National Catholic Reporter  The Independent News Source  Chicano
studies are an important part of Arizona's curriculum   |  NCR
Today  Earlier this month, the Tucson, Ariz., school district,
responding to pressure from the state superintendent of
education, eliminated the Chicano studies curriculum in that
district.  Courses in the high schools on Chicano studies had
been taught for a few years with no negative reaction until
recently, when extreme right-wing politicians began to say that
the Chicano studies classes were characterized by expressed
racial hatred of whites and possessed no academic value. They
further added that no classes should focus on just one ethnic
group.  These allegations came from some of the same people who,
a year earlier, supported and passed state laws giving local
police the authority to arbitrarily stop anyone they suspected
of being an undocumented immigrant despite the fact that
immigration is a federal responsibility. That law has been
challenged by the administration of Presi