Saphire
Miramontes
Dr.
Brown
English
306
26
April 2016
The Chicano Movement meets Tucson
Introduction
Education in America is thought to
be one of most progressive on the globe. According to the 14th
Amendment, all individuals have a right to an equal education under the
Constitution of the United States of America. The equal right entitles all
people to have a similar educational experience regardless of age, race, and
gender (U.S. Constitution). Starting at the age of three and four, young
children are placed into a Pre-Kindergarten program to learn colors, shapes,
numbers, and basic communication words and phrases. By the time students leave
elementary and middle school they are expected to read, write, and have
problem-solving skills. In high school, these students are encouraged to think
for themselves as they apply their problem solving skills towards real life
scenarios. Eventually, by the age of 18, youth are expected to be functional
members of society, with a right to vote and even live on their own. In
America, the educational experience leaves a lasting impact on students that
will later influence their future. For example, if an individual had a great
scholastic experience, they are more likely to be successful; and vice versa.
In this research analysis, a look at
the relationship of education and Chicanos will take place. For the purpose of
this analysis, it is important to point out that the words, “Chicano and
Mexican” will be used interchangeably as they represent the same identity.
Moreover, a clear focus is placed on Chicano students in education because they
are experiencing an intense level of racism as their educational rights are placed
under attack as a result of decisions made by school board administrators. As a
culture, Chicanos are a marginalized group of people that have been
historically forced to assimilate to American culture for reasons unclear to
them; until now.
In the past, the ultimate goal of
education in America was to Americanize students of the Chicano, Black, and
Asian descent. Americans very much feared that minorities would one day become
more superior to them and they would no longer have power. From this
standpoint, one can see that Americans knew from early on that having an
education would be the strongest weapon against the oppressor. Also, by
Americanizing these students, their culture and history would be erased,
destroyed, and eventually non-existent to the memory of all people. Society has
experienced this level of oppression once again in a Tucson protest relating
ethnic studies, Chicano students, and Tucson Unified School District
Administrators. Therefore, in the following sections, historical context of the
Chicano Movement, rhetorical context of the Tucson Mexican American Studies
protest, and an artifact analysis will take place.
Historical Context
In order to understand what the Chicano
Movement is, we must first define the word “Chicano” on its own. Historically
in United States, the word Chicano, during the 1960s “[…] elevated from its
1920s denotation of working-class Mexican immigrants, and from the slang of the
1940s and 1950s when it was substituted for Mexicano,
to symbolize the realization of a newfound and unique identity” (Rosales 82).
Though many people at the time argued that the word was demeaning to Mexican
people; others like Las Adelitas (female camp followers and soldiers during the
Mexican Revolution) opposed this claim. They argued, “We always referred to
ourselves as Chicanos… We gave it to ourselves, the Anglos did not…” (Rosales
83). Las Adelitas were suggesting that the Chicano community embrace their
cultural identity to reclaim the word and any negative connotation it may have
carried in the past. Moreover, the word “Anglo” describes a white American of
non-Hispanic descent (including Spaniards but not Brazilians); whereas Chicano
is anyone with Mexican descent (excluding Spaniards).
The need for this new identity is a result
of constant pressure for Chicanos to assimilate to American culture and society.
As time progressed into the 1970s, more and more Chicanos were educating
themselves to be aware of the intentions of Americans that took interest in
incorporating Chicano history into American text books (MacDonald and Hoffman).
This quickly became a hot topic for Chicanos because many of the younger
generations were facing more levels of racism and discrimination in schools
during the segregation period compared to previous decades (Gonzalez 30).
According to Gonzalez (1990), based on the ideologies of educators and school
administrators, “[…] Americanization was the prime objective of the education
of Mexican children” (30). The concept behind that mentality was to acculturate
the Mexican children so that they would not challenge American beliefs, expectations,
and success. 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).
