Why ethnic studies matters | Ron Espiritu | TEDxAmherstCollege

Summary

Ronis Pennington, a passionate educator from South Los Angeles, shares the transformative power of Ethnic Studies in education. Despite research showing its positive impact, Ethnic Studies faces challenges, including being banned in Arizona. Pennington's personal narrative, from his grandmother's struggles to his family's dedication to education, underscores the importance of cultural relevance and community engagement in teaching. He advocates for the expansion of Ethnic Studies to empower students and foster unity among diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.

Takeaways

• 📚 Ronis Pennington is an educator with nine years of experience teaching Ethnic Studies, Chicano Studies, and African American Studies to high school students in South Los Angeles.
• 🌟 Ethnic studies is described as empowering, liberating, and transformative for young people, with research showing positive academic and social results for students of all backgrounds.
• 🚫 Despite the benefits, ethnic studies remains underrepresented at K-12 levels and has been banned in Arizona, with Latino authors' books removed from schools.
• 👵 The story of Pennington's grandmother, Margarita Pedraza, illustrates the historical suppression of Spanish language in schools, which is a common experience for many immigrants.
• 🔄 Pennington's mother and father were inspired to become educators, focusing on bilingual education and breaking the cycle of linguistic discrimination.
• 🏫 Pennington's own educational experience was limited in terms of ethnic studies, only discovering the depth of the field in college, which sparked a passion for the subject.
• 🎓 Ethnic studies has a 45-year history in the U.S., starting with student activism and leading to the creation of academic programs at the college level.
• 📈 The Tucson, Arizona Mexican American Studies program demonstrated significant academic success, with high graduation and college acceptance rates among its students.
• 🛡️ Despite success, the program was labeled as 'un-American' and 'unpatriotic' by politicians in 2011, leading to a community response with protests and walkouts.
• 📚 Pennington advocates for the creation of ethnic studies programs in local communities, emphasizing the importance of decolonial, culturally relevant, and community-responsive education.
• 🌐 The struggle for ethnic studies is ongoing, with current efforts in Los Angeles to implement such programs and a federal court case against Arizona for banning ethnic studies classes.

Q & A

What is the main subject taught by Ronis Pennington?

Ronis Pennington primarily teaches Ethnic Studies, Chicano Studies, and African American Studies to high school students in South Los Angeles.

What impact does ethnic studies have on students according to Ronis Pennington and research?

Ethnic studies is described as empowering, liberating, and transformative for students. Research has shown that it has positive academic and social results for students of all races and ethnic backgrounds.

Why does Ronis Pennington believe ethnic studies is crucial for younger students?

Ronis Pennington believes that ethnic studies should be available to younger students because it fosters a sense of pride in their linguistic abilities and heritage, and it can be a transformative and liberating educational experience.

What was the historical context of ethnic studies in Arizona?

In Arizona, ethnic studies has been banned, and books by Latino authors have been removed from schools, making it illegal for students to read them in the classroom.

Can you explain the significance of Margarita Pedraza's story in the context of ethnic studies?

Margarita Pedraza's story illustrates the historical discrimination and suppression of language and culture faced by Mexican Americans and other immigrants, which ethnic studies aims to counteract by celebrating and respecting diverse cultural heritages.

What was the profession of Ronis Pennington's mother, Doris?

Doris was a bilingual education teacher and later became a principal of a highly successful dual language immersion program.

How did Ronis Pennington's educational journey differ from his family's experiences?

While Ronis was inspired by his family's commitment to education and cultural pride, his own schooling in the 1990s lacked representation of Latino and African-American authors and history until he took a Black Studies course at Amherst College.

What was the significance of the East LA walkouts in 1968?

The East LA walkouts were a historic event where students demanded bilingual education, Mexican-American studies programs, and culturally relevant curriculum, which contributed to the development of ethnic studies in schools.

What were the academic outcomes for students involved in the Tucson, Arizona ethnic studies program?

