A close friend and comrade of mine is an educator in Tucson, Arizona. As the battle over multiethnic education wages on, she repeatedly demands, “Remember us in Tucson!” It is imperative that we keep Arizona on our minds; these efforts against ethnic studies are wrapped up in the other major struggle of the southwest: immigration. SB1070, the staunchly anti-immigrant bill, recently reached its one year anniversary; Huffington Post reporter Victoria M. DeFrancesco Soto discusses its beginnings as a Tea Party stimulant and its recent defeat, due in part to the economic toll it has cost Arizonians already. DeFrancesco Soto also lists the anti-immigration bills that have been introduced to Arizona in 2011; she states, “The targeting of immigrants from 2010 grew into an assault on their sons and daughters.” To this end, the vehement effort to end ethnic studies comes as no surprise.

Continue reading “Remember Us in Tucson: The Battle Over Ethnic Studies in Arizona”