A Xicana Maestra on Politics, Education, y mas
“Identity is our way of reminding ourselves that we are beautiful in a society that doesn’t validate us or often makes us feel as if we don’t belong.” By Irene Sanchez Note: A previous version of this article was originally published on Sept. 19, 2016 and republished on Sept. 27, 2017. While in grad school … Continue reading Memory as an Act of Defiance: Latinx Pride All Year Long
By Irene M. Sanchez Xicana Ph.D. What’s really sad. Representation is important. I see that as a Chicano/Latino Studies teacher everyday. Representation is important, but it is not enough if all our idea of representation does is reinforce tired stereotypes that mock the most powerless within a certain culture/community. I get satire and its importance … Continue reading What’s Really Sad
“With so many Mexicans in the grammar schools this would greatly interfere with class work, as the excluded students, who are always the slowest in the classes, would fall still farther behind, making the present task of completing a year’s work before next summer nearly impossible”. This denial of education for Mexican students during the 1918 flu pandemic, which was the same “logic” that established separate Mexican schools, was rooted in white supremacy and racism in the ideas that Mexican students were dirty, unclean, inferior in intelligence, and likely wouldn’t catch up with school work anyway.
By Irene Sanchez No one wants to talk about it, but in order to work towards the inclusion and equity and all these nice things, all these “nice folks” in charge making decisions in education claim to want for marginalized students, we must do no harm. More than doing no harm though, one must truly … Continue reading Schools: No More Dehumanizing and Disrespecting Our Kids and Communities
“Why Not Us?” By Irene Sanchez Xicana Ph.D. Leslie Altamirano Candidate for District 4 Jurupa Valley City Council Leslie Altamirano is 36 years old and running for Jurupa Valley City Council to represent District 4 which includes a long neglected area of the city (where the author went to high school): Rubidoux, CA. If you … Continue reading “Why Not Us?” Leslie Altamirano Candidate for District 4 Jurupa Valley City Council
Bobby Verdugo: The Legacy is Now Ours By Irene SanchezXicana Ph.D. Before I write anything else I need to tell you about one of the most important lessons I learned from Robert “Bobby” Lee Verdugo. Over the years I had learned Bobby was many things, but above everything he was proud of his family. He was … Continue reading Bobby Verdugo: The Legacy is Now Ours
I want to ensure that my students understand what Cesar Chavez did and how his legacy can inspire us right now because there is still much more that needs to be done to improve the lives of the people that grow our food and feed this country.
The same year my son began kindergarten was the same year I started teaching high school. After completing a Ph.D. in Education in 2015, instead of working in higher education as I anticipated, I was called to teach Ethnic Studies in high school classrooms to be in schools that sometimes feel like the “Mexican Schools” I teach about from the 1940s. As Teaching Tolerance has documented in these Mexican Schools, “Many Anglo educators did not expect, or encourage, Chicano students to advance beyond the eighth grade. Instead, the curriculum at the Mexican schools was designed, as one district superintendent put it, “to help these children take their place in society.”
Xicana Ph.D. 