The Tucson ethnic studies program had a 93% high school graduation rate and 85% college acceptance rate among its students, significantly outperforming district-wide averages for Mexican-American students not in the program.

What is the 'in lak ech' concept mentioned by Ronis Pennington?

The 'in lak ech' concept is a Mayan philosophy that translates to 'you are my other me', emphasizing the interconnectedness and mutual respect among individuals, which is a central theme in ethnic studies.

What is the current struggle in Los Angeles regarding ethnic studies?

The current struggle in Los Angeles is to bring ethnic studies to all high school students, as currently, only a small fraction of the over 1.5 million high school students in Los Angeles are enrolled in ethnic studies programs.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Empowering Education: Ethnic Studies Impact

Ronis Pennington, an educator from South Los Angeles, shares the transformative power of Ethnic Studies in education. He emphasizes the positive academic and social outcomes for students of diverse backgrounds, supported by research. Despite proven benefits, Ethnic Studies faces invisibility and even bans in some states like Arizona, where Latino authors' works are removed from schools. Pennington's personal narrative connects to the historical struggle for language and cultural rights, inspired by his grandmother's experience and his mother's and father's roles as bilingual education pioneers.

05:04

🌟 A Legacy of Activism and Education

The script delves into the history of Ethnic Studies in the U.S., from the 1968 student strikes that led to the first programs at universities to the high school level activism in East LA. It highlights the successful Tucson, Arizona program, which despite being labeled as 'un-American' by politicians, showed remarkable academic success and graduation rates. The narrative includes personal experiences in creating and advocating for Ethnic Studies programs, emphasizing the importance of community involvement and the impact of such programs on students' intellectual identity and empowerment.

10:05

🔍 Decolonizing, Culturally Relevant, and Community-Responsive Education

Ronis Pennington outlines the three core components of an effective Ethnic Studies program: decolonial, culturally relevant, and community-responsive with a social justice base. He discusses the importance of acknowledging the rich history of various ethnic groups beyond common misconceptions, tailoring curriculum to the community's needs, and responding to the community's unique racial and cultural dynamics. The narrative includes examples of how these components are implemented in his classroom, such as the creation of a 'missing chapter' on black and brown unity and the pop-up book project symbolizing the resilience of knowledge against censorship.

15:07

🗣️ Advocating for Ethnic Studies Expansion

The final paragraph focuses on the ongoing struggle to make Ethnic Studies accessible to all students, not just in high schools but also in elementary and middle schools. It presents current statistics showing the disparity in access to Ethnic Studies in Los Angeles and calls for action to institutionalize these programs. Pennington shares his experiences with advocacy, including a rally and a federal court case against Arizona's ban on Ethnic Studies. He concludes with a powerful poem that embodies the spirit of Ethnic Studies, emphasizing unity, respect, and self-love as central themes.

Keywords

💡Ethnic Studies

Ethnic Studies is an interdisciplinary academic field that focuses on the history, culture, and politics of various ethnic groups. In the video, it is highlighted as empowering and transformative for students, with a significant positive impact on their academic and social outcomes. The speaker emphasizes the importance of Ethnic Studies in providing a more inclusive and comprehensive understanding of history, particularly for marginalized communities.

💡Empowerment

Empowerment, in the context of the video, refers to the process of giving individuals or communities the ability to make decisions affecting their lives. Ethnic Studies is described as an empowering tool because it allows students to understand their own histories and identities, thus giving them a sense of agency and control over their educational experiences.

💡Transformative

Transformative, in this script, denotes the capacity of Ethnic Studies to cause significant change in students' perspectives and understanding of the world. The speaker argues that Ethnic Studies is not just about learning facts but about fundamentally altering students' views on history, identity, and social justice.

💡Banned

The term 'banned' is used to describe the prohibition of Ethnic Studies programs and specific literature by Latino authors in Arizona. This action is presented as a form of censorship that limits students' access to diverse perspectives and knowledge about their own and other ethnic groups' histories and contributions.

