CALL TO ACTION: Tell the Texas State Board of Education They Will NOT Dehumanize and Erase Our Communities!

The Texas State Board of Education approved Ethnic Studies: Mexican-American studies as an electives course after a tireless fight by many incredible folks. MIL GRACIAS TO ALL OF YOU CHANGING THE COURSE OF HISTORY AND FOR UNDERSTANDING SELF-EMPOWERMENT BEGINS WITH HONEST EDUCATION ABOUT SELF AND OTHERS! 

Unfortunately, today at the final reading of TEKS, (or Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills: standards set by the State Board for public school curriculum requirements) Republican representatives voted to eliminate the term "Latinx" as well as include "illegal" as an identity. 

This means students who take Ethnic Studies: Mexican American Studies in their public high schools will learn that Latinx people do not exist and "illegal" is a correct identifier for people who have crossed the border and are undocumented. Simply put, our future children will continue to be taught a false narrative implemented by the same old, White conservatives who have kept our true history from us for decades and instead fed us a Whitewashed one. It is critical we demand better for our students so they do not grow up with ignorant false senses of self the way many of us did, myself included.

By removing LATINX, the SBOE is effectively ERASING an entire community of people that identify outside of the gender binary. This erasure also enforces a patriarchal structure of all people being lumped and identified as "Latinos," with a masculine pronoun. David Bradley, representative of Beaumont, stated "Latinx" is offensive because Wikipedia said so. (You can't make this up!) 

By teaching our students it is acceptable to identify human beings as "illegal" is dehumanizing and false. A human being CANNOT be illegal. This language perpetuates propaganda against people who cross manmade borders and labels them by actions, labeled to define their worth by laws created to enforce White Supremacy. This language is xenophobic. Instilling an idea that human beings are defined by a term so vitriolic as "illegal" ensures our students perpetuate ignorant biases. We've seen how these biases lead to hate crimes and the creation/support of detention centers where children and adults are being traumatized by the State for seeking a better, safer life. There is no such thing as an "illegal" person, especially on land that was stolen by genocide and continued racist violence. 

THE FINAL VOTE BY THE BOARD TO IMPLEMENT IS THIS FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14. 
​Read more information about the meeting here.
Please write or call your representative - ESPECIALLY THE REPUBLICAN MEMBERS:
FIND YOUR REP
LIST OF REPRESENTATIVES

Credit: Lucero Saldaña via Facebook