Once younger generations of Chicanos used
their identity to fight for their place in schools, it was like taking one step
forward and two steps back for them. For example, as described by author
Gilbert Gonzalez during the 1970’s (1990):
Americanization
teachers viewed immigrant communities as threats to the well-being of society.
The immigrants and their cultures became the locus of destabilizing influences
in society for supporters of Americanization. With such negative frame of mind
toward the immigrant community, these practitioners launched Americanization
programs throughout the Southwest (35).
From
this moment in the 1970s, the Chicano Movement began to flourish with more
emphasis on the aspect of Chicano education and Mexican American Studies (MAS)
programs to provide more opportunities for Chicano students to succeed. Mexican
American Studies, is an ethnic focused curricula that emphasizes Mexican
culture, traditions, and lessons. In Aguirre’s work Colonialism and the Chicano Community (1974), he mentions that “It
is also a well-known fact that schools in the barrios tend to be inadequate
both faculty and teaching wise. A recent State Supreme court decision found
that schools in the poorer districts which provide inferior education violate
the child’s constitutional rights to equal education” (20). Chicano students were
being deprived of resources that would help them be successful as scholars in
comparison to students of other races.
Moving forward to the 1980s until
now, the new mentality of Chicanos in education is suddenly enamored by the
idea that “The Chicano Movement has brought too many of us together, and we
have become too strong to be completely silenced or dismissed” (Hammerback,
Jensen, and Gutierrez 171). Thus, upon this 30 year progression of the Chicano
Movement in education, a temporary halt transpired because of the radical
decision made by a Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) Administrator to
remove MAS from curriculum and class lists for high school students in Tucson,
Arizona. The Chicano Movement as a whole, is deeply rooted in the success of
Chicanos in education and occupations; therefore, as a movement, a
smaller-scale focus was placed on Tucson because there was no longer going to
be an equal right to education and success for all Chicano students without an MAS
program.
As researchers, Meier and Stewart (1991)
put it, “…the American educational system has tried to Americanize Hispanics,
thus undercutting support for their language and culture. The final and most
important similarity is that educational policies affecting Hispanic students
reflect the realities of the political system” (83). Reflecting on the previous
claim, United States politics teaches citizens to show little value on the
culture of immigrants which minimizes the opportunity for cultural awareness
and cultural expression for all individuals. Having to fight against a system
created to destroy them, Chicano students had now gained a new drive to end the
oppression set upon them indefinitely.
Between the years 1990-2010, there
was an inconsistent move away from Mexican American Studies, depending on who
was on the teaching and administration staff of the school in different moments
in time. Tucson Unified School District’s MAS protest developed from the
decision of the state superintendent at the time named Tom Horne and later
carried on by his successor, John Huppenthal, in the year 2010 to eliminate MAS
programs from all high schools in their district (Cabrera). According to journal
author, Melinda Anderson (2016), during Huppenthal’s district campaign for TUSD
he stated his desire to, “‘stop la raza’ […] — that is, the people of Mexican
descent in Arizona” from succeeding at all costs. Following his victory of
being elected into his position as a TUSD Administrator, Huppenthal was now
working towards his goal to eliminate the MAS program as it was a cultural
threat to the Anglo students (Cammarota). However, many of these Anglo students
never reported any threat or racial provoking from their Chicano peers.
The main speakers of the Tucson
Unified School District MAS protest were a student led group known as UNIDOS (United
Non-Discriminatory Individuals Demanding Our Studies, established in 2012) and
their counter-part being the TUSD administrators (Planas). In regards to Leland
Griffin’s work The Rhetoric of Historical
Movement (1952), a protest moves generally in three stages: inception,
crisis, consummation. As part of the larger Chicano Movement, this protest is
in the crisis stage as both sides, UNIDOS and TUSD, are both battling out the
decision that was made regarding the MAS program.
