I thank Mark Stegeman for this correspondence, and I thank Dylan Smith and other editors of the Sentinel for publishing the piece. Unfortunately, it will fall on figurative deaf ears. Those who need to understand what Mark was saying don’t want to hear it…they have their spin and their distortions and their agendas that they’re sticking to, and they don’t want to hear anything that contradicts that…no matter how factual it may be or what evidence is presented.

I’m glad attention has been called to these books. The reconquistator spin has been that these classes are not indoctrination and they’re harmless and just studying Hispanic heritage, blah blah blah…

Before I continue, allow me to post the context of the law that the MAS courses violate…

a) Promote overthrowing the U.S. government;

b) Promote resentment towards a race or class of people;

c)Are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic race; and

d)Advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.

Now, while one can’t judge a book by it’s cover, I believe one can get the gist of the contents by the title of the book. Let’s look them over, shall we?

“Occupied America: A History of Chicanos” - Rodolfo Acuña

Occupied, huh? This is sovereign United States territory. There is no occupation going on. Implying otherwise wouldn’t be suggesting an overthrow of the United States government, would it?

“Rethinking Columbus: The next 500 Years” - Bill Bigelow

Meh, maybe I’ll read it sometime.

“Critical Race Theory” - Richard Delgado

Race, huh? This wouldn’t be advocating ethnic solidarity, would it?

“Pedagogy of the Oppressed” - Paulo Freire

OK, so this teaches victimization, and then inevitable resentment toward the alleged “victimizers”. White folks, perhaps?
“Message to AZTLAN” - Rodolfo Gonzales

Aztlan. Isn’t that what the reconquistators call this area? Hmmmm…..
 
“500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures” - Elizabeth Martinez (ed.)

Photos? OK, I don’t see a problem with that.

“Chicano! The History of the Mexican Civil Rights Movement” - Arturo Rosales

Mexican Civil Rights…here we go again with the ethnic solidarity and promoting resentment towards a race or class of people

So, what we have here based on the titles of these books that the MAS program was based upon, five of them flew in the face of a fundamentally sound law. I passionately feel that if someone wants their kids learning to hate another group of people they should be doing it without tax dollars. I don’t want my money used to teach a bunch of retarded kids to hate me.

There’s something I’m desperate for these MAS supporters to understand…

-every single person alive during the Mexican-American war is now dead
-every single person alive during the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hildago is now dead
-every single person alive when Arizona was admitted to the Union as the 48th state is now either dead, or at such an advance age at this point to where they would pose no threat to anyone

So, if this hate and resentment still exist (which obviously it does), then it has become multigenerational, taught from one generation to the next…no different then KKK members teaching their kids to hate black folks.

If the death of all those involved in the process of this region becoming sovereign United States territory isn’t enough to stop the resentment, then where could it possible ever end, and when?

And, let’s say for a minute that the reconquistators one day achieve their goal of “reconquering” “Aztlan”, then what? Will we have the descendents of former Americans saying that the area is occupied and the Mexican nationals are the oppressors?

There has to be a point somewhere where we ALL just accept the things the way they are and move on with our lives and stop teaching our children to hate based on the way things used to be generations ago.

(continued)