[NIMC] Arizona bans ethic studies

[Allen Ivey]

It is an uphill fight, gang!! Hang in for the long term.

Arizona Bans Ethnic Studies

— By Jessica Calefati

| Wed May. 12, 2010 3:10 PM PDT

— Flickr/ Sundials By Carmichael (Creative Commons)

Hispanic students fill nearly half the seats in Arizona's public school classrooms, but a new law signed by Governor Jan Brewer Tuesday makes it illegal for these students to learn about their heritage in school. HB 2281 prohibits schools from offering courses at any grade level that advocate ethnic solidarity, promote overthrow of the US government, or cater to specific ethnic groups—regulations which will dismantle the state's popular Mexican-American studies programs.

Much like Arizona's new immigration law, this ethnic studies ban is political interest dressed up to look like education reform. The bill was passed largely because of State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne's personal distaste for the Tuscon Unified School District's Chicano studies program, in which 3 percent of the district's 55,000 students participate. He has been hell-bent on squashing the program ever since learning several years ago that Hispanic civil rights activist Dolores Huerta told Tucson High School students that "Republicans hate Latinos," the Associated Press reports.

"Traditionally, the American public school system has brought together students from different backgrounds and taught them to be Americans and to treat each other as individuals, and not on the basis of their ethnic backgrounds," Horne noted in an April press release. "This is consistent with the fundamental American value that we are all individuals, not exemplars of whatever ethnic groups we were born into. Ethnic studies programs teach the opposite, and are designed to promote ethnic chauvinism."

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District officials insist the program covers history—not activism or chauvinism. In the Mexican-American studies program, an American history course highlights Hispanics' role in the Vietnam War, and literature students analyze the works of Latino authors. The kids learn, for example, that Arizona was once part of Mexico, and that in the 1960s Chicano radicals called for reclaiming the land, reports Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post. The new law also means Arizona students will lose access to African-American and Native-American studies.

On her blog, The Answer Sheet, Strauss describes the bill as symptomatic of a larger problem—the growing number of state legislators telling educators how to do their jobs. "We tried this once before, in a big law called No Child Left Behind, which was designed with the input of not a single teacher, and which spectacularly failed in its goal to close the achievement gap," Strauss writes. "We never seem to learn from our own mistakes. How do we expect kids to do that if the adults can’t get it right?"

Allen

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[em...@aol.com]

This is so painful. It is no different than ethnic cleansing that took place in Eastern Europe. Activism in as many non-violent forms as possible is essential. It is a time for solidarity for human rights.

 

Glad all of you are there.

 

Patricia

-----Original Message-----
From: Allen Ivey <alle...@gmail.com>
To: Csj <COUNSELORS...@LISTS.UFL.EDU>; Azara Santiago-Rivera <Az...@uwm.edu>; Melba Vasquez <MelVa...@aol.com>; nimc national <NI...@googlegroups.com>; BEVERLY OBRYANT <drbevo...@msn.com>; Derald Wing Sue <dw2...@columbia.edu>; Thomas Parham <tapa...@uci.edu>; Patricia Arredondo <EM...@aol.com>; Judy Daniels <judyd...@gmail.com>; Michael D'Andrea <michael...@gmail.com>
Sent: Thu, May 13, 2010 9:32 pm
Subject: Arizona bans ethic studies

It is an uphill fight, gang!! Hang in for the long term.

Arizona Bans Ethnic Studies

— By Jessica Calefati

| Wed May. 12, 2010 3:10 PM PDT

— Flickr/ Sundials By Carmichael (Creative Commons)

Hispanic students fill nearly half the seats in Arizona's public school classrooms, but a new law signed by Governor Jan Brewer Tuesday makes it illegal for these students to learn about their heritage in school. HB 2281 prohibits schools from offering courses at any grade level that advocate ethnic solidarity, promote overthrow of the US government, or cater to specific ethnic groups—regulations which will dismantle the state's popular Mexican-American studies programs.

Much like Arizona's new immigration law, this ethnic studies ban is political interest dressed up to look like education reform. The bill was passed largely because of State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne's personal distaste for the Tuscon Unified School District's Chicano studies program, in which 3 percent of the district's 55,000 students participate. He has been hell-bent on squashing the program ever since learning several years ago that Hispanic civil rights activist Dolores Huerta told Tucson High School students that "Republicans hate Latinos," the Associated Press reports.

