Ethnic Studies Teachers Sue to Reinstate La Raza Programs

Ashley Thorne – Arizona banned La Raza studies courses from its schools earlier this year, but eleven ethnic studies teachers are fighting to bring the radical programs back.

In May of this year, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed HB 2281, a bill that, effective January 2011, “prohibits a school district or charter school from including courses or classes that either promote the overthrow of the United States government or promote resentment toward a race or class of people.” But on October 18, eleven teachers who have formed a group called Save Ethnic Studies filed a lawsuit claiming that this ban is a suppression of free speech.

The overthrow-resentment courses in question were known as “La Raza studies” (the name was changed last year to “Mexican-American studies”). I first looked into these programs, housed in the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD), two years ago in “Protecting the Prickly: La Raza Studies.” An Argus volunteer, a grandfather, had directed my attention to these classes for elementary school students. The more I researched, the more troubling material I found.

La Raza, I noted, means “The Race.” Members of MEChA (which stands for “Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan” and means “Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan”) identify themselves as “La Raza.” MEChA is a Chicano organization dedicated to overthrowing the white man and regaining control of “Aztlan”—the Southwest region of the United States. MEChA’s slogan is “Por La Raza, todo. Fuera de La Raza, nada” (“For the race, everything. Outside the race, nothing”).

http://www.nas.org/polArticles.cfm?Doc_Id=1639

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Ethnic Studies Teachers Sue to Reinstate La Raza Programs

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