In honor of Latinx Heritage month, Dr. Nolan Cabrera, who is an award-winning scholar and was also an expert witness in the Tucson Unified Mexican American Ethnic Studies case, was a part of a Zoom session Wednesday, Oct. 6.<\/p>\n
The Tucson Unified Mexican American Ethnic Studies case became the highest-profile ethnic studies case in the history of the United States. There was a law in Arizona known as HB 2281 that banned ethnic studies classes in school districts or charter schools. <\/p>\n
Tom Horne, who at the time was Arizona’s Superintendent of Public Instructions, claimed that the classes were unconstitutional and misleading students to racial resentment and overthrowing the government. <\/p>\n
Horne was the one leading this ban against Mexican American ethnic studies.<\/p>\n
Cabrera shared with more than 100 people, including SJCC students and faculty, what he experienced firsthand.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat happened in Arizona spread like wildfire,\u201d Cabrera said.<\/p>\n
The news about the ban of Mexican American Ethnic Studies in Arizona was being covered by big media outlets. <\/p>\n
\u201cEven though this was the highest profile Ethnic Studies case in the country, you\u2019ll notice that if you\u2019ve been paying attention, a lot of the critical race theory bans that have been going on use almost identical language, identical verbiage to try to outlaw that kind of teaching,\u201d Cabrera said.<\/p>\n
He said that many saw black, brown and indegenous people learning about their own culture as a threat to the state. <\/p>\n
\u201cHorne claimed \u2018that Mexican American studies is un-American,\u2019\u201d Cabrera said.<\/p>\n
How can it be un-American? Cabrera later on explained how Mexican American studies was the target. <\/p>\n
\u201cThese other tenants are never uniformly applied,\u201d Cabrera said.<\/p>\n
He mentioned that another school in the district had an Advanced Placement European History class in their curriculum that was never investigated. This school was located in a wealthy area, wherein its majority was white students. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut when it’s varrio kids in a brown community sitting there learning about their culturally affirming work that’s seen as a threat,\u201d Cabrera said.<\/p>\n
Throughout Cabrera\u2019s presentation, video clips of the protests were played, pictures were also shared. <\/p>\n
Those present saw when young Chicanos and Chicanas from Tucson Unified fought for their culture, for the right to have Chicano studies available at their schools. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ethnic Studies program in Tucson was founded as with so many Ethnic Studies programs, came out of collective struggle,\u201d Cabrera said.<\/p>\n
He reiterated that the Ethnic Studies movement was not successful because of the generosity of the educational institutions, rather it was successful because the community came together. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhen was the last time that there had to be a hunger strike to create a physics department? Or when was the last time that there had to be a massive protest and walk-out to create a history department? It just doesn\u2019t happen,\u201d Cabrera said.<\/p>\n
He emphasized the struggles the communities endured in order for their knowledge to be validated within the educational institutions. <\/p>\n
In the end, all their struggle and work paid off. Judge A. Wallace Tashima declared that the ban on Ethnic Studies is unconstitutional in 2017. <\/p>\n
\u201cDon’t think like we won and everything is great, we\u2019re still struggling with the scars within the community. And it\u2019s a very real thing, but at the end of the day we fought the state and we won,\u201d Cabrera said.<\/p>\n
He pointed out that during the ethnic studies movement, they created a blueprint for others who would be facing similar challenges in the constitutionality of critical race theory bans throughout the country. <\/p>\n
Cabrera shared a video of Raquel Rubio-Goldsmith who has been a community fighter and activist for years. Rubio-Goldsmith stood before the Tucson Unified School District board members during a meeting whose topic was the Ethnic Studies program. <\/p>\n
She said that she had been through many superintendents, administrators and members of the board.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important for you to know that we have been here…and you will be gone but we will still be here,\u201d Goldsmith said.<\/p>\n
Those who were present cheered after her speech.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it\u2019s true,\u201d Cabrera said. \u201cThey’re all gone, we\u2019re still here, because again that\u2019s the power of the community.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In honor of Latinx Heritage month, Dr. Nolan Cabrera, who is an award-winning scholar and was also an expert witness in the Tucson Unified Mexican American Ethnic Studies case, was a part of a Zoom session Wednesday, Oct. 6. The Tucson Unified Mexican American Ethnic Studies case became the highest-profile ethnic studies case in the…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"staff_name":[],"class_list":["post-15856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-social-justice"],"yoast_head":"\n