Art Meza Reads "Echo Park" a poem by Luis J. Rodriguez

Yvonne Condes Reads from The House on Mango Street

Yvonne Condes of YvonneInLA.com reads from the House on Mango Street to protest Arizona shutting down the Tucson Unified School District's Mexican-American Studies program.

Bella Vida Letty on Like Water for Chocolate

Teacher Yolanda Sotelo on the books she can no longer teach

Dr. Joe Sutliff Sanders on the TUSD Book Banning

Debbie Reese reads from Delgado and Stefancic's CRITICAL RACE THEORY, a book taught in the now-banned Mexican American Studies program in Tucson Unified School District.

#BanningHistory | Author S. J. Rivera reads Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales' "Message To Aztlán"

In cooperation with Banning History, S. J. Rivera, author of "Demon in the Mirror" and "Amerikkkan Stories", reads from "Message To Aztlán" by legendary Chicano activist Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales. Rivera chose to do this to help fight back against the censorship and book banning occurring in Arizona. Book banning is unconscionable in this day and age and everyone who values their freedom should be alarmed at what the state of Arizona is doing. Banning History's goal is to get as many video submissions as possible of people reading passages from the books that Arizona has banned - mostly Chicano history. Banning History is fighting back against the attempted cultural genocide in Arizona. No history is illegal!

Read-in at La Casa in Solidarity with Mexican American Studies at TUSD-Crystal

Crystal reads from 500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures edited by Elizabeth Martinez to support Mexican American Studies at the Tuscon Unified School District.


On February 1, at La Casa Cultural Latina, a cultural center on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the students held a Read-in, reading from books used in the Mexican American Studies program at TUSD. You can check out all the videos from that read-in can be found on the Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/tandracki

Thank you so much to the students and organizers for doing this!

Sasha Grey Reads from Zoot Suit

Sasha Grey reads Luis Valdez's "Zoot Suit & Other Plays" in response to the Tuscon school board's decision to ban books!



Stand up, use your voice & support this website: http://banninghistory.blogspot.com

Read-in at La Casa in Solidarity with Mexican American Studies at TUSD-Rebecca

Rebecca reads from Chicano!: The History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement by Francisco Rosales to support Mexican American Studies at the Tuscon Unified School District

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/AsakPbQV1Vs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

La Casa Cultural Latina Read-In

On February 1, at La Casa Cultural Latina, a cultural center on the campus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the students held a Read-in, reading from books used in the Mexican American Studies program at TUSD. Videos from that read-in can be found on the Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/tandracki and I will be posting them here one by one, each having its own post.


Thank you so much to the students and organizers for doing this! 

Poets Responding To SB1070

Have you seen this?  Go to Facebook right now and look at all the amazing poets responding.

Their description reads:  Poets gather here to respond to Arizona SB 1070, a law that targets immigrants and legalizes racial profiling. We feature poetry and immigrant human rights news.



So go.  Post.  Like.  Share.  Flor y canto is good for your soul.

I Want to Be Educated

Today, we have a beautiful poem from Ezzy Guerrero-Languzzi who blogs about education, culture and awareness.   My favorite line in it is where she says, "I give you permission to confiscate them."  Powerful.

I Want to Be Educated

by Ezzy Guerrero-Languzzi

I want to be educated ...

Chapters in books

Pages, words

Sounds, thoughts, emotions

Discovery

Who's free, really, in this country?

I never had the right, apparently

What you cannot, will not, refuse to see

I promise will never cease to be

These chapters in books and pages, words

Voices from the past, a warning to the future

A salve for wounds undiscovered

These chapters in books and pages, words

Tell me that in humanity I am not alone

I have brothers and sisters on the same journey

Finding our place in this world and our communities

Go ahead

You may take them

I give you permission to confiscate them

Ban them

Burn them

Hide them in boxes

Do what you must

But know -- try as you may, you cannot hide or change history

You will not conquer me.

Singing Junot Diaz

The lovely Sujeiry Gonzalez sings from Pulitzer prize winning, Junot Diaz' collection of short stories, DROWN; one of the many banned books in Arizona. Sujeiry is the author of the new book Love Trips, which is available for purchase. She is also the Latina Carrie Bradshaw as the NY Modern Love Examiner.

Arizona Pretends Mexicans Don't Exist

From the Majority Report, live M-F 11:30am EST and via daily podcast at http://Majority.FM:

Saundra Mitchell reads from Mexican Whiteboy

Saundra Mitchell, YA Author reading the first two pages of Matt de la Peña's MEXICAN WHITEBOY. A readng from Mexican Whiteboy by Matt de la Peña-- a book currently banned in Tuscon schools because of discriminatory legistlation. Find out more at http://banninghistory.blogspot.com . And to find out more about Matt's books, visit his website at http://mattdelapena.com/ .

Alina E. Klein on The House on Mango Street

Alina Klein from Tip-Tap-Typing on the Lunatic Fringe has posted a beautifully done video reading from The House on Mango Street. Thanks Alina!