Further in this paper, a large focus will
be placed on the rhetorical acts of the UNIDOS students to raise awareness of
the educational injustice that is occurring in their school district. Therefore,
placing the Mexican American Studies protest development past the inception
stage and resting on the stage of crisis. As a result of their constitutional
rights being violated, seen in Amendment 14 of the United States constitution
and explained further in the next section of analysis, Tucson Unified School
District’s Chicano students are protesting the historical context of
marginalization and Americanization forced upon them by their school
administrators. This protest is part of the larger Chicano Movement because it
is working to empower the Chicano community, as well as gain equal treatment
and opportunity specifically for Chicano students. Historically, the Chicano
Movement goes to show how Chicanos have been disadvantaged in America because
of their deep connection to their rich heritage; when in reality, much of
American society stems from a variety of diverse cultures.
Rhetorical Analysis
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 protection and
rights to education and opportunity regardless of race, gender, or religion.
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 throughout the United States which has resulted in
loss of talent and role models for next generation Chicanos. It is important to
point out that without MAS programs, there is a lack of opportunities in
education which perpetuates lower numbers of Chicano teachers and school
administrators for Chicano students to look up to. 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. Diversity
is defined as representation of multiple races and ethnicities (Cammarota); in
this protest a lack of diversity was present.
On April 26, 2011 the school board hosted
a meeting to discuss their consensus to dismantle the MAS program; on this day,
the school board 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). As the nine UNIDOS students were chained to
the chairs in the front of the boardroom, supporters of the UNIDOS were standing,
chanting, and fist pumping with them in the crowd around the room. 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 as professionals and
policy makers was 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. Common ground
for both sides would be administration wanting what was beneficial for all
students; needless to say, there was no common ground for the two identities to
agree or settle on because the administration only wanted what was best for
their White students. 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.
Movement Artifacts
As previously mentioned, there are two
primary identities involved in the Mexican American Studies protest in Tucson,
Arizona. The first being the TUSD administrators for making the decision to
invalidate the MAS program from their high schools; and the second being the
Chicano student group known as the UNIDOS that were protesting to protect their
ethnic studies. These passionate students found themselves doing research and
evaluations of past protest strategies of the Civil Rights Movement to achieve
rhetorical victory for themselves. At the same time, the TUSD administrators
were working to achieve the same accomplishment and also to save their
reputation as professionals in the school setting. The following section will
further analyze the UNIDOS use of chaining themselves and chanting in the same
board room that TUSD administrators called upon Tucson Police Department (TPD)
for security on April 26, 2011 as forms of movement artifacts.
The scene started off when nine
students heard of the board meeting that was going to take place with all
Tucson Unified School District administrators to discuss the rapid decision of
state superintendent Tom Horne to remove MAS. Already ignited with anger and
frustration the UNIDOS decided they would make an appearance that was going to
have their voices essentially be heard by the school board. Since board
meetings were open to the community, the students began to invite and inform
others of their plan to invade the meeting and find themselves a seat that no
one else could take from them. Some of the TUSD educators caught glimpse of
this plan and helped the district administrators seek help from the Tucson
Police Department to prepare for the worst case scenario.
Upon the morning of April 26, 2011,
the UNIDOS made their first move right as the doors opened. Running into the
facility with chains wrapped around their wrists and interlocked within one
another, the nine UNIDOS were able to move past police officers, board room
security guards, and Tucson Unified School District staff (Cabrera). Battling shoves
and dodging the screaming threats of officials, these board room warriors were
able to sit in solidarity against the TUSD administrators (Cabrera). Once they
were able to settle in their seat and chain themselves to the chairs, the
UNIDOS raised their linked wrists and smiled at the crowd with great cultural
pride. They proceeded to show enthusiasm and dedication to their protest by
chanting in unison, “Our education is under attack. What do we do? Fight back!”
(Cabrera). Not only did those nine students gain respect from their peers, they
gained support from parents, family, and friends that were also part of the
cultural community of Tucson.
