We announced in our last post that our current issue of the journal has an article by Augustine Romero, Director of Student Equity and Co-Founder of the Social Justice Project of the Tucson Unified School District in Arizona, in which he describes the political climate that led to the legislation banning the Mexican American Studies Program in Tucson, Arizona. See “The Hypocrisy of Racism: Arizona's Movement towards State-Sanctioned Apartheid. “ Our blog has been continuing to cover this story with updated news.
We have learned of a national grassroots movement that is rising up to challenge this ban to eliminate certain voices and stories from the curriculum. A Network of Teacher Activist Groups (TAG) is coordinating a month of solidarity activities in support of the Tucson’s Mexican American Studies (MAS) Program. Across the nation, the reading of the banned books, teach ins, and discussions are taking place in classrooms, community centers, houses of worship, and homes. On February 1st, the first day the Tucson schools had to comply with the law, students here on our own campus engaged in an all-day open dialogue with critical inquiry sessions about ethnic studies, culturally relevant curriculum, and the Arizona Ethnic Studies Ban.
The Network of Teacher Activists Groups has set up a website , “No History is Illegal: A Campaign to Save our Stories,” where readers can find a guide that includes sample lesson plans from the Mexican American Studies curriculum as well as creative ideas and resources for exploring this issue with students.
Check out the website, “No History is Illegal: A Campaign to Save Our Stories”
