Occupy Wall Street Library Sending Books to Tucson

By Jason Boog 

The Occupy Wall Street Library and Occupy Tuscon are raising funds to redistribute books that have been removed from Tucson Unified School District.

Last year, Arizona passed the controversial H.B. 2281, a bill banning school curriculum “designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.” Along with the bill, a number of ethnic studies books have been removed from school district shelves (list follows below).

Check it out: “Acting in solidarity with OccupyTucson and the students, parents, and teachers of the Tucson Unified School District we are going send copies of the banned texts to Tucson for distribution. Lots of copies. As many copies as we can find and buy. We respect the rights of authors and publishers, so all copies will be completely legally purchased though an independent bookseller or directly from the publisher. Donations of the these texts are, of course, welcomed. We’ll be collecting funds via the WePay link on this page. Any amount will be gladly welcomed and all donations will go toward the purchase of books or shipping books.”

Arizona’s H.B. 2281 declares: “a school district or charter school in this state shall not include in its program of instruction any courses or classes that include any of the following: promote the overthrow of the United States government, promote resentment toward a race or class of people, are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group or advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.”

Follow this PDF link to read the complete text of H.B. 2281.

Some Books Removed from Tucson Unified School District Shelves

Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire
Occupied America: A History of Chicanos by Rodolfo Acuna
Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years by Bill Bigelow
Critical Race Theory by Richard Delgado
Message to AZTLAN by Rodolfo Gonzales
500 Years of Chicano History in Pictures by Elizabeth Martinez
Chicano! The History of the Mexican Civil Rights Movement by Arturo Rosales