NO REST FOR THE AWAKE - MINAGAHET CHAMORRO

Published on Friday, December 30, 2011 by CultureStrike Ethnic Studies Ruling Escalates Arizona Schools Struggle by Michelle Chen While students were on their holiday break, Arizona issued a disturbing wake-up call to anyone who thought the education system had evolved to reflect America’s diversity. In a legal challenge to a controversial law passed in 2010, an administrative law judge pummeled a flagship educational initiative by supporting restrictions on programs based on Latino history and culture. Tucson students occupy a school board meeting  The judge decided that the curriculum used in Tucson’s Mexican American studies programs was biased against white people, apparently because it advocates critical historical perspectives and emphasizes struggles of indigenous and Latino communities, as well as the links between that legacy and contemporary politics. The ruling comes as no surprise, as the struggle between the school district and school superintendent

I often use militarism or militarization as negative terms, concepts which describe things that I don't like or wish to see less of, but in truth, the terms are not inherently wrong. Both are terms which are meant to describe a way of bringing into being aspects of a conversation all societies have, the key points of which deal with security, fear, love, peace, borders and other things which are fundamentally about trust and violence. Every community has to ask itself what will the nature of their "defense" be and what will the nature of their "offense" be to certain contexts, to crimes, to attacks, to threats or just general fear. Militarism and militarization are ways in which that debate manifests usually as responses which lean towards violence, fear, offense, death and so on. Every society creates a way of defending itself, and every society has a conversation about how best to do that. What their values are and whether or not said militarism reflects their

Arizona Bans Ethnic Studies and, Along With it, Reason and Justice Tuesday 28 December 2010 by: Randall Amster J.D., Ph.D., t r u t h o u t News Analysis While much condemnation has rightly been expressed toward Arizona's anti-immigrant law, SB 1070, a less-reported and potentially more sinister measure is set to take effect on January 1, 2011. This new law, which was passed by the conservative state legislature at the behest of then-School Superintendent (and now Attorney General-elect) Tom Horne, is designated HB 2281 and is colloquially referred to as a measure to ban ethnic studies programs in the state. As with SB 1070, the implications of this law are problematic, wide-ranging and decidedly hate filled. Whereas SB 1070 focused primarily on the ostensible control of bodies, HB 2281 is predominantly about controlling minds. In this sense, it is the software counterpart of Arizona's race-based politicking, paired with the hardware embodied in SB 1070's "sho

Federal judge blocks key parts of Arizona immigration law The ruling halts implementation of provisions that require police to determine the immigration status of people they stop and suspect of being in the U.S. illegally. An immediate appeal is expected. By Nicholas Riccardi and Anna Gorman Los Angeles Times 5:50 PM PDT, July 28, 2010 A federal judge on Wednesday blocked most of a controversial Arizona immigration law just hours before it was to take effect, handing the Obama administration a win in the first stage of a legal battle expected to end up in the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton in Phoenix issued a temporary injunction against parts of the law that would require police to determine the status of people they lawfully stopped and suspected were in the country illegally. Bolton also forbade Arizona from making it a state crime to not carry immigration documents, and struck down two other provisions as an unconstitutional attempt by Arizona to und

Whenever I read about some new development in Arizona, it constantly reminds me why Ethnic Studies is important as an academic discipline. Since graduating from Ethnic Studies UCSD, I've been trying to get a job at the University of Guam. I haven't been successful yet, and sadly I don't have much hope for the future either, lao sinembatgo bai hu konsigi. One of the reasons why I don't have alot of hope, is because while you could say that all academic departments or schools have their conservative or archaic elements, UOG, as a mixture of a colonial and a "isolated" institution is tough to beat. Most of the faculty, in all departments at UOG have never heard of Ethnic Studies (or many other similar critical disciplines which have come into being over the past 40 years), and have no clue as to what it could be. I'm used to non-academics not knowing and assuming that the degree has something to do with anthropology or "mere" culture, but its stran