MAS Redux: Tucson Weekly & MalintZINE Dare to Tell the ‘Rest of the Story’
Sexism and sexual violence cross all ethnic, racial, and class boundaries. This story focuses on the struggle against misogyny and sexual violence in Tucson’s Chicano community.
For years, the Tucson Weekly’s Mari Herreras has covered multiple aspects of the rise and fall of Mexican American Studies (MAS)– the chaining, the chanting, the demonstrations, the fundraising, the controversies, the personalities– but A Broken Community, the cover story of the July 18 issue, was one of the more fascinating stories about the evolution of MAS.
Maybe it’s because I gave up reading the Three Sonorans blog years ago, but I haven’t heard or read much about MAS since the former director of the program, Sean Arce, was charged with domestic violence back in December 2012.
At the time, the silence surrounding the Arce’s charges and what happened between him and his wife that night in December at La Cocina was deafening. As I wrote, “Bloggers who regularly post ‘news’ stories every time Arce catches a cold are mute, and none of the mainstream media have touched his story.”
A handful women bloggers wrote about the Arce story– most notably, a relatively new blog, MalintZINE. “Dear Sean”, a moving essay about machismo and sexism in the MAS movement, was one of the first few posts on this blog, and at the time, the author(s) was/were anonymous to the general public, myself included.
Herreras’ TW story updates us on this thread.
Rape and Violence
Without naming many names, Herreras gives us the back story on sexism, sexual abuse charges, and fallen idols in the MAS program, with accounts dating back to 2011 (more than a year before the December 2012 Arce incident). At the core of the story is former MAS spokesperson and former cover girl for the Precious Knowledgemovie Leilani Clark and the womyn of MalintZINE. In the early heyday of the MAS protests, Clark was everywhere. I heard her speak with poise and fire about the MAS struggle at multiple events, and then… poof… she disappeared from the scene. She was everywhere, and then, nowhere. (I’m sure I’m not the only one who wondered what happened to her.)
To find out, follow the jump.