On the other side of the fence, the
Tucson Unified School District found it in their best interest to reach out to
the Tucson Police Department for help with the situation at hand. TPD found it
necessary to respond by providing K-9 units, bomb squad patrol officers, and a
hovering helicopter (Cabrera) to observe the outside area. Inside of the school
boardroom, security was hired to prevent students from passing the doors to
find seats before administrators. As seen in Three Sonorans News, “Unidos take over TUSD school board”
(2011), two grown men dressed as security and possibly TPD took on several high
school students with strong force but lost the scuffle as the UNIDOS
outnumbered them as they charged ahead into their seats. Michael Hicks amongst
other board members witnessed first-hand that, “The meeting [was] cancelled, no
vote [took] place, and the students [were] victorious!” (Three Sonorans News).
Looking closely at the identities of
UNIDOS and TUSD administration, a clear divide occurred that shocked the
community and resulted in unanimity for most people. The UNIDOS found a sense
of identity within one another which reflects the meaning of their name
“UNIDOS.” From Spanish to English, “unidos” translates to “united” which
happens to be the first word in their name’s acronym, United Non-Discriminatory
Individuals Demanding Our Studies (Cabrera). The founders of this student-led
group, UNIDOS, are all Chicanos and pride themselves in learning and sharing
stories of heritage, traditions, and survival ways of living with their peers,
family, and community. Mexican American Studies does not only provide
historical knowledge, it provides confidence to the normally marginalized group
of Chicano students (Meier and Stewart). Thus, by the UNIDOS chaining
themselves to their seats and chanting words that show how bound they are to
their ethnic studies, their motive becomes clear; by saving their ethnic
studies, they were saving themselves from education system failure.
As for the Tucson Unified School
District administrators, their professionalism as policy makers was challenged
during the protest as they continually showed dismissive behavior towards the
demands of their Chicano students. Leaders within this identity such as Tom
Horne, John Huppenthal, and Michael Hicks, refused to address the issue with
the UNIDOS via open dialogue at the school board meeting on April 26th (Three
Sonoran News). Tucson Unified School District only showed unity with the Tucson
Police Department (Cabrera) which further demonstrated their lack of connection
with their students leaving them in no place to properly make or destroy a
policy with a one-sided perspective. Consequently, without any school district
administrator releasing a statement or rebuttal to the rhetorical actions of
the UNIDOS, silence was taken heavily and triumph was seen to be of the Chicano
students and not of TUSD.
To conclude this section, it is
important to evaluate the effectiveness of the movement articles used by the
UNIDOS and TUSD. For the Chicano students in the UNIDOS group, the use of
chains and their chant was extremely effective because they were able to gain
two things from it. One being community support and the second being a voice
that would finally be heard by their TUSD administrators. These two artifacts
really tied into their identity as Chicano students because they showed their
district administrators that they were taking responsibility of their education
and success in the classroom by protesting the decision to remove Mexican
American Studies from their schools. Tucson Unified School District only used
the Tucson Police Department as a movement artifact which ended up dwindling
their effectiveness and success. Nevertheless, TUSD administrators lost
community support and reliability as policy makers for their district since
they failed to show interest in the needs and wants of their students. As local
authoritative figures, TUSD’s movement artifact tied to their identity because the
administrators sought out help from other authoritative figures in the
community to help maintain their status and protection under the law.
Conclusion
As a
whole, the Tucson Unified School District’s Mexican American Studies protest
served as a learning experience for both sides, the UNIDOS and the school board
administrators. The UNIDOS learned that by doing their own research on civil
rights and patterns of behavior within the realm of education, they were able
to be successful in protesting their school board to bring back MAS to their
curricula. As for the TUSD administrators, the lesson learned was that they
needed to reconvene with the UNIDOS to reevaluate their decision of removing
MAS to better meet the needs of their students. The UNIDOS took responsibility
of their education and their future success by showing the negative effects of
removing Mexican American Studies; meanwhile, TUSD refused to take
responsibility for their radical decision that would continue to haunt them as
policy makers and educational leaders within their community.
