This final unit in our course brings us to the Twenty-First century. Teaching Mexican American History in the 21st century is difficult and I do it because it remains necessary. The 2019-2020 academic year started with an anti-Mexican massacre in El Paso and we ended it in the midst of a global pandemic. We entered into this academic year, 2020-2021, still in the midst of a global pandemic. Early reports indicate Latino, Native, and Black people are among the groups most negatively affected in the era of coronavirus in several states.
We are also currently living through the largest global Civil Rights Movement in our history, the Black Lives Matter Movement. The modern BLM movement was formed in 2013 in response to the acquittal of George Zimmerman, a white-presenting Hispanic man who stalked and killed Trayvon Martin in 2012. Three Black women, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, responded to widespread anti-Black violence with a message of love, Black Lives Matter. The recent re-emergence of the BLM movement occurred in the summer of 2020 following the public and publicized murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, and many more.
The work we do in this class is important and helps prepare students to live and work in our global society. Our stories center change-makers who have worked to create a better world for us all in confrontation with widespread White supremacist violence. The stories and voices we center on in Ethnic Studies classes help us to understand how we got here and they are vital to understanding the work that remains. They provide examples for how to begin our own work in this generation and beyond.
Mexican American Studies is just one area of inquiry and it will remain relevant for as long as the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands exists, at least. This is not a specialty class or elective. We are a formal area of inquiry that has it’s origins in very old liberation movements. Ethnic Studies is designed to prepare students to do work that is grounded in history, contemporary reality, and a vision for a better future for all. By registering for this class you have personally and directly benefited from the work people who have come before us have done to create a more just future through Ethnic Studies education. The conservative backlash of the 1980s included the rise of colorblind racism and attacks on Ethnic Studies courses, programs, departments, and research centers that were products of the formal Civil Rights Movement Era. Students and faculty have long worked to expose how colleges and universities systematically de-fund Ethnic Studies programs and expect them to run with little to no support from the institution.
By the 1990s, activism on college campuses erupted with students, faculty, and other supporters demanding things a generation before them had fought to secure in the 1960s and 1970s. The following video helps to explain this history. By the 1990s, a new generation of activists began demanding institutional support to hire dedicated faculty and funding to support the creation of Ethnic Studies Research centers and departments. As you watch the following video, think about the sustained efforts that led to your presence in this class. Look at the faces of the people who fought for us all and then get ready to learn about the continued work. You will need to make connections to all these things in your written assignment this week.
watch:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xovOLk9qE8
The most pressing issues in the twenty-first century for Mexican Americans include Education, labor/economy, voting, health care/insurance, housing, and immigration/migration policy. All of these issues have a history that helps us understand how we got here and Ethnic Studies courses, such as Mexican American History, have been at the forefront of documenting, reclaiming, and re-envisioning our past in order to understand the present and work toward a better future.
Education, according to the Pew research center remains one of the top priorities for all Latinos in the United States (Links to an external site). Education has always been a priority for Mexican Americans. While this demographic group has seen improvements over the last two decades, Mexican Americans are still the group with the highest high school drop out rate in the nation. Additionally, while more Latinos are entering into higher education than ever before, this demographic remains at the bottom of the list when it comes to completing the four-year degree. In the context of global pandemic, some leaders have started to look for ways to ensure Latino students do not fall even further behind (Links to an external site).
The following video illustrates the reality of what we call the Latino Education Pipeline (3:43 minutes). It is a reflection of the progress we have made and the work that remains. As you watch, notate the statistics and think about your own experiences within the pipeline:
watch: https://youtu.be/x827V2D52jg
These statistics point to a structural issue that demands our attention at the social level. This is especially important in places like San Antonio where over half the students in our K-12 schools are Latino.
Several studies have shown that Ethnic Studies Programs lead to improved high school graduation rates and test scores across the curriculum and the last film we have in this module, echos these findings. Ethnic Studies courses challenge the “master narrative” approach to American History, a mainstream style of teaching history that tends to erase the perspectives and experiences of Black people, Native people, people of color, women, LGBTQ, and other historically marginalized groups. Because of the way these histories force us to look at the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of the past, however, they are often targeted and accused of being anti-American. Think about that for a moment. Attempts to question and change these patterns of power are often perceived and framed as unpatriotic by dominant society. We are part of this nation too and our stories are far older than these recently erected borders and ideas about belonging. This is why eradicating racism is everyone’s job, not just BIPOC.
