Chicano and Latino literature libraries are springing up nationwide, and students are gravitating toward the topic after a law dismantled Tucson schools’ Mexican American studies program last year.

People demonstrate in front of Tucson Magnet High School in 2010, protesting an Arizona law banning Mexican American studies at Tucson public schools. (James S. Wood / March 23, 2013)

TUCSON — Arizona lawmakers passed a law to dismantle a Mexican American studies program in Tucson schools, but the legislation has had an unintended effect: The controversy is renewing interest in the state and nationwide in ethnic studies and Chicano and Latino literature.

Some Tucson students have found new ways to study the subject while receiving college credit to boot. Others who had no interest on the topic say they are now drawn to the material.

“Underground” libraries with Chicano literature are popping up across the Southwest and are set to open soon in unexpected places such as Milwaukee and Louisville.

“I guess the irony is … that we have banded together and created a new civil rights movement, a renaissance in Latino literature. Now there are people in Louisville, Ky., who will be enjoying Chicano literature,” said Tony Diaz.

Diaz heads Librotraficante, a group that raises money to buy books and open libraries to keep Mexican American studies alive. The state ban was the impetus for Librotraficante — whose name is Spanish for “book smuggler.”

continue reading: Interest in ethnic studies jumps after Arizona ban – latimes.com.

A judge has ordered the Tucson Unified School District to end segregation against Hispanic and Black students and reinstate Mexican American Studies. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

A federal judge has ordered the Tucson Unified School District to end segregation and implement culturally relevant courses such as the ones taught in the Mexican American Studies program that were recently banned by an Arizona law.

In his ruling announced Wednesday, Judge David C. Bury ordered that the courses reflect the history, experience and culture of Mexican American and African American communities. The courses could be offered to students starting this upcoming school year.

Nancy Ramirez, a lead attorney in the case, applauded Judge Bury’s order, saying culturally relevant courses have been proven to “engage students and helps them do better academically.”

Mexican American Studies could make a comeback

Arizona banned such courses in 2010 when the state legislature passed and Gov. Jan Brewer signed into law HB 2281. Efforts to pass the law were led by former Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, who is now the state’s attorney general.

The law, which targeted the Mexican American Studies program, prohibits schools to teach classes that promote the overthrow of the U.S. government, promote racial resentment, encourage ethnic solidarity and are designed for students of a particular ethnic race.

Read more: http://www.voxxi.com/tucson-mexican-american-studies/#ixzz2KRvrvz00

Now the tough, politically polarizing work resumes for TUSD.

On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge David Bury ordered the Tucson Unified School District to put in place what should be its final desegregation plan. If the district complies, it will emerge from the federal order in 2017, 39 years after it was imposed.

Although TUSD agreed in advance to the vast majority of the plan, following it will be difficult -and likely embroil the board in more controversies as well as litigation.

As part of the plan, Bury ordered the district to resume teaching “culturally relevant courses,” which amounts to an order to challenge the new state law governing ethnic studies.

Like it or not, state law prohibits any courses “designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.” While Mexican-American Studies and African-American Studies courses are open to everybody, the point of them is to improve the academic performances of students from those backgrounds, as Bury acknowledges.

via Tim Steller: TUSD faces uphill climb on deseg ruling.

By Lesli A. Maxwell on February 7, 2013 12:30 PM

Mexican-American studies will return to classrooms in Tucson’s secondary schools in the fall after a federal judge approved the district’s new plan to achieve greater racial balance in its schools.

But the pitched battle over teaching ethnic studies in Tucson may still not be settled even though U.S. District Judge David Bury has given the green light to the school district’s Unitary Status plan, which is meant to bring an end to the decades-long desegregation effort in the Arizona city. A key part of that approved plan—which was written by Willis Hawley, the court-assigned special master—is to offer “culturally relevant” courses that focus on the history, experience, and culture of blacks and Latinos.

The school district shuttered the popular Mexican-American studies program a year ago after state officials said the courses violated a state law that forbids public schools from using curriculum that is designed for a particular ethnic group, advocates ethnic solidarity, or promotes resentment toward a race or group of people. State Superintendent John Huppenthal threatened to pull the plug on $15 million in state funding if the district didn’t cancel the courses. Judge Bury indicated that state officials would still be free to enforce the state law if they believe the new ethnic studies courses are in violation.

via Ethnic Studies To Return to Tucson in Court-Backed Desegregation Plan – Learning the Language – Education Week.

