# data[].attributes.body
On May 11, 2010, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed a ban on ethnic studies. This ban included books written by authors of color. Arizona legislation said the ban was to prevent classes from “promoting the overthrow of the United States government” or “promoting resentment toward a race or class of people.”

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
On May 11, 2010, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law HB 2281, a legislative act designed to end Ethnic Studies classes in the state. This law banned schools from engaging with certain books written by authors of color and temporarily eliminated the Mexican American Studies program in Tucson schools, preventing hundreds of students from engaging with their history and culture within a school setting for almost a decade.

The signing of HB 2281 came just weeks after Governor Brewer signed SB 1070, Arizona's controversial immigration law that was then among the nation's strictest, and which opponents criticized as encouraging racial profiling. Though less publicized, HB2281 also had far-reaching consequences for people of color in Arizona and any students interested in studying their history. The law banned all classes alleged to "promote the overthrow of the United States government" or "promote resentment toward a race or class of people" and classes "designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group" which "advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals." In January of 2012, after the state superintendent's office threatened to withhold 10% of the district's annual funding, the Tucson School District voted to cut the Mexican American Studies program in compliance with the new law.

Beginning in the 1990s, Mexican-American educators in Tucson, Arizona came together to build a program to narrow the achievement gap between Latino students and white students by widening the scope of traditional curriculum, including introducing books written by authors of color. Students who engaged in the program, which was open to all, saw great success with reportedly increased test scores and higher graduation rates. Proponents of HB2281, however, accused Ethnic Studies courses of segregating students and impeding assimilation. Tom Horne, the state superintendent of public instruction, seemingly overlooking the nation's long history of racially segregated public education, argued that the public school system has always "brought together students from different backgrounds and taught them to be Americans and to treat each other as individuals." Referring to those who supported the Mexican American Studies program, Horne dismissively said, "They are the 'Bull Connors.' They are resegregating." John Huppenthal, a state Senator who helped pass the law, claimed that these programs designed to increase representation within the classroom were similar to the Ku Klux Klan; in making that comparison, Huppenthal trivialized a long and deadly history of white supremacist racial violence in America. Huppenthal also fervently declared on social media that Spanish-English media should be shut down, and later referred to people receiving public assistance as "lazy pigs."

HB 2281 not only forced the Tucson School District to eliminate its Mexican American Studies course; the law also led the district to remove several books from its classrooms, including Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and The Tempest by William Shakespeare. In a meeting with Mexican American Studies teachers, administrators ultimately advised them to avoid any units that included "race, ethnicity, and oppression as central themes."

After courts repeatedly refused to strike down the law for several years, a federal court held that HB 2281 was passed with the specific intention "to advance a political agenda by capitalizing on race-based fear." HB 2281 was formally invalidated as unconstitutional in 2017, nearly a decade following its passage, and after the law had already denied hundreds of students the opportunity to study within a culturally diverse setting.

About EJI

The Equal Justice Initiative works to end mass incarceration, excessive punishment, and racial inequality.

Learn more

About this website

Until we confront our history of racial injustice and its legacy, we cannot overcome the racial bias that exists today.

Learn more

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
May 11, 2010 | AZ Passes Unconstitutional Law Banning Ethnic Studies Programs in Schools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
On May 11, 2010, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law HB 2281, a legislative act designed to end Ethnic Studies classes in the state. This law banned schools from engaging with certain books written by authors of color and temporarily eliminated the Mexican American Studies program in Tucson schools, preventing hundreds of students from engaging with their history and culture within a school setting for almost a decade.

# data[].attributes.body
Tony Diaz is a writer and author who helped form the Librotraficante Caravan to smuggle books banned from Arizona's curriculum back into the state. Diaz continues to empower his community through educational consultation, innovative collaborations, and activism.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Guides: Mexican American Literature: Tony Diaz

# data[].attributes.body
In 2010, Arizona banned ethnic studies and compared Latinx books to Mein Kampf. Tony Diaz and his fellow Librotraficantes smuggled "controversial" banned Latinx books back into Arizona. Diaz states the Arizona's legislation is not afraid that the Latinx community will overthrow the government through violence but instead through votes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
JUAN GONZALEZ: We end today's show with a self-described book smuggler. He calls himself "El Libro-Traficante." His name is Tony Diaz.

