Last call [from me] to watch Bill Moyers’ interview with Luis Alberto Urrea

by David Safier

This is the last I'm urging you to watch the enjoyable, educational, valuable interview with Luis Alberto Urrea. He discusses border issues, TUSD's MAS program and his own mixed heritage — an Anglo mother and a Mexican father — all with a rare mix of understanding and humanity.

Here's my favorite quote from the interview, where he talks about the value of the MAS program — which, by the way, Urrea admits is far from perfect:

"If I had anything I could tell the TUSD people or Governor Brewer, though she'd never listen to me, it is [the MAS program] is a gateway into American-ness, not out of American-ness, because literature opens your world."

The idea that you become "assimilated" by denying your heritage is ridiculous, especially if your history in this country is one of oppression and second class citizenship. Any psychologist will tell you, people need to understand who they are, and if they harbor anger toward others, they need to understand and confront that anger — especially if it's mixed with self-hatred — if they want to move beyond it and reach a point of accepting themselves and others. This kind of thing is rarely easy personally or societally, but it's one of a major currents in the history of this country.

"FAR FROM PERFECT" COMMENT CLARIFICATION: Someone who taught in the dismantled MAS program emailed me about my statement that Urrea admits the MAS program is "far from perfect," saying no one in the program claimed perfection, adding that people's passion in advocating for the besieged program shouldn't be mistaken for a claim of perfection. I agree. Mentioning Urrea's qualification about the program was meant to show how clear-headed he is, to give him the credibility he deserves, even with MAS critics. As I replied in my email, in my 30+ years teaching in a public high school, I never saw a teacher, course or discipline I thought came close to "perfection," including my own daily attempts to give my students something of value.