By now you’ve probably heard something about the action by John Huppenthal, the superintendent of Public Instruction in Arizona to shut down the Mexican American Studies Program in the Tucson School District. If not, there’s plenty of coverage online for getting up to speed fast, including a ‘debate’ on Democracy Now! http://www.democracynow.org/2012/1/18/debating_tucson_school_districts_book_ban between Huppenthal and Richard Martinez, the lawyer for students and teachers who wish to retain the Mexican Studies Program. You’ll probably want to supplement this coverage but it is good for seeing and hearing John Huppenthal speak for himself ‘live.’ Make sure whatever you toss at his mug on your computer monitor is easily cleaned off the screen and keyboard. Dry spit balls might be a good choice. O damn, my bias is showing, isn’t it? Well, I’m not a supposedly neutral reporter so who gives a spit.
Let’s kickoff with a quote by John Huppenthal (source: Democracy Now! link):
“If all you’re teaching these students is one viewpoint, one dimension, we can readily see that it’s not an accurate history, it’s not an education at all. It’s not teaching these kids to think critically,” Huppenthal says, “but instead it’s an indoctrination.”
Well, excuse me, but is this not precisely what has been done in American schools across the country with every corporate produced history textbook imposed upon every teacher and student in America ever since the school textbook industry got its biased fingers into the realm of education? Now the Mexican American Studies Program in Tucson challenges that corporate textbook industry indoctrination and guess what, the oppressors act with more oppression to impose their perspective again. Is that not what this action in Tucson amounts to? It it not more oppression? It this not totalitarianism in action? John Huppenthal wants his brand of indoctrination in full force in Tucson–and he’s not alone. Apparently he’d got buds who write laws to suit his ends. Yeah, a new law is what Huppenthal is using to get rid of the Mexican American Studies Program that has been running for 13 years. Isn’t that nifty? Don’t like something so write a ‘law’ against it. What a way to USE the system, Mr Huppenthanl. Oh and Huppenthal also employed blackmail to get the school district to comply–do what The Huppenthal demands or lose millions. Wow, what incredible lessons the Mexican American students are learning with every move The Huppenthal makes. Seriously, this is priceless instruction in how oppressors operate. Who needs a textbook when there’s The Huppenthal making headlines around the world with his assault on the Mexican America Studies Program? As for instruction in Oppression–well, when books are removed from school courses and school libraries because they’re deemed ‘illegal’ what more could you ask for regarding direct instruction in how the oppressors attempt to control information? Guess where I’m going with this next? Yeah, forbidden fruits are the sweetest are they not?
Chicano! The History of the Mexican Civil Right Movement by Arturo Rosales
Critical Race Theory by Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic
500 Hundred Years of Chicano History in Pictures by Elizabeth Martinez
Occupied America: A History of Chicanos by Dr. Rodolfo Acuna
Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years ed by Bill Bigelow
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
The Tempest by William Shakespeare
Read these books and discover what John Huppenthanl fears, besides Karl Marx. I was a tad baffled by The Tempest at first, but then it came to me–exile, dissent, oppression etc. Yeah, can’t have that play giving anyone IDEAS now can we? O Will, what sensitive fingers you had on the pulse of the people . . .. If real freedom of the mind is important then we need to find ways to support the students and teachers of the Tucson School District and their Mexican American Studies Program. One way would be to donate the funds that they’d be penalized by NOT suspending the program. Hence taking the ‘teeth’ out of The Huppenthal’s blackmail. Alas I do not have millions to make such a gift. Nor, I suspect does anyone reading this spit ball counter-attack. What we can do is READ the books being denied the students of the Tucson School District and thereby educate ourselves about their history. By doing so we stand in solidarity against The Huppenthals everywhere. Today its Mexican Americans. Yesterday the Japanese were sent to interment camps in the USA. In 1492 Columbus began the rape of the New World. The perspective of the oppressed is not pleasant to step into–but it’s part of the reality of America and should not be denied.
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