Anti-Americanism Disguised as Ethnic Studies in Tucson Schools

K-12 schools in Tucson are defiantly teaching Mexican-American studies despite a law that was passed this year banning the classes. The classes are not just about teaching Latino youth their history, the materials blatantly teach the students that the U.S. oppresses them and must be overthrown.

The Tucson Unified School District (TUSD) is in a contentious fight with the state of Arizona over its controversial Mexican-American Studies program. A state law went into effect in Arizona on January 1, 2011, banning the teaching of ethnic studies in K-12 schools. It was prompted by an investigation into TUSD's ethnic studies curriculum by Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne when he was State Superintendent of Schools.
The program is known as "raza studies," which means race studies, championed by organizations like the far left organization National Council of La Raza. The course does not simply teach Latino youth about their heritage, it goes well beyond that. The textbooks teach Latino youth that they are mistreated by America, training them to become radical anti-American activists. Textbooks include "The Pedagogy of the Oppressed" and "Occupied America." Another text "gloats over the difficulties our country is having at enforcing its immigration laws." Benjamin Franklin is vilified as a racist. White people are referred to as "gringos" and "oppressors" of Latino people. "Privilege" is described as related to a person's ethnicity.
At a TUSD school board meeting on May 10, one upset mother read excerpts from the textbook "An Epic Poem," including,

My land is lost and stolen, My culture has been raped....we have to destroy capitalism...overthrow a government that has committed abuses....to the bloodsuckers, the parasites, the vampires who are the capitalists of the world: The schools are tools of the power structure that blind and sentence our youth to a life of confusion, and hypocrisy, one that preaches assimilation and practices institutional racism.

Read the rest of my article at Townhall