Interview with Dr. Acuna, Author of Book Banned by TUSD

Here.

An except:

Dr. Rodolfo Acuña – author, educator, historian and social activist – has been on the front lines in the battle over Arizona’s banning of books on Chicano history and the shutting down of Mexican-American Studies programs in the state’s public schools. The banned books include his landmark work, Occupied America, A History of Chicanos.

Often referred to as the father of Chicano Studies, Dr. Acuña co-founded the Chicano and Chicana Studies Department at the California State University at Northridge in 1969. He has taught for over 40 years at California State University, Northridge, and has become the standard-bearer in Chicano Studies classes throughout the United States.

Occupied America was first published in 1972 and is currently in its seventh edition, an exhaustive work that documents the history of Chicanos. He has also authored The Story of Mexican-American Community Under Siege, A Chronicle of Chicanos East of the Los Angeles River, 1945 – 1975, and most recently The Making of Chicano Studies in the Trenches of Academia.

Much of what Dr. Acuña has done in his life is now under assault in Arizona where right-wing officials have clamped down on classes teaching public school students about the history of white oppression directed against Native Americans and Chicanos. Claiming that this teaching of history stirs anti-white resentments, the state officials forced the banning of certain books and termination of the classes.