TONY DIAZ: Libro-Traficante. Me and my fellow Libro-Traficantes will be smuggling contraband books back into Arizona this spring break, March 2012.

On Monday, El Libro-Traficante is set to launch a small caravan to bring carloads of ethnic studies books into Arizona that were banned by public school officials in Tucson after the city suspended its acclaimed Mexican American Studies program due to a state ban on the teaching of ethnic studies. The banned books include Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, edited by Bill Bigelow and Bob Peterson; Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire; Occupied America: A History of Chicanos by Rodolfo Acuña_; and Chicano: The History of the Mexican Civil Rights Movement by F. Arturo Rosales.

AMY GOODMAN: Tony Diaz is an author, professor, founder of the nonprofit Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say.

Welcome to Democracy Now! So, explain to us, Tony the Smuggler, what your plans are.

Sure. Basically, when Arizona tried to erase our history, we decided to make more. So we've unleashed this informal network that's galvanized into a national movement. Right now there are Libro-Traficantes across the country. Even right now, here's the irony of it. Tucson is a really cutting-edge cultural place. They've got a great book festival. So right now, today, they are convening to celebrate writers like Luís Alberto Urrea. But these are also some of the authors whose books have been confiscated from the classrooms. So Tucson is also at the middle of this controversy, because Arizona has spent a lot of time making our people illegal, and now they want to make our thoughts and history illegal. And that's too much. So with the caravan, you can get the full schedule at librotraficante.com. And we are basically bringing all the books back that were confiscated and taken out of classrooms during class time. The other cultural offense here was that administrators were forced to walk into classrooms while school was in session and, in front of our young, box up books by our most beloved authors. And that's too much.

So right now what we're doing is we are going to be reaching out to six cities. But beyond that, we are creating underground libraries. We're creating First Amendment reviews for all the school boards of the ground we touch in. And then also we're going to have huge festivals, and a little theater, as well. We've got a fleet of taco trucks waiting for us in San Antonio to deliver fliers and books to the community to let them know where the underground libraries are, where the festivals are.

Basically, Arizona created what it fears most: they've woken the sleeping giant. And in fact, we're not the sleeping giant; Latinos are the working giant, and reporting for work on this particular issue. And we need everybody to give us support. And they can just jump in and join at librotraficante.com across the nation. People are forming groups to read the protested books, to read the books that have been confiscated. They've actually brought so much attention to our community that I think right now we really are on the verge of a Latino Renaissance. It's beautiful, all around art, because only art can save us.

Tony, earlier this year I asked Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal what he finds objectionable about the contraband books that you intend to smuggle into Arizona. He denied he banned the books and said he has read them himself.

There's no-nothing about my order that requires that those books be banned at all. You know, I've read those books myself to familiarize myself with the issues at hand. But what we have concerns about are how those books are being used. You could use Mein Kampf in the classroom, but you'd have to be really careful, because you-if you found a teacher who wasn't using it to explore the issues in Mein Kampf critically, but you were-they were using it as a Bible, boy, that would be intolerable. And that's where the teachers have crossed over the line. They've gone from using these books critically, to get the students thinking about them from many vantage points, to using these books essentially as a Bible.

AMY GOODMAN: El Libro-Traficante, The Book Smuggler, your response?

TONY DIAZ: Evidently, he wanted to replace Mexican-American studies with a real, live class on doublespeak, because that's all doublespeak. Huppenthal knows that Americans would not tolerate a direct ban on literature. So he has actually taken oppression and updated it. At the end of the day, yes, there is actually a law, America, in Arizona, to prohibit courses in high schools. Let that sink in.

