Ramirez, Sarah

Chicana/o Studies 111

14, October 2014
Professor Zepeda

Free History
A new law has been set to keep the power and knowledge out of, what the
government thinks of as, the wrong hands. HB 2281 was passed by the state of Arizona
to ban MAS or Mexican American Studies on May 11, 2010. This law financially
punished schools 10% in the Tucsan Unified School District (TUSD) for three main
reasons. If they promoted the overthrow of the government, if they created race
resentment, and if they advocated for ethnic solidarity. In this essay, I argue that MAS is
a good program that is being misrepresented and is being unjustly banned.
I disagree with the base of reasoning that the opposition provided, that the MAS
students were being indoctrinated with socialist ideologies (Jimenez, 262). When in
reality, as Jimenez says, that the problem the politicians have with these classes is that
it teaches Mexican American students about their real history and culture. The
politicians called the classes anti-American because of the way their history might be
portrayed in the books they had banned, not only controversial books but any book with
an author that was a person of color. But the MAS program is the exact opposite from
what the politicians had been saying, opinions formed from people who had not even
attended one of the classes. The real point of the program is to reach out to all students
from all backgrounds, to promote social justice, and culture enrichment.

After the MAS program was shut down and the books were banned, the next
outrageous step was for Mexican food to be banned. All Tucson schools had to stop
serving Mexican food because they have come under reasonable suspicion for being
anti-American and must be banned in accordance to HB 2281 (Alarcon, 10). The law
seems to be a legal way for politicians to push out Mexican Americans by making them
feel like they dont belong here and to ultimately make them view themselves as
unwanted outcas. The ban on educational books that are used to teach in MAS classes
is an attack on our minds and spirits because these books only try to teach Indigenous
concepts in an attempt to reclaim a creation/resistance culture, as opposed to viewing
themselves/ourselves as foreigners or merely as U.S. minorities (Rodriguez, 15-16).
I disagree with the reasoning of the opposition that these MAS classes are only
trying to teach anti-American ideas and to overthrow the government. I believe these
classes are used to reconnect people with their history and their culture. The books that
are so called un-American are just concepts about a culture that was forgotten. The
people who believe in this law are the same people who tried to oppress a group of
people and Americanize them to be the way they wanted them to, but America should
mean freedom and to be free means to live your life the way you want to.

Works Cited
Alarcon, Francisco X. "Breaking News!" Ban This. Florida: Broken Sword Publications,
2012. 10. Print.
Rodriguez, Roberto "Dr. Cintli" "In Lak Ech, Panche Be & Hunab Ku." Ban This. Florida:
Broken Sword Publications, 2012. 15-16. Print.
Jimenez, Miguel. "Veterans Empathize." Ban This. Florida: Broken Sword Publications,
2012. 262. Print.