I’m writing about the National Defense Authorization Act of 2012, because it allows for the detainment of American citizens, and non-citizens, without trial, if they are suspected of terrorism or terrorism like activities. Did you catch that? The president signed a bill that allows for the detainment of US CITIZENS, and non-citizens, WITHOUT TRIAL, if they are SUSPECTED of terrorism of terrorist like activities. If you haven’t figured it out yet, it sounds a lot like the Japanese Internment. And we all saw how that turned out.

We cannot celebrate the gains we’ve made in Civil Rights if our current government doesn’t recognize them. How can we celebrate a man who fought against the unjust detainment of American citizens when the government still has the power to unjustly detain American citizens?

For more information, check out E.D. Kain’s article from earlier this month: http://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkain/2012/01/02/president-obama-signed-the-national-defense-authorization-act-now-what/

Norma Gonzales, a teacher who taught Mexican American History was reassigned to teach American History and given a textbook that says that the Tohono O’odham people mysteriously vanished. She has two Tohono O’odham students in her class. Ironically, students who took the Mexican American Literature courses read Ofelia Zepeda’s Ocean Power. She is Tohono O’odham and received the MacArthur Genius Grant for her work. In MAS, curriculum reflected who they are. In the core curriculum, they have “mysteriously disappeared.”

So visit  http://americanindiansinchildrensliterature.blogspot.com/2012/01/nation-wide-responses-to-shut-down-of.html and get in on a piece of the action.

And it’s one of the bluegrass songs that’s been stuck in my head. Country isn’t usually my style, and I wouldn’t want a library full of songs like this, but a few to hum on my way to the bus is pretty great. The song for this week is David Crowder Band’s “Jesus, Lead Me to Your Healing Waters”:

If you don’t know, Arizona banned ethnic studies in schools in 2010. This past January, Tuscon Unified School District released a list of books they wanted removed from bookshelves, including classics like Paulo Friere’s “Pedagogy of the Opressed”, Leslie Marmon Silko’s “Rethinking Columbus”, and William Shakespeare’s “The Tempest”. And this past weekend, librarians got together to say this is NOT OK.

This is ridiculous. These are nationally recognized books, and I’m not sure what Arizona thinks they are accomplishing by restricting access of widely available materials to elementary and high school students. I know what they’ll get though– students who are unexposed to basic texts in multiple disciplines; students without critical thinking skills because they have grown up in an environment where their intellectual and cultural freedom is constrained. Ethnic Studies is not about rewriting history to privilege people of color. It’s about recognizing that history has already been written to privilege Euro-American history, and that’s not the whole picture. It’s about the freedom to think critically about the narrative presented to you and make your own decision. It’s about being aware, proud or not, of everything and everyone that makes up the United States.

Read the ALA’s condemnation of Arizona’s suppression of intellectual and education freedom:

http://www.oif.ala.org/oif/?p=3157

The year of the rabbit is on its way out, and the year of the dragon arrives. I hope everyone has cleaned house. I’ll be accepting red envelopes and firecrackers all day.

Kamekichi Tokita (1897-1948):

Kenjiro Nomura (1896-1956):

The exhibit runs through February 19, 2012. For more information, check out SAAM.

Another project that I blog for, Peel Pages, has opened their submissions process for their print edition on the theme of “Space and Place”. The mission of the magazine is to showcase artists committed to the power of art to transform society. It’s pretty neat. You can read the blog for more information, or check out the call for submissions, which I’m posting below:

Humanity cannot help but be contoured by where and how it finds itself. How do our surroundings and attendant circumstances exert influence in our shaping as individuals? Collectively as a society? There are ways too, in which we reciprocate this pattern by turning the tables back on our milieu to define it. We pin sentiments of all kinds to the places of our abode and the spaces through which we travel. There are the associations of quaint nostalgia and others of pained numbness. One finds that conversations on SPACE AND PLACE are broader than that of spatial concept and personal reflection. Indeed, it proves to be a diverse topic that can engage symbolic ideas like discovery and pilgrimage, but also tangible ones like displacement amidst urban gentrification. We at Peel Pages would like to invite you — the creative, the performer, the artist — to join us as we ponder the significance of SPACE AND PLACE.

Peel Pages is now accepting submissions for its April 2012 print issue. Please send your pieces, along with a short bio, to peelpages@gmail.com for review. All entries must be received by January 23rd 2012. We hope to hear from you shortly!

SUBMISSION SPECIFICATIONS
Visual Submissions
- Resolution of 300DPI and a minimum of 1200 pixels on the shortest edge
- In CMYK color space preferred
- Preferably in .TIF or .PNG format but .JPEG will do if it must
- Include an artist statement of 150 words or less subject to condensation for strictly visual pieces
- For other pieces requisite of textual accompaniments, 1200 words (as upper limit) pending exception upon review

Written Submissions
- 1200-1800 words (as upper limit) for formatted poetry / free verse, etc
- no more than 3 poems per issue, regardless of length
- 1200-2400 words (as upper limit) for prose, short stories, pending exception upon review
- Excepting poetry submissions, format double spaced for review, preferably in MS Word or compatible format

HOW TO SUBMIT & DEADLINE
- Submissions must be received by January 23rd, 2012 at peelpages@gmail.com
- Include an artist profile of 100 words or less subject to condensation
- Include ‘SUBMISSION FOR REVIEW’ in subject
- Complete and submit the follow-up Submission Release form

QUESTIONS
- Please direct questions to peelpages@gmail.com
- Include ‘SUBMISSION QUERY’ in subject

Two questions are left hanging in the air– how did this happen? And what really happened?

Maybe it’s as simple as it sounds. Being a skinny Asian kid made Chen an easy target, and his army mates took advantage of him. Being young and alone, Chen felt like he had no escape from racism except death.

Maybe it’s as simple as this–being different in any way, including race, is a good enough excuse to be bullied. And that means men like Danny Chen, and Harry Lew, and Brushaun Anderson, are singled out. Abused until they commit suicide in a job where there’s a very thin line between hard discipline and bullying.