Legislation would encourage Mexican history in classrooms

DOWNEY – Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia has introduced legislation that would encourage — but not require — “that the unconstitutional deportation of over 1 million U.S. citizens and lawful residents of Mexican descent in California during the 1920’s be included in student history textbooks and studies.” The Mexican Repatriation Act, initiated by President Herbert Hoover, indiscriminately swept up Mexican American citizens and immigrants from dance halls, markets, theaters, hospitals and homes, loaded them into trucks and trains and deported them to Mexico – “a gross violation of human rights and to date no apology has been offered by the federal government,” Garcia said.

Garcia says that California, where 38% of the population is Latino, should include this instruction just as schools have included curriculum on the Holocaust, Japanese Internment and histories on other violations of human rights that have occurred.

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Published: Jan. 22, 2015 - Volume 13 - Issue 41