💡Decolonial

Decolonial, in the context of Ethnic Studies, refers to the approach that challenges and seeks to dismantle the colonial narratives and perspectives that have dominated traditional education. The speaker explains that a decolonial approach in Ethnic Studies involves reevaluating history from the viewpoints of marginalized groups and acknowledging their rich cultural heritage.

💡Cultural Relevance

Cultural Relevance is the concept of making education meaningful and applicable to the cultural context of the students. In the video, the speaker stresses the importance of tailoring Ethnic Studies to the specific community being taught, ensuring that the curriculum resonates with students' lived experiences and cultural identities.

💡Community Responsive

Community Responsive indicates an educational approach that is sensitive to and actively engages with the needs and interests of the local community. The speaker uses this term to describe how Ethnic Studies should be designed to reflect the community's history, struggles, and aspirations, thereby making education more relevant and impactful.

💡Social Justice

Social Justice is the concept of creating a fair and inclusive society where everyone has equal opportunities and rights. In the video, Ethnic Studies is portrayed as a tool for social justice, as it educates students about historical injustices and empowers them to become agents of change in their communities.

💡Pedagogy

Pedagogy refers to the methods and strategies used in teaching. The speaker discusses the importance of developing a pedagogy for Ethnic Studies that is inclusive, engaging, and that fosters critical thinking. This includes project-based learning approaches that allow students to actively participate in their education.

💡Pop-up Books

Pop-up Books, as mentioned in the video, are a creative project used by students to express and share their knowledge about banned topics in Ethnic Studies. The project symbolizes the resilience of knowledge and history, emphasizing that despite attempts to suppress it, the stories and lessons of marginalized communities will continue to emerge and be shared.

💡Activism

Activism in this script refers to the actions taken by students, teachers, and community members to advocate for the inclusion of Ethnic Studies in schools. The speaker recounts instances of protests, walkouts, and other forms of civic engagement that were used to resist the banning of Ethnic Studies and to promote its benefits.

Highlights

Ethnic Studies has a transformative impact on students, empowering and liberating them.

Research shows positive academic and social results from Ethnic Studies for all races and ethnic backgrounds.

Ethnic Studies remains invisible at K-12 level and is banned in Arizona, with Latino authors' books removed from schools.

The story of Margarita Pedraza illustrates the historical suppression of Spanish language in schools.

Doris, inspired by her mother's experience, became a bilingual education teacher post the LAO vs. Nielsen case.

David Pennington, as a principal, led a bilingual education school with remarkable results.

The Pennington family's legacy in education emphasizes respecting students' communities and linguistic abilities.

The lack of diversity in literature and history studies during the 1990s in Texas schools.

The importance of Ethnic Studies in higher education for self-discovery and understanding of struggles by different ethnicities.

Ethnic Studies programs have a 45-year history, starting with the third world Liberation Front at San Francisco State University.

The success of the Tucson Arizona Ethnic Studies program, with high graduation and college acceptance rates.

The unjust banning of Ethnic Studies in Arizona despite its proven benefits to students.

The pop-up book project as a creative response to book banning, symbolizing the resilience of knowledge.

The need for Ethnic Studies to be decolonial, culturally relevant, and community responsive.

Celebrating unsung heroes of American history and the importance of understanding their legacy.

The significance of the 'In Lak'ech' poem in fostering a sense of respect and unity among students.

The ongoing struggle to implement Ethnic Studies in Los Angeles schools for a more inclusive curriculum.

The call to action for educators and community members to create and support Ethnic Studies programs.

