Intertwined lucha struggle
By Izamar D. Ortíz-González,
Ph.D. Student in School Organization & Policy
University of California, Davis
idortizgonzalez@ucdavis.edu
Counterstories
Ricardo Delgado defined a counterstory as an effort by the outgroup to "create its own stories, which circulate within the group as a kind of counter-reality" (1989, p. 2412). Solorzano and Yosso added to the counterstory concept to explain that it serves as an analytical tool to challenge the stories told by those in power (2001). Who's power? The carceral state inherited by the colonizing state, rooted in White Supremacy. At the heart of Critical Race Theory lies the necessity to challenge power and racism by using "experiential experiences" of oppressed groups (Solorzano 1994).
Given the recent vitriol placed on Critical Race Theory, it is essential to remember that before Critical Race Theory was popularized as an epistemological tool in education, Ethnic Studies was doing the work of centering the narratives of the other, of centering the voices of groups historically minoritized in state curriculum and institutions.
The Trenzas, Braids, between Ethnic Studies and The Association of Raza Educators
In October 2020, the Association of Raza Educators (ARE) held their statewide conference virtually for the first time since the statewide grassroots organization started to meet annually. After reciting the land acknowledgment, Lupe Cardona quickly transitioned away to be present, online, at a California state hearing for the off chance she would have to speak in support of state assembly bill 2016, which, if passed, would adapt the ethnic studies the model curriculum she and other Raza educators had toiled to composed months prior. Lupe was a member of ARE and an initial founding member of the Ethnic Studies Now! Campaign in Los Angeles that then became a statewide campaign, and now one of the educators who assembled the Ethnic Studies model curriculum. This intersection demonstrates the linkage between the Association of Raza Educators and Ethnic Studies in California. In the last twenty ten years their history has become interwoven as in a trenza or braid.
Ethnic Studies roots itself as part of the third liberation front initiated with the student activism at San Francisco State University and the University of California, Berkeley. Historically the push for curriculum to include ethnic studies to tell African American, Asian American, Native American, and Chicano studies. In the last ten years, that pressure has emanated from the k-12 students and educators. Part of that push has been fought by educators of the Association of Raza Educators, who have mobilized to push forth ethnic studies as a high school graduation requirement with AB 331. In the last five years, several teachers from ARE and Ethnic Studies Now campaigns have interwoven pushed for the Ethnic Studies high school curriculum and engaged in writing the ethnic studies curriculum.
The history of the Association of Raza Educators (ARE) intertwined with the push for Ethnic Studies. However, its origins were found down south in San Diego in 1994.
Before I continue with this history, I will digress to make a note on nomenclature. "Raza" was initially understood to refer to Mexican-American, south of the border immigrants/. Children of immigrants residing in the united. This name still carries hurt and different meanings for others. In a Statewide leadership meeting of 2020, the term "Raza" officially clarified that RAZA signifies all people oppressed by carceral, colonial, racialized institutions of the United States regardless of socially constructed notions of race.
Spring of 1994 & Proproposition 1994
The idea of ARE came in the Spring of 1994. Ernesto Bustillos was a member of Union del Barrio, a political grassroots organization founded in the Barrio Logan of San Diego as a means to uplift "Raza." As an eighth-grade teacher, Ernesto Bustillos created ARE to unite Raza educators to fight CA Proposition 87. This proposition sought to illegalize public services like health care and public schooling to undocumented families and children of undocumented parents. Despite the fight by community organizers like Union del Barrio and the newly created Association of Raza Educators, people forget that California voters passed the proposition. The judicial system protected undocumented families from the legislation by declaring it unconstitutional.
A.R.E., like the fight for Ethnic Studies, always interviewed in activism in order to push for policy change. Since then, the Association of Raza educators has become a space for educators to address the microaggression and discrimination they face because of their various identities. Congruently, the organization aims to empower students and the community. It does that through the activism push of educational campaigns like Ethnic Studies, the protection of the community against I.C.E. raids, and providing political education to other educators and the community at large. Through A.R.E., teachers carved an alternative learning site to find the political education professional development they do not receive in their school districts, and of course, part of that political education is woven back into Ethnic Studies, the story of us.
The future?
With the passage of ethnic studies as a high school requirement in California, there is hope that the course becomes popularized in primary grades before the high school requirement. However, the recent pushback against C.R.T., although not as profuse in the classrooms as the Right claims, begets us to be cautious. If you wish to learn more about the Association of Raza Educators visit us at razaeducators.org
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Izamar Ortiz-González is a daughter of immigrant parents. This experience thought her to navigate multiple narratives at school and at home. Bridging the gap between these narratives has been her goal throughout her life as a teacher, organizer and student. She double majored in International Relations and Spanish for her BA at UC Davis. She received her single subject teaching credential and Masters of Arts in Education from Loyola Marymount University. She spent six years as a public school teacher in Sacramento, California. She organizes with other educators through the Association of Raza Educators