"Traditionally, the American public school system has brought together students from different backgrounds and taught them to be Americans and to treat each other as individuals, and not on the basis of their ethnic backgrounds," Horne noted in an April press release. "This is consistent with the fundamental American value that we are all individuals, not exemplars of whatever ethnic groups we were born into. Ethnic studies programs teach the opposite, and are designed to promote ethnic chauvinism."

Advertisement

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District officials insist the program covers history—not activism or chauvinism. In the Mexican-American studies program, an American history course highlights Hispanics' role in the Vietnam War, and literature students analyze the works of Latino authors. The kids learn, for example, that Arizona was once part of Mexico, and that in the 1960s Chicano radicals called for reclaiming the land, reports Valerie Strauss of the Washington Post. The new law also means Arizona students will lose access to African-American and Native-American studies.

On her blog, The Answer Sheet, Strauss describes the bill as symptomatic of a larger problem—the growing number of state legislators telling educators how to do their jobs. "We tried this once before, in a big law called No Child Left Behind, which was designed with the input of not a single teacher, and which spectacularly failed in its goal to close the achievement gap," Strauss writes. "We never seem to learn from our own mistakes. How do we expect kids to do that if the adults can’t get it right?"

Allen

=

[Melba Vasquez]

It is the most awful thing.  The climate is giving others freedom to voice their biases.  At the airport last week, I get into a casual chat with a woman returning to San Antonio, where she currently lives.  She "hates" San Antonio.  When I asked why, she said that it was backwards, and that there were "too many Mexicans".  When I did a double take, and asked her what she said, she repeated it.  I indicated that I was 4th generation Mexican; that some of my family was in Texas before Texas was a US state, and that I didn't understand what she meant (I look Mexican, but just in case, I gave her the option to back peddle).  Not only did she not back peddle, she proceeded to say that she was in the health care industry, and that it was "backwards" in SA, and the reason was because the Mexicans run it.  I (as softly and firmly as possible) indicated that I was also in health care, and that part of my work was to train providers to work with people different from them, and that I wondered if she was having trouble doing that.  She indicated that she was just repeating what others said.  As she got up to leave (we were on the Dallas tram), I told her that I hoped she had the opportunity to leave the city that she so despised.  The thing is, even were she to go back to Dallas (which she loved), or her home state of Ohio, she will find that the demographics have changed there too.

An African American man who overheard the conversation was able to help me debrief.  I (and I know we all) sometimes overhear such comments; it had been a long time that someone said them directly to me, in an uncaring, arrogant manner.  I believe that the tea party movement, and legislative events such as these in Arizona and elsewhere are setting a tone that allows base reactions/fears/hostilities to surface in people.

It is sad and frightening.  Sorry I'm going on about this.  Clearly, I still need to debrief.

Melba

Melba J T Vasquez, PhD ABPP
Anderson House at Heritage Square
2901 Bee Cave Road, Box N
Austin, Texas 78746
512-329-8000
melva...@aol.com
APA President Elect, 2010

[em...@aol.com]

Hi Melba,

 

I am sorry you had this encounter and yet I know we all have to be prepared. The overt racism is given license by legislators around the country and the media, eager to promote hysterical commentary.

 

All of this is so outrageous in a country considered the most "democratic" in the world. Having recently visited South Africa, I know that U.S. hypocrisy about acceptance of differences, historically legislated in South Africa until 1994, is in our midst. We have to support one another.

 

Thank you for letting us in on this horrendous encounter.
Un abrazo,

 

Patricia

[Melba Vasquez]

Thank you Patricia, the experience had impact and was a reminder that racism recedes, but lays dormant with many.  And yet, this kind of microaggression pales when I think of the horrific abuse that immigrants experience on a daily basis.  At APA we are working to put out a statement of concern on behalf of immigrant populations, racial profiling, etc.  Maybe it should be about concern about legislation that legitimizes racism, such as the ethnic studies ban.

Melba

[Michael D'Andrea]

Aloha Everyone:

Like you all...I am very concerned about the growing injustices in Arizona and other parts of our nation as they are being exemplified by the recent immigration law passage in Arizona and yesterday's announcement to roll back elective ethnic studies courses offer in Arizona's public schools.