Transcripts

my name is Ronis Pennington I am an

educator for the past nine years I've

been teaching Ethnic Studies Chicano

Studies and African American Studies to

high school students in South Los

Angeles and what I found working with my

young people is that ethnic studies is

empowering is liberating it is

transformative for our young people a

growing body of research from scholars

from across the country have shown and

proven that ethnic studies has positive

academic and social results for students

of all races and ethnic backgrounds now

despite my own experiences and this

research ethnic studies continues to

remain invisible for students at the K

through 12 level and in the state of

Arizona ethnic studies has even been

banned books by Latino authors have been

pulled from the Shelf in front of

students eyes and they're told that it's

illegal for them to read these books in

the classroom so how do we get to a

point in 2014 where an entire state can

ban a proven academic program and to

answer that question I want to begin

with the story of my grandmother

margarita Pedraza my grandmother grew up

in San Antonio Texas in the 1930s and

when she was going to elementary school

she was told that speaking Spanish was

illegal she was forced to wear a sign

around her neck that says I won't speak

Spanish she was physically intimidated

and abused by her teachers and her

administrators and sadly this experience

is common for many Mexican American

Latinos and other immigrants that have

come into this country and so in many

ways the story of my grandmother was a

defining moment for me and it was a

defining moment for my mother Doris pt2

who used the experiences of my

grandmother as an inspiration to become

an educator herself and she became a

bilingual education teacher and in 1975

in Santa

yo Texas after the historic Lao versus

nickel Supreme Court case that

overturned these unjust laws my mother

began teaching at the very same school

that my grandmother attended except this

time my mother was breaking the cycle

and she was making students feel proud

of their linguistic abilities she later

went on to become at a principal of a

highly successful dual language

immersion program that had incredible

results my father David is speedy too

was also an educator for over 30 years

and he was also a principal of bilingual

education school in San Antonio Texas it

had incredible results for the students

and was a model for the district in the

city

my parents inspired my two older sisters

to become teachers they also inspired me

to become a teacher and we had this

incredible model and example that as a

teacher you must respect the community

that your students are in and you must

make them proud of their linguistic

abilities and proud of their heritage

you see I went to school in the 1990s in

San Antonio Texas and while it was very

different from my grandmother's

experience maybe in some ways it wasn't

so different I never read a book by a

Latino author or an african-american

author

I studied mexican-american history on

May 22nd a day before the school year

ended and it wasn't until I got here to

Amherst College and I took my first

Black Studies course that I realized

that there was an entire academic

discipline that I had been cut off from

and as I learned about the struggles of

African Americans and other ethnicities

and the black liberation struggle I

became inspired to figure out who I was

as a Chicano male from South Texas I

became hungry for knowledge I became

inspired and once I found myself placed

on the historical timeline

I became an intellectual I was a student

participant and a student organizer of

an event called voices for the voiceless

and through this event I met people like

Jaime shaggy Flores they connected me to

these literary movements that

knew nothing about I met people like

veterans you got a poet Raul Salinas who

taught me about my indigenous background

as a Chicano I met Luis Reyes Rivera who

taught me about the intersections

between people of African descent in

Puerto Ricans and I met Carmen Tafolla

who was the poet laureate of San Antonio

Texas who's one of the banned authors in

Arizona and I also became actively

involved in the social movement of the

time which was the immigrant rights

movement which is an important lesson

about ethnic studies because you have to

put what you learn into practice and so

I felt liberated but I want to ask you

the question why do we have to wait to

college and so we have these experiences

shouldn't it be available for our young

people in high school and elementary

schools across the nation I believe so

ethnic studies has a 45 year history in

this country it was in 1968 a group of

multiracial students formed the third

world Liberation Front at San Francisco

State University and they staged the

country's longest student strike and at

the end of this struggle they achieved

the creation of the first ethnic studies

program at the college level UC Berkeley

followed the next year and student

activism of college students spread

ethnic studies to every major college

and university and an entire generation

of students have been trained to go back

into their community and to use their

knowledge that they learned about

themselves and their communities and use

these theoretical frameworks to go back

