Chicano Movement - Rhetorical Context

Rhetorical Analysis

            The Chicano Movement, specifically in Tucson, Arizona, has a lot of support from the community to bring back Mexican American Studies to Tucson Unified School District. This could be considered a result of the community demographics being mostly Chicano. As a whole, Tucson is considered to be a border town since it is in close proximity of the Nogales, Sonora, Mexico and Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico. According to Daniel and Roland Solorzano (1995) there is an underrepresentation of Chicanos in the educational and professional pipeline which has resulted in loss of talent and role models for next generation Chicanos. Having a lack of diversity in faculty can cause in a disconnection between minority students and school staff; thus, allowing room for misunderstanding the intentions of Chicano students in their demand for MAS to be brought back to their schools.

            As claimed by many of the active students in the group, UNIDOS, the protest emerged from the moment of inception on December 30, 2010. On this day, the state superintendent at the time, Tom Horne, decided that the Tucson Unified School Districts MAS program was, “out of compliance with A.R.S. § 15-112 (introduced as HB 2281)—a law enacted in May 2010 that effectively banned the teaching of ethnic studies in Arizona’s K–12 schools and primarily targeted TUSD Mexican American Studies” (Cabrera). This law was in direct contrast of the United States of America Constitution, Amendment 14 which states that all students are allowed equal rights to education and opportunity regardless of race, gender, or religion.

On April 26, 2011 the school board hosted a meeting to discuss their consensus to dismantle the MAS program; on this day, they met their match. The UNIDOS chained themselves to chairs in the boardroom so that their voices would finally be heard by the administrators with support of the Tucson Chicano community (Cabrera). Nolan Cabrera, a well-known researcher, professor, and activist at the University of Arizona (2011) quotes a member of the UNIDOS:

“We felt that if we didn’t do something [on April 26], then our history would be erased. This action was needed to stop the vote and to save our roots from being slashed away. We knew what this action entailed when we decided to go through with it. Arrest was definitely something we knew could happen, but we felt this action was needed. If we didn’t stand up for what we believed in, then who would? Our job as citizens is to stop unjust laws or be pushed around unjustly. And we chose to take a stand no matter the consequences.”

Thus, these students were practicing their civic responsibility to voice their opinions and demands from Arizona politicians as they had been taught in school and by the government.

Moreover, this student’s analysis of their protest strategy rhetorically appeals to logos because the logistics of their actions allowed a reaction from the school board to reschedule and reconsider their decision to eliminate the program (Cabrera). According to Three Sonorans News (2011) the UNIDOS appealed to pathos in their protest by chaining themselves to the seats and chanting, “Our education is under attack. What do we do? Fight back!” Lastly, in attempt to appeal to ethos, the UNIDOS “[…] met on the weekends and studied the teachings of the Zapatistas, the Black Panthers, and Dr. King. They focused on redefining the term resistance, and worked to become critical analysts and media strategists who could create the space for other youth to become politically engaged” (Cabrera). All three of the persuasive appeals used, reflect the rhetorical goal of saving the MAS program within Tucson Unified School District.

In addition, a social goal for the UNIDOS at the time was to gain community support so that their voice would have enough pull to be listened to. Moreover, the legislative and political goal of the UNIDOS was to gain enough credibility as an opponent so that “Educators, policy makers, community leaders and other stakeholders […]” (Diverse) would give them their attention and time to discuss communal issues. With such progressive goals, community members assessed their positionality in the protest by supporting either the UNIDOS or the TUSD school board.

In this Mexican American Studies protest two main identities are seen. The first being Chicano community surrounding the Tucson Unified School District and the second being the TUSD school administrators. The Tucson community stood in solidarity with the Chicano students in their mission to bring back ethnic studies to their schools. Thus, the founding of the group known as UNIDOS. UNIDOS was founded in January 2011 by nine students that had the courage to stand up during a TUSD board meeting to practice their right to “defend ethnic studies, and Mexican American Studies in particular” (Cabrera). These students are seen as “grassroots, radical youth” (Cabrera) because of their strategy to chain themselves and chant in the boardroom was beyond their years and traced to the Civil Rights Movement sit-ins. As moments passed, many individuals caught wind of what was happening and automatically identified with the oppressed UNIDOS students and showed support by joining them (Cabrera). This identity is essential to the protest because without them, TUSD would have relinquished MAS without hesitation and severed equal education opportunities for all students.

The second identity from the protest is the Tucson Unified School District administrators. These are individuals like state superintendent, Tom Horne and his successor John Huppenthal, as well as all other school board members and educators. Their role in the protest was to remove sections of curricula and ban any books regarding ethnic studies because they felt it was offensive, demeaning, and threating to the Anglo students (Cabrera). These officials believed that Mexican American Studies was teaching Chicano students how to overthrow the government and how to essentially hate White people. The identity of the TUSD administrators was being tested because the Chicano community was challenging them to show how their decision was constitutional and ethical by showing the effects of depriving students of equal education and opportunity.

In this way, the two identified groups use their goals to distinguish what is important to them as an outcome of the Mexican American Studies protest. The Chicano community, unified with the UNIDOS student group, used their research and cultural pride to motivate them to bring back MAS to TUSD. Meanwhile, Tucson Unified School District administrators utilized their power as policy makers and district leaders to diminish the existence of MAS with support of government policy. There was no common ground for the two identities to agree or settle on. The outcome was solely based on the decision of the TUSD administrators to allow the return of the MAS program, or keep their decision of having it banned from their district until further notice. In a perfect world of politics, the influence of the community to have the administration change their decision would be enough; however, the TUSD school board demonstrated signs of unwillingness to revoke their decision.

Key terms that evolved from the protest and were defined by Chicanos individuals from the Chicano Movement are: acculturation, diversity, Chicano and Anglo, and Mexican American Studies. The first word, acculturation, is defined as forced adaptation to one culture over another to “unify” everyone. The issue with this concept is that in its attempt to get rid of “othering” minorities, it is developing a sense of colorblindness that has the reverse effect, which is enabling “racism” (Aguirre 17). Diversity is defined as representation of multiple races and ethnicities (Cammarota); in this protest a lack of diversity was present. The word Anglo describes a white American of non-Hispanic descent (includes Spaniards but not Brazilians); whereas Chicano is anyone with Mexican descent (excludes Spaniards). Finally, Mexican American Studies, is an ethnic focused curricula that emphasizes Mexican culture, traditions, and lessons. All of these key terms are important to the protest because they mirror the purpose and goals of the Chicano students in the UNIDOS group to keep MAS in their school district.

Works Cited

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