On Monday, Anita Fernandez reported on the first day of the 聽on the 2012 banning of the Mexican-American Studies program in Tucson, Arizona. She noted, 鈥淭he court room was packed and we have folks here from across the country.鈥� 聽The judge is charged with deciding if the state of Arizona discriminated against Latinx students by banning classes that focused on Latinx culture.
The state argues that the Mexican-American Program courses 鈥減oliticized students and made them resent white people.鈥� (, 6/27/17).
Teachers in the program note that the courses began as a way 鈥渢o try to close the wide achievement gap between the district鈥檚 Hispanic and white students.鈥� They worked on building the students鈥� self-esteem and note that those students earned higher test scores and increased their interest in school.
Take a look at the following clips from the Precious Knowledge聽film series about the Mexican-American Studies Program and the controversy around it. Start with 聽and then watch the rest of the clips on the playlist.
English teacher, Curtis Acosta, who鈥檚 speaking at the in July and is featured in the video at the top of this blog, 聽was first to testify on Monday. You can listen to him talk about the in an interview on Education talk radio earlier this month. He explained:
鈥淲e wanted our educational experiences to revolve around love of learning, love of learning from one another, love for each other鈥rom the root we were applying our own history, and the stories and speeches and poems reflected that type of action and advocacy through a socio-political lens. The students came to understand it was important to give back and be involved. 鈥� it鈥檚 an integral part of education.鈥�
Here鈥檚 what happened In 2012. The Superintendent of Public Instruction ruled that the Mexican American Studies Program 鈥渃ontained content promoting resentment toward a race or class of people,鈥� and dismantled the program according to Arizona state legislation, HB2281. This legislation made illegal any courses that: 鈥�(1) promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, (2) promote resentment toward a race or class of people, (3) are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group, and (4) advocate ethnic solidarity instead of treating pupils as individuals.鈥� 聽The state threatened to withhold millions of dollars of state funding if Tucson didn鈥檛 close down the program, so the Mexican American Studies program was closed. Read “ for more details on what happened in 2012 and WATCH the video.
the initial banning of seven books that were taught in the program. In the end, 84 books were banned, as reported by Elaine Romero, who provides 鈥�.鈥�
The Council聽supports ethnic studies programs in its