and solve problems in their community

and be active agents for social change

this movement was also at the high

school level and in 1968 the historic

East LA walkouts was asking for the same

things for high school students

bilingual education mexican-american

studies programs culturally relevant

curriculum in here we are were not done

with this struggle 1998 was a defining

moment in ethnic studies history it was

the year that the ethnic Studies

department

Tucson Arizona was created the country's

first and only district-wide

ethnic studies program in the Mexican

American Studies program was the largest

of the program who was a national model

for teachers like me and the teachers in

the Mexican American Studies program

presented at conferences and freely

shared their curriculum and their

pedagogy they invited us into their

classrooms and I was a student of those

teachers they have incredible academic

results ninety-three percent of the

students in the mexican-american studies

were graduating from high school in

eighty five percent of them were getting

accepted into college this compared to a

district-wide average for

mexican-american students not in the

program of a 50 percent dropout rate

equally important students in the

Mexican American Studies program

according to the 2012 Cabrera study were

outperforming their peers in reading

writing and math now the funny thing is

about math is they didn't even teach

math right so how is that possible and I

think it proves this point is that the

program was allowing students to develop

that intellectual identity it was a

defining moment for those young people

and so despite all this success in 2011

a group of politicians called this

program on American and unpatriotic and

accused the teachers of trying to teach

students to overthrow the government

yeah which is was the furthest from the

truth and the community responded

students and parents and teachers staged

hundreds of walkouts and protests and

sit-ins and they took over the school

board and they galvanized an entire

nation to defend the ethnic studies

program in Tucson Arizona I was there in

2012 as part of the liberal Trafficante

book smuggling operation we were putting

contraband books by Latino authors in

the trunk of our cars and taking them

across territory that these books were

illegal you know one of the things that

the students and the teachers told me

was that we're happy that you're here

but the real movement is back in your

respective local communities go back

there and create

ethnic studies programs so for the past

nine years I've been engaged in that

struggle as a member of the people's

education movement and organization I've

worked to create and share ethnic

studies curriculum and developed ethnic

studies pedagogy and at the school that

I teach at anima South Los Angeles we

have an eleven year history of offering

ethnic studies classes to all of our

ninth grade incoming students and an

elective also for upperclassmen in

Chicano African American Studies these

are some of my students and through a

important collaborative relationship

with my administrators and with the

counselors and with the other academic

disciplines in my school site we have

created myself and the other teachers

that have taught these classes an

academically rigorous course and program

that focuses on reading and writing

skills the focuses on listening and

speaking skills the focuses on critical

thinking through a project-based

approach to learning and before I share

some of my own curriculum I just have to

say I don't have this all figured out

being a teacher is a grind on a daily

basis and I am working to be better

every single day so these are my humble

ideas but their research focused and

they have results an ethnic studies

program has three components number one

it needs to be decolonial

number two it needs to be culturally

relevant and number three it needs to be

community responsive and social justice

based what I mean by decolonial

is that oftentimes students go through

history classes and they believe that

african-american history began with

slavery and that's not true

we have thousands of years of history

from our ancestors and those that came

before us the West African dancers that

come to my school every year is one part

of an entire curriculum that makes

students understand knowledge of self

and where we come from the Aztec dancers

that come to my school site are one

example of an infusion of a curriculum

that celebrates the indigeneity of our

Chicano and our Latino students we put

Columbus on trial for crimes against

indigenous people right and we look at

history from different vantage point

and we connect how colonialism of 500

years has shaped the current economic

political and social system that our

students engage with in South LA the

course needs to be culturally relevant

in it that it has to be specifically

tailored to the community that you teach

in so I teach in a community that's half

Latino and half african-american and one

of the things that we focused on is

celebrating and understanding the legacy

and the lessons of the unsung heroes of

American history the program needs to be

community responsive in that my

community is half black and half brown

one of the centerpiece units that I

