Reflections to history of Ethnic Studies

I think there still lies some similarities with the 1968 strike of San Francisco State and now, when it comes to issues students are being faced with. The feeling of students being ignored, in my opinion, still is an issue. Although I do not think the issue is as large as it was back then, I believe when it comes to issues of raising CSU tuition every semester, students feel the message is not getting perceived as seriously as they would like it to be. I will admit, as a former occupier at CSU East Bay, the awareness that has been brought to students, faculty, and CSU board members about the frequent tuition hikes has grown tremendously, but obviously not enough to stop the board members from raising fees. To a certain extent, the issue has been somewhat successful, again based on the awareness that has been brought out about the tuition hikes, but also I feel the ultimate goal is to stop the hikes in general. So in retrospect, I feel like we still see a similarity of students feeling ignored, when it comes to the idea of the 1968 and present day San Francisco State students.

Now in terms if HB 2281, the law banning any book or teaching of Ethnic Studies course, I just think it is ridiculous because everyone should have the opportunity to learn about themselves and their culture that they may not have learned about in their homes. According to HB 2281, no class can be taught if it

1. Promotes the overthrow of the United States Government                      

2. Promotes resentment toward a race or class of people

3. Are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group

4. Advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals

When I first read these four criteria for the banning of ethnic studies, I thought to myself, wow I can pretty much say those sound like they would fit into most of the history classes I have taken. Agreeing with Monteiro’s statement, this criterion fits for history classes taught now because of the fact they are only telling us one side of the story, and it is the “white side.” From my past history classes in high schools, and the Latinos in California one I took as a freshman in college, I will say the biggest shock for me was learning that Latinos were lynched. Based off all my history classes, European, U.S., social studies, etc. the only group I ever heard of to be lynched was African Americans. It was at that moment that I realized I had been robbed of vital history.

 

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