I couldn't help but think how apropos it was to be studying race and culture in education and then see this interview on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart: http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-april-2-2012/tucson-s-mexican-american-studies-ban?xrs=share_copy. Let me first say that I am unapologetically liberal and a fake news show which pokes fun at conservatives is right up my alley. I do think that this clip is hilarious, but it is also quite sad. It shines a light a real problem taking place in our education system. The problem is a misguided and quite often ignorant attempt to defend and perpetuate the mainstream pov of the history of our country.
Mr. Hicks explains that their decision to ban Mexican-American studies in K-12 public schools was based on heresy that those classes taught a radical version of history that would cause resentment towards white people. I was a poor ethnic girl who went to homogeneous, middle-class public schools for most of her life, there was no such thing as ethnic studies in this school district. But let me tell you, Mr. Hicks, those resentments were already there, embedded at a tender young age. A five year old can tell that they're different, and can recognize when they are being treated differently, but they don't understand why.
I'd be willing to bet that most of my teachers thought I was a nice young lady who never spoke out of line, was extremely shy but pretty smart based on my grades. What they didn't know was that my family and I were struggling: struggling to make ends meet, struggling to fit in, struggling to not get teased, struggling to control our anger, struggling to understand why the electrician was telling his boss that we didn't speak English when we so obviously did. They didn't understand that I kept my head bowed because that's what you do when you speak to an elder in my culture. They didn't understand that it pained me to have to bring a sack lunch for "school picnic days" because kids would laugh at my weird food. I was envious of those chocolate pudding cups that all the other kids had in their lunch. So one day my mom, not being able to justify spending big bucks on individual pudding cups, made pudding from a box and put it in a regular cup and wrapped plastic around it. I thought it was a pretty good solution until I got to school and all the kids laughed when they saw it. At least with the lunches in the cafeteria I was eating what most everyone else was and no one knew that the lunch ticket I gave the cafeteria lady was free. I think I'm starting to digress.
My point is that kids recognize race, gender, and socio-economic status. Kids are not color-blind and neither should we be. I was shy because I was too scared to talk in school. I was sure that I would say something wrong and would once again be the subject of ridicule. By the time I reached junior high I had already been called a chink and a nigger, and the kids already recognized that I wore Odidas instead of Adidas and the same red sweatshirt everyday during the winter (its not like I had many options). With all this bad attention already, why would I do anything to seek more?
Perhaps if school subjects, especially history, were taught to include the roles and perspectives of other races and cultures, then maybe the other kids would have been more understanding of my quirks. Or maybe not. All I know is that I harboured this resentment towards "normal" white people until I started to understand the world around me more. My Intro to American Politics professor blew my mind when he insinuated that the government wasn't always fair and welcoming towards immigrants. Subsequent professors continued to demolish my understanding of American history when brought to light America's history of institutionalized racism. Growing up, I was lead to believe that America was the land of the free, that everyone was equal, and that the government (slavery aside) always tried to protect that. Though that is what most of us want to believe, it wasn't how it was and it isn't how it is. It is policies like Tuscon's ban of Mexican-American studies, among many other things, that reminds me that the government isn't always ready to support the marginalized.
Learning a culturally comprehensive account of history didn't cause me to more deeply resent white people and the government. It did the opposite. Being able to better understand how society became the way it is, injustices and all, helped me to connect with America. It gave my immigrant ass some roots in this country, something I so desperately desired. It also gave me a love of learning. I could barely pass a history class let alone show any interest in it before I started studying the history of race and oppression. Now I feel like a true American, not because I am blindly patriotic, but because I feel like I understand it better. I may not like everything about it, but I love its ideology. I like that people who care enough and are willing to speak out can help make a difference and help shape the country that they love. Just look to history, look to Martin Luther King Jr., look to Rosa Parks (ahem...not Clark), look to the black and white students who protested segregation, look to the Third World Liberation Front's success at helping to establish Ethnic Studies in San Francisco and Berkeley, look to women's rights, just look.
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