Most students I encounter are not aware that educational activism continues and are even more surprised to hear about the local efforts to reclaim the histories that remain hidden or obscured in traditional 21st century classrooms. Indeed, in 2010, the Texas State Board of Education members tried to remove Dolores Huerta from a third grade reading lessons focused on model citizens and publicly debated the relevance of her inclusion in the curriculum (article about removing Dolores Huerta). In 2016, regional activists, including many professional Mexican American Studies and History scholars, convinced the Texas State Board of Education members to reject a racist Mexican American Studies textbook that relied on stereotypes to describe Mexican Americans as lazy and prone to crime and drug use (article about racist Mexican American Studies textbook). Moreover, regional activists spent the last several years working to implement a state-approved curriculum for a Mexican American Studies course at the High School level and the State Board of Education approved the development of this curriculum in June 2018 (article about his: June 2018). It should also be noted, African American Studies was approved on April 17, 2020 (African American Studies approved). State Board Of Education member, Marisa Perez-Diaz, is quoted in the linked article, ‘Mexican American Studies was the foundation for a lot of the work weve done for African American Studies,’ she said, adding that it will now be easier to develop more ethnic studies courses.” Native American Studies is next.
In other words, active members of society are still working to create access to quality education that addresses the history of the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands as significant to the formation of this country. These changes to the curriculum do not happen by themselves and, instead, individuals and groups actively work to ensure that students receive a more inclusive education, one that is relevant to the region and the people who comprise it. Others, however, are actively using the legal system to try to dismantle Ethnic Studies Programs around the country and frame them as un-American.
We can learn much about these current issues from the story of the Mexican American Studies/Raza Studies Program in Tuscon Arizona featured in the documentary, “Precious Knowledge.” The phrase, “precious knowledge,” is a reference to Aztec deity, Quetzalcoatl, who is a symbol of precious and beautiful knowledge that comes through self examination and reflection and through interconnection with others and the environment.
The film,”Precious Knowledge” emphasizes the impact of Senate Bill 1070 and House Bill 2281 in the public and private lives of the Arizona students featured in this film. SB 1070, the infamous “show me your papers” legislation that emerged from Arizona in 2010, relied on racial profiling to identify undocumented immigrants for expedited deportation and inspired numerous copy-cat proposals such as SB 4 in Texas. SB 1070 mirrored the federal deportation campaigns across time that emboldened everyday people to look for and report people who “look” like they were undocumented. It led to serious human and civil rights violations and stoked a wave of anti-Mexican and anti-immigrant hate. HB 2281 is Arizona’s anti-Ethnic Studies Bill introduced to the House at the same time as SB 1070 (Link to Bill: House Bill 2281). That means, this is a moment of extreme anti-Mexican and anti-immigrant policies in Arizona. The young high school students featured in the film, “Precious Knowledge,” were fighting for their educational rights during a time of extreme anti-immigrant/anti-Latino practices and policies, racial profiling, and the threat of deportation. Sound familiar? These topics emerge in the film as part of the daily experiences with racism in the lives of the young student activists in Tuscon Arizona.
It is important to note that in 2017, (seven years after the events depicted in this film), a federal judge ruled that the state of Arizona could never again attempt to enforce a ban on Mexican American Studies in Tucson schools. The judge asserted that HB2281 was unconstitutional and that officials who enforced it were racist or motivated by racial animus. That is, a federal judge found the attack on Mexican American Studies/Raza Studies in Arizona to be driven by racist beliefs and intentions. It should further be noted, numerous studies have supported what the film shows: Ethnic Studies courses, such as Mexican American Studies, lead to relevant social and academic benefits for all students (Links to an external site.).
As you watch, “Precious Knowledge,” take notes that will help you remember details and make relevant connections to our coursework this week. Note the students featured throughout the film and be ready to describe one of them in the written assignment this week. Be ready to write about the student who was affected by both SB 1070 and SB 2281 and one other student featured in the film. You will need to login to the NVC Library to access this film through the streaming Database called, “Kanopy.” Writing prompts are below the video
watch: https://vimeo.com/ondemand/preciousknowledge/75043626
login: xxxx
pass: xxxx
prompt:
One student featured in the film is directly affected by both SB 1070 and HB 2281. What is this student’s name and how was she affected by both anti-Mexican bills in the film? How did she respond?
Select one other student featured in the film to write about for this assignment? Tell me about this student. How did they benefit from the ethnic studies classes? How did this student actively respond to the racist legislation in Arizona, HB 2281?
Lastly, tell me what you have learned about the Latino educational pipeline and the ongoing educational activism covered on this page. This ongoing activism led to the creation of Ethnic Studies courses and Programs around the country, including our course, Mexican American History and the recently added African American History courses at NVC. These courses are not creating themselves and they are not meant to be treated as electives. These classes are products of civil rights movements and activism. Your very presence in this class is part of a historical movement for civil rights in education.
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