Arizona’s Ethnic Studies Battle Comes to New York City on Saturday

On the heels of taking down the state’s “Tea Party President” in a historic recall election this week, Arizona’s epic battle over the constitutional right to teach Ethnic Studies and Mexican American Studies in Tucson’s public schools comes to New York City on Saturday, Nov. 12th, at a series of special events at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem.

As part of the same extremist Tea Party movement in Arizona led by recalled state senate president Russell Pearce, Arizona’s Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal has targeted the acclaimed Mexican American Studies program in Tucson’s Unified School District in a widely denounced witch hunt. Despite a recent independent audit that praised the Mexican American Studies program for its inclusiveness and success, Huppenthal has disregarded all evidence and testimonies in a no-holds-barred ideological campaign, going as far as to compare to the Ethnic Studies program to Hitler’s paramilitary Jugend. Huppenthal, a Tea Party extremist who campaigned in 2010 to “stop la raza” or Mexicans, refused to apologize for his largely denounced outburst last month.

“I feel that our story reflects a disturbing trend in our country to roll back the advancements of the civil rights movement, as well as the suffocating legislative policies toward public schools,” said Curtis Acosta, one of the Mexican American Studies teachers featured in the film documentary Precious Knowledge, which will be screened at the Schomburg Center on Saturday. ” New York schools are in a similar plight struggling with the lack of democracy under mayoral control.
Sharing the story about the attempted destruction of ethnic studies in Arizona serves as a warning to our compañeros everywhere.”

The day’s events are sponsored by a coalition of educators and community-based organizers led by New York Collective of Radical Educators, Latino Educators for New York Independent Schools and Celebrate Cesar Chavez, who have announced the start of a New York City-based grassroots campaign to both defend the Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican American Studies Program as well as to raise awareness of the struggle for ethnic studies nationally.

The schedule includes:

10-12: Special Screening for Youth

Youth from around the city will participate in a free special screening of the documentary followed by a conversation with Curtis Acosta where they brainstorm ways youth in New York City can support the struggle in Arizona as well as discuss how to bring the struggle to New York City.

3-4: Community Mixer

Youth and adults will come together to discuss ways to support the struggle for ethnic studies. A variety of local organizations will have tables to share information about educational justice issues and ways to become involved.

4-7: Special Screening for Financial Contributors

Another screening of the film will be offered to financial contributors to Save Ethnic Studies (www.SaveEthnicStudies.org), the grassroots organization in Arizona defending ethnic studies followed by a Q & A with Curtis Acosta and Maria Federico Brummer.