Desert View's "The Flashback Report" challenges TUSD ban of Latino literature - Three Sonorans

Desert View's "The Flashback Report" challenges TUSD ban of Latino literature - Three Sonorans

The student-made “The Flashback Report” from Desert View High School in the Sunnyside school district in south Tucson tackles the issue of the banning of 7 books (which is still in effect) by Chicano and Native American authors.

The segment begins at the 2:30 mark and is entitled “Mexican American Book Ban in Tucson, AZ” by Gio Garcia.

“What I believe is that everyone has the freedom to say and to think and to read whatever they want as stated in the First Amendment of the Constitution.” – Jackie Nieto

“We have the right to read books!” – Lupita Vaquez

“As a student, I have the right to challenge what I should know rather than having a spoon-fed given to me.” – Alex Garcia

Watch 2/15/2013: Subversive Learning on PBS. See more from Need To Know.

Need To Know

This week “Need to Know’ travels to Tucson, Arizona, where a years-long dispute over a Mexican-American studies program has tensions high.

Supporters of the program say it has helped re-engage at risk students and improved their test scores, while opponents contend the program encourages subversive thinking.

Graphic that outlines the current situation a with Mexican American Studies in Tucson. 

MAS. Mexican American Studies.

In a nutshell, MAS is no-MAS in every sense of the word. What the media calls a “return of MAS” is not a return of the MAS program that was killed, and thus the MAS program is no more; no MAS.

Yes, this is despite what just about 100% of the rest of the media is telling you, but never let a good controversy get in the way of the truth.

The answer to this dilemma is something that I suppose has to take its due course, and that would have been (in my opinion) for MALDEF to immediately appeal to the Ninth Circuit once again once it was put in the horrible situation of having to compromise with the guilty racist defendant. But I suppose we had to see what the Special Master and Judge Bury would do, and sure enough, they have left me disappointed for reasons I will now explain.