CALIFORNIA ETHNIC STUDIES

Constructive Ethnic Studies emphasizes:

• Building bridges of understanding
• Ethnic group contributions
• Multiple perspectives

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Critical/Liberated Ethnic Studies emphasizes:

• Oppressor/Victim paradigm
• Specific ideology and movement to “challenge imperialistic/colonial hegemonic beliefs and practices”
• Militant resistance as means to social change

TWO MODELS OF ETHNIC STUDIES

TWO MODELS OF ETHNIC STUDIES

CONSTRUCTIVE ETHNIC STUDIES

CRITICAL/LIBERATED ETHNIC STUDIES

FOUNDATION OF LIBERATED ETHNIC STUDIES

"The oppressors, who oppress, exploit, and rape by virtue of their power, cannot find in this power the strength to liberate either the oppressed or themselves."

Paolo Freire, from "Pedagogy of the Oppressed"

CALIFORNIA BILL AB-2016

Objective of Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC):

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"preparing pupils to be global citizens with an appreciation for the contributions of multiple cultures"

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CRITICAL ETHNIC STUDIES

Critical Ethnic Studies Association aims to:

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"bring into conversation the ways that concerted efforts and collectivized resistance to US imperialism ground our approaches for dismantling the (neo)colonial schooling apparatus."

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SPECIFIC POLITICAL IDEOLOGY

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Neo-Marxist, Third World Liberation Front dogma

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• Origins in 1960s, San Francisco State University
• Capitalism: “form of power and oppression,” along with racism, white supremacy
• Emphasis on
• militant resistance
• “Decolonization”

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GUIDING PRINCIPLES: INDOCTRINATION VS. EDUCATION

Liberated Ethnic Studies Guiding Principles:

• “critique empire in history and its relationship to white supremacy, racism, patriarchy, cisheteropatriarchy, capitalism, … and other forms of power”
• “challenge … imperialist/colonial hegemonic beliefs and practices…”
• promote “collective narratives of transformative resistance, critical hope, and radical healing.”

Themes include colonialism, hegemony, systems of power,

anti-capitalism, resistance

GUIDING PRINCIPLES: INDOCTRINATION VS. EDUCATION

FAIRstory Teaches:

• The historic & ongoing struggles against intolerance and racism by people from a variety of racial, ethnic, and immigrant communities in the US
• The particular accomplishments & contributions of people of various racial, ethnic, & immigrant communities to progress in America
• The foundations of American institutions & their relationship to the social construction of race & ethnicity in American history
• The value of mutual understanding and respectful dialogue for the production of a more just American society

Themes include appreciation for differing ideas, viewpoints, beliefs with an understanding that diversity exists not only between groups, but also across them

�BATTLE OF GUIDING PRINCIPLES�

Critical/Liberated Ethnic Studies (ESMC)

Critique empire and its relationship to white supremacy, racism, patriarchy, cisheteropatriarchy, capitalism, ableism, anthropocentrism, and other forms of power and oppression at the intersections of our society.

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Constructive Ethnic Studies (FAIRstory)

FAIRstory teaches historic and contemporary racism while inspiring students to feel that their voices and actions count. The curriculum emphasizes the dignity and worth of each person because of our common humanity.

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CRITICAL ETHNIC STUDIES ROLE MODELS

Consistent choice of Marxist militants

• Assata Shakur: member of Black Liberation Army – organization engaged in armed struggle against the US Government through tactics such as robbing banks and killing police officers. Assata was convicted of first degree murder of a police officer. 
• Lolita Lebrón: led an armed group of Puerto Rican nationalists in an attack on the US House of Representatives in 1954. They fired 30 bullets from a spectator’s gallery, wounding five congressmen. 
• Oscar Lopez Rivera: led the Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional Puertorriqueña, a paramilitary Marxist-Leninist organization responsible for over 100 bombings in US cities.
• Yuri Kochiyama: Maoist advocate, admirer of Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. (Role model for subject of Japanese internment reparations, rather than Congressmen Norman Mineta and Robert and Doris Matsui.)

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WHO IS MISSING?

• Norman Mineta, who introduced and advocated for Japanese reparations legislation.
• Senator Daniel Inouye (first Japanese American in U.S. House of Representatives and first in Senate)
• Yo-Yo Ma, world-renowned Chinese-American cellist and prodigy. Recipient of15 Grammys and the Presidential Medal of Freedom
• Julian Castro and Joaquin Castro, two twin brothers making large impacts in current American politics. Julian Castro was named Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Obama and Joaquin serves in the U.S. House of Representatives.
• Thurgood Marshall, the first Black Supreme Court Justice
• Frederick Douglass, an integral abolitionist known for his powerful antislavery writings and orations

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ROLE MODELS: CONSISTENT CHOICE OF IDEOLOGY

154 “Important Historical Figures Among People of Color”

Omitted: peaceful leaders working as agents of change “within the system” (John Lewis, MLK – “passive” and “docile”)

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Dr. Clarence Jones, speech writer and advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"I write this letter to you with great dismay, and great concern for the perversion of history that is being perpetrated by the Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum (ESMC). If this model curriculum is approved, it will inflict great harm on millions of students in our state."�

IMPACT: WHY IS THIS BIG?

