learn the basics of mathematics....
But we know ethnic studies...
Is that how we are going to prepare our youth for the future, and competition from other countries with more effective education systems?
I think the good ole boys are scared that these future leaders of Arizona are going to change the face of Arizona for the better. The Arpaios and the Hornes need to be put out to pasture.