Engaging Hot-Button Issues Through the Arts:

The Battle for Chicano Studies in Arizona.

Or

Imagined Histories, Possible Futures: A Time-Travel Narrative Concerning The Cultural Practices of the Mestizo Peoples of the mysterious and faraway Southwestern Territories.

April 26, 2011. Tucson Unified School District Board Meeting Where a Wild Band of Multi-Cultural Youth Rise in Rebellion Against a Wily Board Plot.

http://youtu.be/JBWv-VTaLUg

A SCHOOL DISTRICT OR CHARTER SCHOOL IN THIS STATE SHALL NOT INCLUDE IN ITS PROGRAM OF INSTRUCTION ANY COURSES OR CLASSES THAT INCLUDE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING:

-PROMOTE THE OVERTHROW OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT.

-PROMOTE RESENTMENT TOWARD A RACE OR CLASS OF PEOPLE.

-ARE DESIGNED PRIMARILY FOR PUPILS OF A PARTICULAR ETHNIC GROUP.

-ADVOCATE ETHNIC SOLIDARITY INSTEAD OF THE TREATMENT OF PUPILS AS INDIVIDUALS.

Arizona House Bill 2281

CB (Chicano Bill) 1970

ANY PUBLIC PRESENTATION, FILM,

OR THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE ABOUT

THE MEXICAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY THE ROCK GROUP EL CHICANO'S RENDITION

OF VIVA TIRADO. http://youtu.be/ndjqEA37CSY

1200-1521 CE: The Aztec Empire thrives in present-day central Mexico, pioneering the use of unattractive crossover sport utility vehicles.

A Historical Background of Absolute and Unquestionable Truth

1492 CE: Christopher Columbus discovers the fabled Western route to Asia: Get lost, stumble upon the present-day Bahamas, and call it Asia.

1500 CE: A group of Aztec conceptual artists begin surreptitiously adding images of human sacrifice to public art as a critique of “spectacle-obsessed entertainment

culture”.

1520 CE: The Aztec capital city of Tenochitlán suffers a sharp decline after Ullamaliztli player LeBrontl Jamestli takes his talents to Acapulco.

1521 CE: Hernan Cortes wins the Viceroyship in an election marred by the use of confusing Papalotl ballots. The country pretty much goes downhill.

Transmission From A Future Culture

http://www.razastudies.org/index.php/action/

U.S. Census 2010…And Beyond

Total U.S. Population: 309 MillionPopulation of Hispanic Origin: 16 %

Projected Hispanic Origin Population 2050: 29%

Projected Hispanic Origin as Percentage of Total U.S. Growth: 60%

Source: Pew Hispanic Center

Arizona Population 2010: 6.5 Million

Hispanic or Latino Origin: 30%

Under 18 Population 2010: 1.63 Million

Under 18 Hispanic or Latino Origin: 46%

Pima County Population 2010: 980,000

Hispanic or Latino Origin: 35%

Source: http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/04000.html

Tucson Unified School District

2010 100th Day Enrollment: 53,000

Hispanic Origin: 60%

Source: http://tusdstats.tusd.k12.az.us

MAS Enrollment, April 2011: 1,300

Hispanic Origin: 90%

Source: Cambium Learning Audit of TUSD Mexican American Studies Program, 2011

Ancient Aztec art provides hidden messages for the present.

http://youtu.be/6qnHBXUx7eI

1978: Lawsuit against TUSD citing discriminatory practices results in Federal Court-ordered desegregation program. The court order remains in place until 2008 and TUSD remains under order to produce a follow-up plan.

1979: Mexican-American Playwright and Director Luis Valdez Debuts “Stylish and culturally-specific WWII-era clothing used as a symbol for the Mexican-American community and its struggles against institutionalized racism”. The play fails to catch on.

