#raza studies

Raza. Simply or more complexly meaning "the race". The human race? Not really. More like the race of Latinos, the mixture, pride, love, and history all in one. I don't know the root of the word and where it came from but I remember the first, second and most recent time I heard it. The first was from an MC known as Frost from L.A. The second was from a beautiful teacher that I had a crush on in high school named "Ms Luna" who described it with a smile. Mot recently I heard it in the lyrics of Bay Area MC Deuce Eclipse in the song "Que Pasa?" Can you remember the first time you heard this term? I know its more of a west coast thing, but I'd call myself Raza any day over "Spanish". I might have some traces in my blood but I am not Spanish.

@perdido-nasestrelas @devilinaneewdress Because OUR history does matter It matter because I have a BA in Raza studies I owe the federal government $37,000 for this piece of paper if that isn't love a devotion for our history I don't know what is

Ethnic Studies Show featuring guests: -Luis Alejo-Assemblyman fighting for Ethnic studies in Monterrey county -Cati de Los Rios-Ethnic Studies conf/event in SF -Curtis Acosta-teacher of Xicano lit in Tucson, AZ (MAS-Mexican Amer studies program) and more..... Some very interesting points about learning, class credit, cultural warfare, and social change through education.

"The objective of this essay is thus to examine the MAS-TUSD curriculum, a curriculum that Horne as well as Governor Jan Brewer and current Superintendent John Huppenthal have actively disparaged for the past several years, and one that is generally unknown to the public because the media deals primarily in sound bites. As a result, few people other than TUSD educators are familiar with its contents beyond the caricature, an effect I hope to correct in this essay."

My favorite banned book art piece ever! 

You can view Precious Knowledge in full online now, and I really must insist you watch it. As a student and teacher of ethnic studies - black studies in particular (with an emphasis on global indigeneity and settler colonialism, something my field has to catch up to or risk alienating itself from other people of colour and forms of ethnic studies) - I have watched students come to consciousness through conversations in our classrooms, my office, and with their peers. They taught me a lot too. I couldn't imagine where I would be without ethnic studies as a learner or teacher - probably not writing, probably not dedicated to social justice with many languages to speak of it and many ways of knowing it.  I would not be able to practice and encourage self-love and self-care because I would never have been taught that love is a political act and is legitimate knowledge. I would not be able to recognize the essential nature of radical empathy because I would never have been taught that empathy is a political act and is legitimate knowledge. I would not be able to imagine the world I want to see, because I would never have been taught that my imagination is a political act and is legitimate knowledge. So you see, I would never have been able to come to myself without ethnic studies. And I know my students have all felt the same. It's worth everything.

"And so I think that’s the bottom line here. They want to put a stop to this process of producing young leaders that are going to speak truth to power, and are going to make a difference in the future in terms of turning the tide against racism and other things that are negative in Arizona for Mexican people as a whole."