Our second project as action in Hurricane Season has been a rewarding challenge. We had to look at two injustices, nationally and internationally, and see how the connect and relate.
On a national level, I looked at Arizona HB 2281 which prohibits the teaching of certain classes that promote “ethnic solidarity” and other requirements as detailed in my project. The law was only imposed upon the Tucson’s Public School’s Chicano Classes. The African-American, Pan-Asian and Native American history classes went completely untouched. The removal of these courses is hugely detrimental to the Mexican-American students of Tucson. Students involved in these classes had higher GPAs and were more likely to go on to college.
On an international level, I examined the land problems that the Guarani Indians of Brazil have been facing. Even though Brazil’s Minister of Justice made a ruling for them to be able to keep the land they had a while back, legislation and ranch owners have deprived them of this right and other rights guaranteed to them. This has forced them into many different types of horrible working conditions without labor rights.At first sight, I understand that my project may not seem hugely related, but after the research and time I have spent on this, I believe the exact opposite. I think part of understanding oppression is seeing how it doesn’t always come out in the exact same way, if it did, we’d be more able to fix it and move forward. It shows up in different ways for different types of people in different people and the solidarity and isolation that imposes further prohibits them from receiving help. Cultural extinction and minority marginalization are massive problems across the world, and my project covers two issues and links them up with themes such as voicelessness and denial of their ability to succeed and achieve to their fullest capability. My project lacks one succinct word or title that can sum it up, but the world’s problems lack that as well. I have believed from the start of this project that if it were simple to name, it wouldn’t be worth examining because it would have already been examined and connected. The treatment of these people, although not the same in means, has the same roots and end results.
This project was most rewarding for me in the challenge I had in exploring. I did not want my project and the relationship to be easily identifiable with two articles because I was looking for a challenge in understanding the systems of oppression imposed on minorities globally. So I chose that I thought could be united under a broad title and explored the depths of their misery and pain and the different levels these problems were being forced on them by. Everything I learned was deeply rewarding and really enjoyable. I am really proud of my final project.
