Say no to racism & anti-immigrant laws! Mexican/Chicano history is a right!
All People of Color have a right to study their history in Arizona & everywhere!
On January 10, 2012 the Tucson Unified School District in Arizona voted to suspend its Mexican American Studies Program after a judge ruled that it violated a new state law and could lose millions in aid for a particular school district. This is another racist message from Arizona’s elite to people of color and especially Latinos of Mexican descent. That message is: get back, get down, your lives are worth nothing to this system.
According to news sources, 60% of the 53,000 students in that school district are Latino/a. Arizona is ground zero for vile anti-immigrant legislation. Reminiscent of book burnings in Nazi Germany, after the ruling, school officials began to gather up any books that dealt with Chicano or Mexican American history. Sometimes those books were gathered up right in front of the students who had come to class to study their history.
The books in question include “500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures,” edited by Elizabeth Martinez; “Message to AZTLAN,” by Rodolfo Corky Gonzales; “Occupied America: A History of Chicanos,” by Rodolfo Acuña; “Pedagogy of the Oppressed,” by Paulo Freire and “Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years,” edited by Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson, as well as a reading by Shakespeare.
Repression breeds Resistance. A group of writers, journalists, activists and many in the literary field have heroically launched Librotraficante in Houston Texas and elsewhere. The idea of organizing a caravan to Arizona and gathering funds to take the banned books in the caravan has caught on fire like a scorched tree in a desert heat storm. It has excited Chicanos/Mexicanos, academics, students and progressive people everywhere in defiance of racism in Arizona.
In New York City, activists will gather at the New York Public Library to participate in a press conference and picket to show solidarity with Librotraficante and the people of Arizona. We will be asking for donations to send copies of the banned books on the caravan to Arizona.
Join Students, Teachers, Immigrants & Activists On
Saturday, March 10
in front of the New York Public Library, 42nd Street and 5th Avenue
For more info on Librotraficante visit http://www.librotraficante.com/
For more info on NY City event or to give a donation visit www.may1.info.
To give a donation or to endorse the call, email: MayDay2010@peoplesmail.net
The NY activity was initiated by the May 1st Coalition for Worker & Immigrant Rights.
Endorsers include (list in formation):
Alfonso Gonzales, Ph.D. Asst. Professor Lehman College; Dream Scholars; Esperanza Martell, Faculty Hunter College School of Social Work; New York State Youth Leadership Council; Occupied Wall Street Immigration Working Group; MAIZ San Jose; La Peña del Bronx; Trabajadoras por La Paz; Taller Experimental de Arte; Lucy Pagoada-Quesada (Delegate, UFT/United Federation of Teachers); Bayanihan Filipino Community Center; International Action Center; Heather Cottin, History Teacher, LaGuardia Community College, CUNY, Professional Staff Congress, AFT; Occupy 4 Jobs; Pakistan USA Freedom Forum; BAYAN USA Filipino National Organization; Community Labor United for Postal Jobs & Services
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