June 24, 2016 12:31 PM

Coalition organizes for broader support of Mexican-American studies

Social studies textbooks, including the single submission on Mexican-American studies, will be up for a vote this fall – organizers say the long road has created a meaningful movement

A vote to take Mexican-American studies out of Arizona schools six years ago may end up being an event big enough to mobilize an ethnic studies movement in Texas.

No doubt saying “no” has been the biggest driver of efforts to infuse Hispanic culture into Texas social studies standards. Mary Helen Berlanga left the State Board of Education before she achieved that goal, calling the fruitless results of her efforts her biggest defeat.

But even as Berlanga departed, efforts to counter the end of ethnic studies was building: first, with a banned book caravan against the Arizona law; then, with opposition to a similar bill filed in Texas by then-Sen. Dan Patrick, R-Houston, in 2013; and, eventually, with an effort to bring a Mexican-American studies course to Texas classrooms with the upending of Texas diplomas brought about by House Bill 5.

“When we showed up at SBOE, maybe six of us, we were like, ‘Whoa, why are all these people here?’” said Tony Diaz, who organized the caravan and is known as El Lirbrotraficante. “Then we realized, ‘They’re here to talk about Algebra II.’ It really became something of a learning experience, to look at how people were approaching this, how they talked to the board.”

By Kimberly Reeves