As President of CSJ, I am working wit members of our Human Rights Committee to draft a letter to the Governor of Arizona and other national leaders protesting these actions.

However, I am convinced that more dramatic action need to be taken to protest the increasing attacks against immigrants in general and especially persons of Mexican descent in the United States.

With this need in mind, I seek the help of the members of NIMC and CSJ as well as the input from Dr. Melba Vasquez (the President-elect of the American Psychological Association), Dr. Edil Torres Rivera (the President-elect of AMCD), and Dr. Judy Daniels (the President-elect of CSJ) regarding our collective thinking about additional actions we and our organizations can take now to address the racial crisis emanating from the struggle in Arizona.

I look forward to your thoughts and suggestions for ways that we can develop and implement action strategies that come from our united commitment to peace and social justice as mental health professionals and advocates.

Michael D'Andrea

Michael D'Andrea

[Michael D'Andrea]

Aloha Connie:

I think your idea about having CSJ provide some education on pedagogically effective ways to do ethnic studies is an important part of a comprehensive action-oriented strategy that would be useful to develop and implement in dealing with the current crisis in the rise in racism and White supremacy as manifested in the Arizona situation.

Oftentimes, counselors and psychologists are so involved in unconsciously using the defense mechanism of "intellectualization" when dealing with such anxieties as those stimulated by living in a racist society that they inadvertently contribute to what has been referred to as a paralysis of analysis that is common in our fields.

Clearly, there needs to be a balance of critical analyzing current and historical forms of injustice in conjunction with discussions about the types of action strategies that can be used to address these injustices, and finally the identification, implementation and evaluation of a set of action strategies that are agreed to by a majority of social justice advocactes in our fields.

The various professional associations that we are a part of are good at implementing the first two important aspects of this triage...but...generally weak in addressing the third component.

Having said this, let me suggest that it may be useful to convene a national computer-based electronic discussion using available technology to address ALL three components listed above in an efforts to map a national action plan for interested persons in our various professional groups.

I know that Dr. Judy Daniels has coordinated previous national computer-based meetings in her position as the president-elect of csj and perhaps would be able to assist in convening a similar meeting as outlined above.

Before seeing if Dr. Daniels would be able to convene such a meeting, it would be helpful to see how many allies might be interested in participating in this sort of action planning discussion.

My suggestion is that we first see how many leaders/members in ACA, CSJ, AMCD, AGLBITC, and APA would be interested in participating in such a meeting....and as noted above...while such a meeting could help to further critically analyze what counselors and psychologists can do to address the current crisis in Arizona....much of the focus would be on identifying specific actions we can collectively take to address this situation.

If anyone is interested in such participating in this sort of meeting...please respond to the entire list and NOT to me as an individual.

In peace,

Michael D'Andrea
  
 

On Fri, May 14, 2010 at 5:09 AM, <crmat...@comcast.net> wrote:

Something that I think CSJ would be in a position to do would be to provide some education on pedagogically effective ways to do ethnic studies. I, too, condemn the stance the state has taken against ethnic studies. At the same time, I saw a piece on CNN where they talked with a top educator. I don't remember if he was superintendent of schools in Tucson or the head of Arizona education; I think the former. Anyway, he was a big supporter of the legislation, saying that teaching ethnic studies was pitting ethnic groups against each other. He then went on to say that they separated the students, such that African American students got African Studies, the Latino/a students got Hispanic studies, etc., etc. In other words, there was no general approach to teaching diversity to all, encouraging all students to be aware of their own cultures and other cultures, etc. etc. It sounded like any negative experiences they were having were of their own making due to the way they approached it - not to mention the underlying assumption that only people who are of a particular race or ethnicity need to learn about it.

I saw only part of one interview. Obviously, some investigation would need to be done to see if this was completely accurate. If it is, I would think that CSJ would be in a position to offer an informed alternative when criticizing the current action. In other words, perhaps we could help them find another way to address the challenges they were facing when they offered ethnic studies.

Connie

[em...@aol.com]

Michael,

 

As president of CSJ, advocacy must also be done with ACA. I understand the ACA Human Rights Comm is inactive. If this is accurate, we have a real issue. Rather than move independently, perhaps you can take up the isse of an ACA statement with the new ACA president as well as with Richard Yep. The past presidents, a few of us, have recommended that ACA not go to AZ for anything.

 

Patricia