teach is the missing chapter book on

black and brown unity and I grab the

state textbooks and I tell the students

hey let's look for that chapter because

man there's a whole lot written about it

and of course we can't find the chapter

so I say it's okay the knowledge is out

there we'll create it together and so we

create the missing chapter book on black

and brown unity this is a picture to my

students and I wanted to share one of

the written ideas they came from my

student London she's here on the left

and she said this about what she learned

oftentimes you grow up believing that

blacks and Latinos or arch-rivals only

because we aren't taught any better but

how can we expect to be taught otherwise

when our parents and our grandparents

have been sheltered from the truth and

the truth is is that black and Latinos

are not enemies and in fact there are

allies and have faced many of the same

struggles throughout the course of

history we need to address our struggles

and unite with one another to try to

overcome them if we were to learn about

how African and indigenous people came

together in Mexico for the liberation of

their collective struggles that we

should get the sense to do the same and

I think her words are profound in a

lesson and an understanding it's absent

for most schools that has a multiracial

population and finally one of the most

important lessons about ethnic studies

is that ethnic studies is a struggle by

itself

and so the students engaged in this

innovative project that was brought to

my attention by two friends of mine

professor Elias Erna and professor John

Avalos Rios who were creating pop-up

books with their students and the idea

of the pop-up book is a simple idea it's

that 500 years ago the Maya indigenous

people books were burned by the

Spaniards two years ago or in 2011 our

books were banned in Arizona so you can

burn our books you can ban our books but

the knowledge in the history and the

struggle will always pop back up it'll

pop back up in Los Angeles it'll pop

back up in Amherst Massachusetts

it'll pop back up in Chicago and all

over the country

and so students were able to write

essays and study about these different

events and they posted their work around

the school side and they invited their

community members and then we had a

display at the Southern California

library and I was contacted by a

journalist from Latino uSamp our program

and what was really powerful as they

came to interview my students about the

project and about their experience in

ethnic studies and we had achieved what

we sought to achieve at the beginning

which was to change the hearts and minds

of people by reaching a national

audience and I remember the faces on my

students and how proud they were when

they were speaking into the microphone

and when they heard their words and

their ideas over the radio right now in

Los Angeles we're currently engaged in a

historic struggle to bring ethnic

studies students to all high school

students in Los Angeles my students

recently wrote letters to the Los

Angeles Unified School Board according

to the data from the California

Department of Education there's over 150

mm high school students in Los Angeles

of those 150 mm only 691 are currently

in ethnic studies program this in a

school district answers 90 percent

students of color it's time to change

it's time to transform

it's time to offer ethnic studies

classes not just for the high school

students but

Elementary in middle school two days

from now it's Tuesday November 18th I'm

going to be joined by thousands of other

people in Los Angeles who are going to

be rallying in front of the school board

and we believe that this is a historical

moment similar struggles are taking

place in Texas the ninth district court

of appeals will be hearing the federal

court case that's been brought against

the state of Arizona for banning the

ethnic studies classes and my message to

you is that you and you can create

ethnic studies programs by writing

resolutions for your local school board

you can go to your local community your

local school community and you can

encourage teachers and administrators to

create these programs if you're an

educator whatever discipline whether

it's science math or English you can

also create these programs you can

infuse ethnic studies pedagogy and

ethnic studies curriculum into whatever

academic discipline that you have our

students need it

their success determined that their

success is determined by us offering

this type of learning and this type of

transformative and liberating experience

and I want to end today with a poem that

I begin my class every day with it's a

poem that comes from the Mayas it's a

concept called in la cash thousands of

years old to this continent that we live

in so poem written by luis valdez was a

member of the United Farm Workers

movement in Arizona this is a poem that

the government deemed illegal in LA this

poem is popping up and here's how it

goes and it's at the heart of what an

ethnic studies class is about in LA cash

do what ask me Oh throw yo you are my

other me see Thiago Dania D if I do harm

to you me ah go Daniel a me mismo I do

harm to myself City amo in respeto if I

love and respect you me llamo a respeto

yo I love and respect myself thank you

very much ladies and gentlemen