National Headquarters: 634 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90014                            Office: 213-629-2512
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION  February 6, 2013	CONTACT: Donald Gatlin: (202) 821-7923 dgatlin@rabengroup.com Nancy Ramirez: (213) 629-2512 nramirez@maldef.org
MALDEF, TUCSON STUDENTS TRIUMPH AFTER NEARLY 40 YEARS IN HISTORIC DESEGREGATION CASE Court Orders Tucson School District to Reinstate Culturally Relevant Curriculum that Reflects the History, Culture and Experiences of Mexican Americans
TUCSON–  Yesterday Judge David C. Bury ruled in favor of Latino plaintiffs in the longstanding desegregation lawsuit against the Tucson Unified School District (“TUSD”), filed by MALDEF in 1974 in federal district court in Tucson, Arizona.  In his order, Judge Bury adopted the Unitary Status Plan (“USP”), designed to eliminate segregation and improve educational outcomes for Latino students in TUSD, that was jointly filed last year by TUSD, the Fisher Plaintiffs on behalf of African American students, the United States Department of Justice, MALDEF on behalf of the Mendoza plaintiffs who are Latino students, and the Court-appointed Special Master, Dr. Willis D. Hawley. Thomas A. Saenz, MALDEF President and General Counsel stated, “Once fully implemented, today’s order promises to dramatically improve educational opportunities for Latino students in Tucson. The plan addresses critical issues, such as the education of English learners, discriminatory disparities in access to critical programs, and the restoration of culturally relevant courses to the curriculum. When these issues are addressed, the educational experience of all students will be richer and more equitable.” In his ruling, Judge Bury found that TUSD has not eliminated the vestiges of past discrimination identified in a 1978 court-approved settlement of the case and that it had not acted in good faith because over the years “the District had not addressed ongoing segregation and discrimination in TUSD, both physical segregation and unequal academic opportunities for Black and Hispanic minority students.” Significantly, Judge Bury upheld the section of the USP that calls for culturally relevant curriculum designed to reflect the history, experiences and culture of the Mexican American community as a strategy to improve student achievement and one that was agreed to by the parties as a “meritorious strategy, fully supported by the experts and the Special Master, to improve the academic performance of minority students.” Nancy Ramirez, Western Regional Counsel and lead attorney stated, “Today’s ruling is the culmination of years of vigilance by the Latino and local communities in Tucson demanding accountability and transparency by the Tucson Unified School District that would ultimately lead to equal opportunities for Latino students.  We look forward to continuing to work on the implementation of this comprehensive and ambitious plan that offers much promise for improving educational outcomes for all students in TUSD.” The Court’s order also denies the State of Arizona’s attempt to intervene in the case to litigate the issue of Mexican American Studies.  The Court concluded that its ruling does not override a 2010 Arizona law targeting ethnic studies for elimination “and even if it did – the Supreme Court has held that state laws cannot be allowed to impede a desegregation order.”   The Court believes that Arizona’s role in the case may be concluding and has requested that Arizona Attorney General Thomas Horne demonstrate why the state’s participation in the case should not be ended now. Other important outcomes of Judge Bury’s order include the following:  The Court agreed with MALDEF that the USP must include a district-wide professional development plan for all educators working with English Language Learners.  Overruling the District’s objection the Court stated, “Given the large amount of ELL students in TUSD and their substandard academic achievement, there is a clear need for teachers to learn how to better teach ELL students.”  The Court also agreed with MALDEF that annual goals should be set for GATE programs and Advanced Academic Courses to “steadily increase the number and percentage of African American and Latino students, including ELL and exceptional (special education students).”   And it agreed with MALDEF’s concern that minority students are overrepresented in special education classes and requested the Special Master to include language to address this concern. The Special Master will oversee the District’s revisions to the USP incorporating Judge Bury’s order, which will be filed with the Court on February 19, 2013. Lois Thompson of Proskauer Rose LLP, serving as pro bono counsel stated, “The Court-adopted plan, if implemented effectively and in good faith, should finally improve the educational environment and outcomes for the District’s Latino students and lead to a day when the District can be released from Court supervision.” A copy of the order is available online athttp://www.maldef.org/assets/pdf/MENDOZA_020613_Order.pdf
MALDEF Founded in 1968, MALDEF is the nation’s leading Latino legal civil rights organization. Often described as the “law firm of the Latino community,” MALDEF promotes social change through advocacy, communications, community education, and litigation in the areas of education, employment, immigrant rights, and political access. For more information on MALDEF, please visit: www.maldef.org.

via Judge orders TUSD to teach about culture.

Last year, the Tucson, Arizona school district put a ban on Mexican American Studies courses. In fact, the Arizona state legislature went so far as to make these classes illegal and threatened to withhold $14 million in funding from school districts if these classes weren’t discontinued. However, on Tuesday, the city’s school board voted 3 to 2 to lift its objection to these courses, which may mean that Tucson schools will see a return of their wildly successful and popular Mexican American Studies courses in the very near future. Aside from being an obviously racist move to ban these courses, there are many reasons why Arizona needs Mexican American Studies. Here are four of them:

Students need to feel like they are reflected in the curriculum.

Many teachers have spoken out about the importance of incorporating Mexican American Studies in the curriculum of the Tucson, Arizona schools. The incorporation of such a curriculum has worked to instill pride in students’ Latino heritage, says Lorenzo Lopez, a teacher in the district. He himself felt that he first wanted to become a teacher because he took a Chicano/a literature course in college and finally felt that he saw himself reflected in the curriculum. Unfortunately, many students who do not see themselves reflected in curricula become disinterested and disengaged, making college seem like a waste of time. If these courses can be introduced at a younger age, retention in school will be much easier. In fact, the Mexican American Studies curriculum was a huge success when it was still in schools — it graduated 100 percent of students from high school and 82 percent went on to college.

read more via 4 Reasons Arizona Needs Ethnic Studies Courses | Care2 Causes.

Students, faculty, and others protested a law that would ban Mexican American studies and other ethnic study programs at Tucson Unified School District schools in Ariz. (Los Angeles Times / May 6, 2010

Officials should stop trying to solve phantom problems and instead focus their attention on the very real issues facing Tucson’s Latino and African American students.

The Tucson Unified School District was forced to shut down its Mexican American Studies program earlier this year after Arizona Supt. of Public Instruction John Huppenthal threatened to withhold millions of dollars in state aid. Huppenthal said the program violated a state law banning classes that promote “racial resentment,” encourage “ethnic solidarity” or advocate the overthrow of the United States.

Fortunately, Huppenthal’s attempt to bully the district with this obnoxious law wasn’t entirely successful. As it turns out, the Mexican American Studies program was created as part of a federal desegregation court order three decades ago. That order is still in force, and an updated plan, filed this month by a court-appointed special master, would require the school district to continue to offer culturally relevant classes, including on Latino and African American history. Whether the district formally reinstates the original Mexican American Studies program or tweaks it and renames it will be up to Tucson school officials to decide, but what’s clear is that the federal plan will trump state law.

via Tucsons Mexican American studies program will survive – latimes.com.

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