Rethinking Columbus Banned in Tucson
By Bill Bigelow
Imagine our surprise.
Rethinking Schools learned today that for the first time in its more-than-20-year history, our book Rethinking Columbus was banned by a school district: Tucson, Arizona. According to journalist Jeff Biggers, officials with the Tucson Unified School District ordered that teachers pull the book from their classrooms, evidently as an outcome of the school board’s 4-1 vote this week to abolish the Mexican American Studies program.
As I mentioned to Biggers when we spoke, the last time a book of mine was outlawed was during the state of emergency in apartheid South Africa in 1986, when the regime there banned the curriculum I’d written, Strangers in Their Own Country, likely because it included excerpts from a speech by then-imprisoned Nelson Mandela. Confronting massive opposition at home and abroad, the white minority government feared for its life in 1986. It’s worth asking what the school authorities in Arizona fear today.
Continue reading full article on the 1/13/2012 Rethinking Schools blog.
Related Resources
Mexican American Studies Program teacher Curtis Acosta.
Precious Knowledge. Film about the impact of and struggle to save Mexican-American Studies in Tucson.
American Indians in Children’s Literature (AICL). Daily posting of news, analysis, relevant legislation, resolutions, and more on the Mexican American Studies program.
Behind the Curtain in Tucson: A letter from Curtis Acosta. Posted on the Rethinking Schools blog on Jan. 28, 2012.
Arizona Unbound: National Actions on Mexican American Studies Banishment. By Jeff Biggers, Huffington Post. Jan. 25, 2012. More articles by Jeff Biggers on Tucson.
Statement from the American Library Association. Resolution Opposing Restriction of Access to Materials and Open Inquiry in Ethnic and Cultural Studies Programs in Arizona. Jan. 24th, 2012.
Banning Critical Teaching in Arizona: A Letter From Curtis Acosta. Posted on the Rethinking Schools blog on Jan. 23, 2012.
Progressive Librarians Association Statement on Censorship and the Tucson Unified School District. The Progressive Librarians Guild believes a challenge should be issued regarding not only the onerous situation, but the politics underlying the decision to cut District’s Mexican American Studies program (MAS) program. Jan. 21, 2012.
J. Winter Nightwolf’s WPFW/Pacifica Radio Program. Interviews with Rudy Arredondo, Dr. Roberto Cintli Rodriguez, and Dr. Rudolfo Anaya, Jan. 20, 2012.
Debating Tucson School District’s Book Ban After Suspension of Mexican American Studies Program. Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal and Richard Martinez, the attorney representing teachers and students trying to save the Mexican American Studies program. Democracy Now!, Jan. 18, 2012.
Teaching Critical Thinking in Arizona: NOT ALLOWED. Article by Debbie Reese, American Indians in Children’s Literature blog, Jan. 15, 2012. (And reading list from Mexican-American Studies program.)
‘Repeat After Me: The United States Is Not an Imperialist Country—Oh, and Don’t Get Emotional About War. Article by Bill Bigelow, Rethinking Schools, about the ruling against Mexican American Studies. Dec. 29, 2011.
Tucson Orders Closure of Mexican-American School Program as Ethnic Studies Faces Nationwide Threat. Democracy Now! Interview on Dec. 29, 2011.
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Zinn Education Project
Wednesday, February 22nd at 14:16 Orisanmi Burton, librarian at DCPS McKinley Technology High School, wrote about a Black History Month event at his school that went beyond the traditional narrative: “On Feb. 2 we hosted a panel discussion on youth incarceration and Michelle Alexander's book, The New Jim Crow. Panelists included staff attorney for the DC Public Defender Service Alec Karakatsanis and Andy Cevasco from the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth. Over 40 students participated in an engaging discussion around mass incarceration, sentencing disparities, youth transfer laws, and strategies for moving forward.” What is your school doing for Black History Month?
The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness
zinnedproject.org
Book – Non-Fiction. By Michelle Alexander. 2010. 290 pages. A critical analysis of the role the justice system plays in the oppression of African Americans in the United States.
Zinn Education Project
Wednesday, February 22nd at 10:05 Zinn Education Project friends in the D.C. area -- please get your tickets today for a very special event on March 12 called What Kids Aren't Learning: History Under Attack and Why It Matters with noted speakers and hosts: Khalil Muhammad, Jeff Biggers, Enid Lee, Bernard Demczuk, and Renee Poussaint.
What Kids Aren't Learning: History Under Attack and Why It Matters | Teaching For Change
teachingforchange.org
With the recent ban on teaching ethnic studies in Tucson, Arizona, the work of Teaching for Change is more vital than ever. Students and teachers around the country, not just in Arizona, are being denied classes that teach the honest, complex, and diverse narrative that is U.S. history. With history...
Zinn Education Project
Wednesday, February 22nd at 7:20 On this day in 1943, Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst were executed for their role in the White Rose, a group that urged students to rise up and overthrow the Nazi government. "We will not be silent. We are your bad conscience. The White Rose will not leave you in peace!" -- quote from the 4th leaflet.
History in Pictures - February
On Feb. 22, 1943, Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl, and Christoph Probst were executed for their role in urging students to rise up and overthrow the Nazi government. They were members of a group called the White Rose, who organized nonviolent resistance to Hitler, and were arrested for printing and distributing anti-Nazi flyers.
Photo: Hans Scholl (left), Sophie Scholl (center), and Christoph Probst (right), leaders of the White Rose resistance organization. Munich, Germany, 1942 (From the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, George J. Wittenstein.
See trailer for film about the life of Sophie Scholl: http://zeitgeistfilms.com/displaytrailer.php?directoryname=sophiescholl&size=high&extension=mov
Leaflets from the White Rose: http://unitarian-stcatharines.org/pdf-files/whiterose.pdf
History in Pictures features just a few of the many stories that are often left out of the textbooks. The sources for these stories include: This Week in History from Peace Buttons (http://www.peacebuttons.info/E-News/thisweek.htm), Planning to Change the World: A Social Justice Plan Book for Teachers (http://www.justiceplanbook.com/), This Day in Civil Rights History (http://zinnedproject.org/posts/13684), History.com (http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history), 50 American Revolutions You Are Not Supposed to Know (http://zinnedproject.org/posts/11632), A People's History of the United States (http://zinnedproject.org/posts/67), Black Facts Online (http://www.blackfacts.com), Today in Labor History (http://www.unionist.com/big-labor/today-in-labor-history), Primary Source (http://resources.primarysource.org/content.php?pid=184419&sid=1549829), and many more.
