Lecture Notes: Ron Espiritu on Ethnic Studies

Introduction

• Speaker: Ron Espiritu, an educator with 9 years of experience teaching ethnic studies in South Los Angeles.
• Focused on empowering, liberating, and transforming young people through ethnic studies.
• Research supports positive academic and social outcomes from ethnic studies across races.
• Despite evidence, ethnic studies are often invisible in K-12 education, banned in places like Arizona.

Personal Background

• Grandmother's Experience: Margarita Pedraza in 1930s San Antonio, Texas, faced discrimination for speaking Spanish.
  • Influenced Ron's mother, Dora Espiritu, to become an educator promoting bilingual education.
• Parents' Influence: Both parents, principals in bilingual schools, inspired Ron and his sisters to become teachers.
• Educational Journey: Realized the importance of ethnic studies at Amherst College.
  • Involved in events like Voices for the Voiceless and immigrant rights movement.

History and Development of Ethnic Studies

• 1968: Initiation of ethnic studies at college level through student activism at San Francisco State University.
• High School Movement: East LA walkouts demanding bilingual education and Mexican-American studies.
• 1998: Formation of Tucson's Mexican-American Studies Program with outstanding academic results.
• 2011: Program deemed un-American and dismantled despite success.
  • Community resistance through protests and book smuggling.

Current Efforts and Personal Initiatives

• Local Implementation: Ron's work in South LA promoting ethnic studies.
  • Development of curriculum focusing on reading, writing, critical thinking.
  • Encourages decolonial, culturally relevant, and socially just education.
  • Celebrates heritage and community responsiveness, particularly black and brown unity.
• Innovative Projects: Engaging students in projects like pop-up books to preserve and share suppressed histories.

Call to Action

• Advocacy for ethnic studies at all educational levels.
• Encouragement for educators to integrate ethnic studies into various disciplines.
• Efforts in Los Angeles to increase ethnic studies availability in schools.
  • Rallying and writing to school boards to promote changes in curriculum.

Conclusion

• Poem: Enlakesh by Luis Valdez
  • A Mayan concept emphasizing interconnectedness and mutual respect.
  • Symbolizes the core values of ethnic studies.