In this legislative session, Texas state Representative Christina Morales introduced a bill that would allow Ethnic Studies courses to count as graduation requirements. California, was on its way to making Ethnic Studies a graduation requirement until Governor Newsom vetoed it. As Wayne Au has extensively documented, Ethnic Studies – in particular in K-12 education – …
When the University of Arizona (UA) became an Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI), I remember very vividly being in a meeting where we were going to pursue a federal grant for which we were now eligible given our new designation. The conversation, as we were considering how to frame our proposal, kept coming back to the “need for …
Academic Hype Man #4: Dr. Gina A. Garcia, “Becoming Hispanic Serving Institutions” Read More »
Knowledge of Native survivance, settler colonialism, and Native students should be requisite teacher knowledge to counter deficit thinking, detect and interrupt settler colonial discourses in educational policy and practice
I have received a number of inquiries and even some spirited pushback on the term Chicanostocracy from all sides. Some people think that this term means I am advocating for an aristocracy of Chicanos that oppresses White people. Others think I am trying to elevate socially privileged Chicanos to the level of unilateral decision makers …
The Meaning of Chicanostocracy: A Personal Journey Read More »
Prologue for the long read: It is not a secret that I really love the Flobots and their music. I remember being introduced to their song Handlebars during an interlude on Democracy Now! several years back and I was immediately hooked. Recently, their song Pray jumped into my top-10 anti-racist songs of all time because there are no other songs I can think of …
American culture is obsessed with determining “the best,” and I have to admit that I am not above playing that game. People are constantly debating questions such as: Who was most important baseball player of all-time? What was the best song of the 1980s? Who is the best American writer in history? Who was the best Olympic athlete ever? Who …