On top of it, one of the salacious aspects of the law, which really offends me, is that this law was looking for courses that promote the overthrow of the government. The implicit claim, that is, that Latinos want to overthrow the government? And I'm sorry, one of the books that was confiscated is House on Mango Street. The protagonist is a young Latina, Esperanza. And I'm sorry, I've read that book five times, Mr. Huppenthal. Perhaps you, as a D student, who cannot analyze literature properly, somehow found something about overthrowing the government. All I found out is issues about the American Dream, beautiful writing.

And that's what happens when our young are introduced to the literature. Writers like Sandra Cisneros, who are the first of their family to go to college, wind up becoming Genius MacArthur Grant winners. I know they are not scared that we would overthrow the government through violence. They're scared that we will overhaul the government through voting them out of office. And that's exactly what's about to happen, because what's wrong is they're sabotaging the American Dream for our young, and for everybody. Sandra Cisneros is on the ACT test. So if you take that out of the classroom, you are actually making it harder for your students to pass these tests. And at the end of the day, that's what this is about.

Tony Diaz, we have to leave it there. Tony Diaz, El Libro-Traficante, The Book Smuggler, also producer on Pacifica station KPFT in Houston, thanks so much for being with us.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
"El Librotraficante" Tony Diaz Defies Ethnic Studies Book Ban with Caravan to Arizona

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Self-described book smuggler Tony Diaz, nicknamed "El Libro-Traficante," is set to launch a small caravan to bring carloads of controversial books into Arizona that were recently banned by public school officials in Tucson after the city suspended its acclaimed Mexican American Studies program due to a state ban on the teaching of ethnic studies.

# data[].attributes.body
In an underground library in Houston, Texas, Tony Diaz expresses concerns surrounding the suppression of ethnic studies and its impact on diversity. The goal of the Librotraficante Caravan is to prevent the Latinx community from being separated from its books and literature again.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Show Us Your DiverseCity | Tony Diaz - Writer, Activist, Professor

# data[].attributes.body
Ethnic studies examine history from different perspectives. The ban on ethnic studies and books would result in history only being taught from the white perspective.

# data[].attributes.headline
"These book banners ain’t learned their lesson. Time to school ’em again."

# data[].attributes.subject
"These book banners ain’t learned their lesson. Time to school ’em again."

# data[].attributes.body
Tony Diaz, other Librotraficantes, and supporters celebrate the 10th  anniversary of the 2012 Librotraficante Caravan. Their message to book banners remains the same: no banning of liberation literature or critical ethnic studies! The Librotraficante includes African American studies and LGBTQ+ studies.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Librotraficante Movement liberates books – again

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Houston “They banned books. We made history!” This was the cry of the founder of the Librotraficante Movement — writer, activist and professor Tony Diaz on March 12. The Librotraficantes and supporters filled Casa Ramirez folk art shop to overflow capacity to celebrate the 10th anniversary

# data[].attributes.body
Latinx authors help teach young people about Latinx culture and heritage. Diaz understands the importance of stories voiced by Latinx people and continues to support Latinx authors.

# data[].attributes.body
Books that Arizona banned included:
'Drown' by Junot Díaz
'Puro Teatro: A Latina Anthology' by Alberto Sandoval-Sanchez & Nancy Saporta Sternbach
'Red Hot Salsa: Bilingual Poems on Being Young and Latino in the United States' by Lori Marie Carlson & Oscar Hijuelos
'The House on Mango Street' by Sandra Cisneros

# data[].attributes.body
Faced with broader book bans, Tony Diaz continues the fight against banning books. Diaz calls for an updated approach to the one they used ten years ago.

# data[].attributes.body
Tony Diaz has built a network of Chicano writers, artists, allies, and cultural accelerators to fight against censorship. In his book, The Tip of the Pyramid: Cultivating Community Cultural Capital, Diaz calls for cultural accelerators to stand up, band together, and take action against book bans. In his book, Diaz gives examples of how powerful the Latinx community is and how that power is the "tip of the pyramid."

# data[].attributes.body
Arizona's ban on ethnic studies banned more than books. It restricted access to Latinx culture, history, representation, and voices. It was an attempt to erase the Latinx identity. Books are a doorway to the world, and bans slam the door shut, limiting the youth's success.