{"id":25340,"date":"2010-05-23T07:03:26","date_gmt":"2010-05-23T12:03:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/?p=25340"},"modified":"2011-06-03T18:06:40","modified_gmt":"2011-06-03T22:06:40","slug":"kids-take-charge-report-from-arizona","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/daily-astrology\/kids-take-charge-report-from-arizona\/","title":{"rendered":"Students Take Charge: Report from Arizona"},"content":{"rendered":"

And these children that you spit on
\nAs they try to change their world
\nAre immune to your consultations
\nThey’re re quite aware of what they’re going through<\/em>
\n— David Bowie, \u201cChanges,\u201d from the album Hunky Dory <\/em><\/p>\n

By KRISTEL FOSTER<\/p>\n

TUCSON, AZ — Arizona is making international news. At the moment it’s known for something besides the Grand Canyon: we have a new law legalizing, indeed, requiring racial profiling. The state government has just banned ethnic studies classes in our classrooms. Orders have been given from our Department of Education to remove teachers with heavy accents. The famous immigration law passed here also requires schools next year to report citizenship status of their students, essentially turning educators into immigration officials. And next there\u2019s word of challenging the 14th Amendment, taking away citizenship of children born on Arizona soil if their parents don\u2019t have the right papers.<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s a pueblo to do? It\u2019s an overwhelming battle against these extremist politicians and their personal agendas. Who will lead us in the fight? Who will take charge for change? Our town has its share of activist organizations, fine established groups that dutifully inform the public and diligently fight the fight. And we have our fare share of politicians, the majority of whom have been very, very quiet. But these past weeks, there\u2019s been a new face at the forefront of the march.<\/p>\n

The protest movements began when the bill banning ethnic studies arrived on the governor\u2019s desk. Students organized a sit-in. Following in the footsteps of those they had read about in their history books, they planned a 24-hour human chain, wrapping their high school outside in an all night candlelight vigil. I spent some time with them that night. These kids are strong and smart, focused and fearless.<\/p>\n

Five days later, at the last hour, the governor signed the act into law, banning them from class, prohibiting them these studies that represent the line for so many between poverty and success, as 80% of the students who participate in these classes go on to college, compared to the national average of 25%.<\/p>\n

The personal is political in Arizona. Tucson Unified School District has the only ethnic studies program in our nation\u2019s public schools, and our State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Horne, has had a personal vendetta against them for years<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Unfair immigration laws have been written during the course of his tenure, but in the past always vetoed by our former Governor Janet Napolitano. When he promoted her to the head of the Department of Homeland Security, Obama opened a window for these attacks to become law.<\/p>\n

Mr. Horne himself planned to visit the very next day.<\/p>\n

Hundreds and hundreds of middle school and high school students left their classrooms and marched to the district office to confront Horne, asking him to address them, the kids who his actions would directly affect. They used text messages, twitter and other social communication tools, organized their walk out, and were followed by members of the community, who joined students in the street.<\/p>\n

Once again, they formed a human wall around the building and energetically chanted together, \u201cEducation, not a crime! Education, not a crime!\u201d Horne didn\u2019t enter, the meeting was postponed, redirected to the Arizona Department of Education in the center of town. Word got out and the march continued.<\/p>\n

Horne talked to the media inside, behind closed doors, on the second floor of the federal building. I was sitting with the students outside. One young lady declared , \u201cWe\u2019re always here on this corner, and they pay no attention. It\u2019s time we storm the building.\u201d Her teacher looked at me and said, \u201cI guess we\u2019re going in.\u201d They stayed for hours, with no response and were told the building would close at 5 pm, and they would be arrested if they stayed after that. The students stayed; arrests were made, four of them of minors<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And what now? The world is listening. Local media, national media, international media — all eyes are open. These kids have sparked movement. Days later national representatives of the DREAM Act staged a sit-in inside John McCain\u2019s Tucson office, followed by others in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Indigenous people and their supporters stormed Border Patrol Headquarters at Davis Monthan Air Force Base. Columnists are writing in The New York Times<\/em> the Huffington Post<\/em> and thousands of blogs. First Ladies, news pundits and politicians are talking.<\/p>\n

Students have taken leadership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Students in Iran, in Greece, in Puerto Rico — all have shown a noticeable endurance to fight on for weeks against governments which are threatening their basic rights. Even more important, in this struggle they are not only protesting but developing the elements for alternative politics and social settings. The Puerto Rican students who have occupied the campus of the Unviersidad de Puerto Rico for weeks, surrounded by armed forces, are doing urban agriculture, collective cooking, environmentally sustainable practices, art, music… in brief, they are striving to build the elements of a different society.”<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/saskia-sassen\/beyond-protests-students_b_586138.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"generate_page_header":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25340"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25340\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/planetwaves.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}