Race, culture, class, and gender: The Borderlands
"When social change begins it cannot be reversed, you cannot un-educate a person who has learned to read, you cannot humiliate the person who feels pride, and you cannot oppress the people who are not afraid anymore." ~Cesar Chavez This quote so perfectly sums up what the TUSD's Mexican-American Studies program managed to accomplish during its short time. Denying a certain group of people an education that focuses on their history and culture contributes to the structural racism that plagues schools and society as a whole. Ethnic studies and the dire need to make it part of the curriculum is a nationwide issue. Recently, students from the Providence Public School Department attempted to sue the Department of Education for denying them equal access to an Ethnic Studies program. At the beginning of the documentary, Precious Knowledge , the young man made a powerful comment, "I've never met a kid with a dysfunctional relationship to learning; but, I ha