Looking
towards the future after the April 26, 2011 boardroom protest, the UNIDOS were
able to claim their final victory by the getting the Mexican American Studies
program back to their school after a year and half of fighting (Cabrera). This
victory over the TUSD administrators ties into the bigger picture of the
Chicano Movement because it allows the students to feel empowered through their
ethnic studies and cultural pride. The entire purpose of the Chicano Movement
is to help Chicano individuals do better than previous generations; which in
turn is the reason activist of this movement decided to bring this protest
under their wing to help the UNIDOS further succeed.
Lastly,
there are some theoretical takeaways of this TUSD Mexican American Studies
protest that are identity based. As mentioned previously, there is research to show
how minorities, especially Chicanos, are discouraged and often underqualified
by educational standards in comparison to their White counter parts. Which in
retrospect, much of Chicano history in the United States was compromised with a
colonial approach to Americanizing education and Chicano students. By doing so,
the effects of Americanization resulted in student failure, lack of diversity
and cultural awareness, and the idea of racial colorblindness that is
considered to be a modern form of racism. Overall, the Chicano students have
earned their right to protest their need for Mexican American Studies at their
school, as well as a much anticipated apology from their Tucson Unified School
District Administrators for being unjust in their decision making processes.
Works Cited
Aguirre, Manuel E. Colonialism and the Chicano
Community. San José, CA: Marfel
Associates, 1974. Print.
Anderson, Melinda D. "The Ongoing Battle Over
Ethnic Studies." The Atlantic. Atlantic
Media Company, 7 Mar.
2016. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
Cabrera, Nolan L., Elisa L. Meza, and Roberto
Rodriguez. "The Fight for Mexican
American Studies in
Tucson." NACLA. NACLA, Nov.-Dec. 2011. Web. 31 Mar.
2016.
Cammarota, Julio. "Challenging Colorblindness In
Arizona: Latina/O Students’
Counter-Narratives Of
Race And Racism." Multicultural Perspectives 16.2
(2014): 79-85. Academic
Search Complete. Web. 30 Mar. 2016
"Educational System Fails Chicano Students at
Every Level” Diverse:
Issues in Higher
Education. CMA, 24 Mar. 2006. Web. 31 Mar. 2016.
Gonzalez,
Gilbert G. Chicano Education in the Era of Segregation. Philadelphia:
Balch Institute, 1990. Print.
Griffin,
Leland. "The Rhetoric of Historical Movements." Readings in the
Rhetoric of Social
Protest.
Browne, Stephen Howard, and Charles E. Morris, eds. State College, Pa Strata
Publishing, Inc. Print.
Hammerback,
John C., Richard J. Jensen, and José Angel. Gutiérrez. A War of Words:
Chicano Protest in the 1960s and 1970s.
Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1985. Print.
MacDonald,
Victoria-MarÃa, and Benjamin Polk Hoffman. "'Compromising La Causa?':
The Ford Foundation And Chicano
Intellectual Nationalism In The Creation Of
Chicano History, 1963-1977." History
Of Education Quarterly 52.2 (2012):
251-281. Academic Search Complete.
Web. 26 Mar. 2016.
Meier,
Kenneth J., and Joseph Stewart. The Politics of Hispanic Education: Un Paso
Pa'Lante
y Dos Pa'Tras. Albany: State University of New York
Press, 1991. Web. 26 Mar. 2016.
Planas,
Roque. "Why ‘Book Ban' Is The Right Term For What Arizona Did To
Mexican-American Studies." The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 26
Sept. 2014. Web. 30 Mar. 2016
Rosales, Francisco A. Dictionary of Latino Civil
Rights History. Houston, TX: Arte
Público, 2006. Print.
Solorzano, Daniel G., and Ronald W. Solorzano.
"The Chicano Educational Experience:
A Framework for Effective
Schools in Chicano Communities." Educational
Policy 9.3
(1995): 293-314. Web.
Three Sonorans News. “UNIDOS takes over TUSD school board.” Online video clip.
YouTube.
YouTube, 27 Apr. 2011. Web. 31 March. 2016.
U.S. Constitution.
Art./Amend. XIV, Sec. 1.