A Local History of Undisputed Accuracy and Complete Objectivity

1997: The Chicano Raza Mexican-American Studies (CREMA) department is formalized due to student and community advocacy and a Sponsorship from Avon, but most people just call it the MAS (Mexican-American Studies) department. Ethnic Studies programs at the district level already include African-American Studies and Native American Studies courses and soon grow to include Asian/Pacific American Studies courses.

A Local History Cont'd...

An Odd, Unusual, and Addictive Phenomenon Known as “Facebook”

http://www.facebook.com/ocotillopoetryslam

2006: During a period of heavy student activism connected to the immigration reform rallies, labor and civil rights activist Dolores Huerta appears at TUSD flagship and MAS hotbed Tucson Magnet High School and ignites controversy by stating that “Republicans hate Latinos”. Some still believe to this day that she really said “Republicans ate at Tino's”, a snooty upscale Pizzeria on the East Side. Nevertheless, the words catch the attention of Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, a Republican.

A Local History Cont'd...

2006-2010: Horne openly targets the TUSD MAS program for elimination and explicitly uses this issue in political campaign materials while running for Attorney General.

A Local History Cont'd

http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/2010/12/26/hb2281-countdown-lessons-day-6/

May 2010: HB 2281 signed into law (same session as SB 1070). The law targets one specific program in one specific school district: MAS in TUSD. The penalty for failing to comply with the law is 10% of state funding. The power to decide compliance rests in the hands of Two persons: the Superintendent of Public Instruction and his Henchman Igor.

A History

The Actions of May 7, 2010

http://laeastside.com/2010/05/24-hour-vigil-to-save-ethnic-studies-in-az/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ian-moss/a-peoples-history-of-ariz_b_580699.html

October 2010: 11 MAS teachers initiate a federal lawsuit against the State. The Suit is ongoing.

November 2010: Horne elected Attorney General. John Huppenthal, Republican, is elected Superintendent of Public Instruction on promise to “Stop La Raza”, La Raza being a nagging opponent in Call of Duty Online.

A Local History, Cont'd...

Dispatches

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150182018842709&set=o.158543037492133&type=3&theater

http://www.nycore.org/2011/09/preciousknowledge/

Early 2011: Superintendant Huppenthal orders an audit to gather evidence of MAS non-complicance. The audit finds no evidence of violation of state law in the MAS program. Huppenthal finds MAS in non-compliance with State law.

April-May 2011: Students and the community protest at TUSD board meeting after learning of board intentions to bow to State demands and Dismantle the MAS program. These Protests prompt the District to Appeal Huppenthal's Findings....

Where It Stands...

September-October 2011: Administrative Law Judge takes up the issue of TUSD vs. State Department of Education. This hearing does not challenge the law, only the interpretation of the law.

November 2011: Administrative Law Judge to make a non-binding recommendation. Huppenthal will likely find TUSD in non-compliance regardless of the Judge’s finding, meaning that the teacher’s federal lawsuit will begin in earnest.

Where It Stands...

A Preview of The Future…From The Past

African-American Jazz Keyboardist Gerald Wilson’s original 1962 version of Viva

Tirado, inspired by trips to Tijuana with his wife Josefina.

http://youtu.be/0-xvvZUUEEM

Possible Futures

http://tucsoncitizen.com/three-sonorans/2011/05/10/unidos-youth-coalition-denounces-tusd’s-actions/

Possible Futures

2014: The Youth School Board becomes a reality as MAS students and alumni mobilize and propel a youth slate to victory.

2019: After a genetic study determines that maybe about 1.3% of Chicanos are actually of Aztec descent, Chicano Artists, T-shirt makers, and the Mexican restaurant calendar industry are sued for millions of counts of copyright infringement.

Possible Futures

2050: People of Hispanic Origin Are the majority of the U.S. Population shattering all previous projections; they’ve been mixing like crazy. “Brown” is formally added as a race in U.S. Census form just to make it easier on everyone.

20??: The First Latino/a U.S. President, an Ethnic Studies alum, is elected. Ethnic Studies are now known simply as Studies.