I was so disheartened yesterday to read in the NYTimes that the book, Mexican Whiteboy, by Matt de la Pena (one of our author selections this semester AND one of the featured authors at TBF in May) had been banned from the Tucson Schools in Arizona.
I have been quietly rumbling about the anti-Mexican policies which continue to grow in numbers in Arizona, but this latest incident hits home. Knowing Matt and knowing his work, I am sure he found it particularly odd that his book was being banned on the grounds that it incited social activism and anti-white thinking. For those of you who have read this work (as well as others he has written), I am sure you would agree that his books are NOT politically motivated NOR is a primary message of the book that Mexicans are oppressed and Whites are the the problem. All of De la Pena's books are written in the classic style of American young adult literature which provide contemporary coming of age stories and address universal themes of love, identity, acceptance, and individuality. While it is true that Mexican Whiteboy does depict the story of a young, Mexican-American male who is feels out of place both in his all-white private high school as well as with his father's family in Mexico, to say that this work contains "critical race theory" and was designed to "promote racial resentment" is absurb.
Here is the link to the article if you are interested: Racial Lens Used to Cull Curriculum in Arizona
I'm not surprised. The legislation passed in Arizona that allows this sort of action to be taken is so flawed. It does not matter what the message of the book is about. The scope of the law is indeterminate.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you have seen this particular conversation about the Tuscon school district, and the suspension of the Mexican American studies program there (it starts at 9:25 in the video):
http://www.democracynow.org/shows/2012/1/18
Elyse, Thank you so much for sending me this link. Of course, I could only watch from 9:25-17:00 before I became too agitated to continue (although I couldn't help bursting out laughing when the newscaster asked the Superintendent if he knew the name of the "marxist theorist" whose work was being used to as a framework for the curriculum design).
DeleteIf nothing else, this incident has just helped me to further clarify my own position regarding why I believe multicultural literature (with a broad based us of the term multiculture) should be used widely in across the content areas to enhance student literacy learning as well as content learning.