• Ethnic Studies graduation requirement (AB-101)
• K-8 also beginning to implement
• Intended to pervade all of education (ESMC: integrate into all subjects)
• National plans for Ethnic Studies based on California
• Many states have already announced plans
• National Education Association (3MM teachers)

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CRITICAL ETHNIC STUDIES LEADERS IN THEIR OWN WORDS

Northern CA teacher training by key leader in Critical Ethnic Studies: Leader acknowledges that the Marxist underpinnings to ethnic studies “scare people away” but insisted that teachers must be “grounded in the correct politics to educate students.” He then explains that the “white colonialist regime” of the US is a “parasitic system.”

IN THE MEANTIME…�CRITICAL ETHNIC STUDIES AND MATH

• Based on the same ideology, A Pathway to Equitable Math Instruction directs educators to “identify and challenge the ways that math is used to uphold capitalist, imperialist, and racist views.”
• “White supremacy shows up when…”: insist on right answer, ask to show your work
• Accelerated track AND advanced math proposed to be eliminated in current Math Framework, in name of equity
• "Power and oppression, as defined by ethnic studies, are the ways in which individuals and groups define mathematical knowledge so as to see “Western” mathematics as the only legitimate expression of mathematical identity and intelligence. This definition of legitimacy is then used to disenfranchise people and communities of color...” – Seattle K-12 Math ES Framework

“CHARACTERISTICS OF WHITE SUPREMACY”

According to Critical Ethnic Studies and the CA Mathematics Framework (Draft)

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“Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture are”:

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• Individualism
• Objectivity
• Meritocracy

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WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

• Much under the radar – e.g., ESMC history
• Vast majority of parents, teachers do not know. (Including people of color)
• Orwellian double-speak (critical hope, radical healing, critical pedagogy)
• When parents/teachers find out the result, many afraid to speak up
• BUT momentum is starting to build to get to critical mass for accountability

CALIFORNIA ED CODES

California has several Education Codes that prevent bias in the classroom and support community involvement in classroom instruction.

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••Section 220: No person shall be subjected to discrimination on the basis of ... nationality, race or ethnicity, religion...in any program or activity conducted by an educational institution that receives, or benefits from, state financial assistance…

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••Section 51500: A teacher shall not give instruction and a school district shall not sponsor any activity that promotes a discriminatory bias on the basis of race or ethnicity, ...religion...nationality...

••Section 60002: Each district board shall provide for substantial teacher involvement in the selection of instructional materials and shall promote the involvement of parents and other members of the community in the selection of instructional materials.

CRT IN K-12: YES OR NO?

• On June 30, members of the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers’ union, voted to approve a plan to promote critical race theory in all 50 states. Union delegates representing 3 million public school employees approved funding for three separate items related to “increasing the implementation” of “critical race theory” in K-12 curricula;
• The resolution also promised to develop a study to critique “empire, white supremacy, anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, racism, patriarchy, cisheteropatriarchy, capitalism, ableism, [and] anthropocentrism”
• July 8 Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, insists: “Let’s be clear: critical race theory is not taught in elementary schools or high schools...” 
• Hundreds of schools throughout the country are doing precisely that.
• The same week, Hayward Unified School District issued a press release: “HUSD will expand Ethnic Studies throughout all grade levels (preschool-12) and across disciplines… The policy and efforts to develop an Ethnic Studies framework are informed by and will include Critical Race Theory and the Liberated Ethnic Studies Model Curriculum.”

ACES BELIEVES ETHNIC STUDIES SHOULD:

• Empower students to dream big, overcome challenges, and be motivated, engaged community members
• Build mutual respect, self-confidence, awareness, intergroup understanding and empathy
• Openly and honestly address racism and discriminatory treatment
• Present a range of political perspectives and approaches to bringing about change, including strengths and weaknesses of each

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WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Reach out to school, school board, Superintendent about Ethnic Studies curriculum. Get to know your district’s policies and ask the following:

• How is curriculum created and approved?
• What community oversight is available?
• What taxpayer dollars are being spent?
• What organizations are they hiring to help with curriculum development and teacher training?

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COMMUNITY EDUCATION IS KEY

• ACES toolkit (www.calethstudies.org)
• Write letters to the editor or op-eds to local papers
• Attend school board meetings to stay informed
• Get on a school or district curriculum committee
• Talk to other parents and teachers to spread the word
• Let us know if you’d like to get more involved!

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CONTACT US

www.calethstudies.org

to volunteer or get on mailing list

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For more intensive volunteering or questions: calethstudies@gmail.com

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