Don't miss this event tomorrow night! Great movie: WALKOUT and the legendary Carlos Montes will be there providing a historical perspective on how LAUSD treated Latino students in the 1960s.

Alex Caputo Pearl, president of the 2nd largest teachers union local in the country, spoke in support of our Ethnic Studies resolution in his remarks to the LAUSD Board of Education yesterday.  We're grateful to have his support! To skip to the section he speaks about Ethnic Studies, click here: 00:18

Great article in today's LA OPINION about yesterday's Ethnic Studies Now rally at LAUSD.  Please buy a copy of the newspaper today!  You can also read the online version --> here.  

We had a very well attended rally and press conference yesterday outside the School Board, and also had support inside.  More pics soon. Also check: facebook.com/EthnicStudiesNow

click here to view complete agenda on LAUSD Board website

Some facts about Ethnic Studies in LAUSD:

80 is the number of African American students enrolled in Ethnic studies in LAUSD last year.

11 are the number of High Schools in LAUSD that offer at least one class of ethnic studies (not including charter or continuation schools)

691 out of over 150,000 high school students, representing .5% (less than 1%) of students took an ethnic studies course in LAUSD.

5,666 is the number of students enrolled in Military Science Courses

LAUSD is over 90% students of color. 

Please support bringing Ethnic Studies as a High School Graduation Requirement in LAUSD.

Sign petition. Visit website. Get involved. 

Today we reached 10,000 website page views after just about 1 month!  Thank you to everyone for telling your friends and networks about www.EthnicStudiesNow.com and our campaign to make Ethnic Studies a graduation requirement in LAUSD -- Let's keep the momentum going!

Today we received a letter of support from the esteemed author Luis J. Rodriguez!

Luis J. Rodriguez has emerged as one of the leading Chicano writers in the country with fifteen published books in memoir, fiction, nonfiction, children's literature, and poetry.

Luis is best known for the 1993 memoir of gang life, “Always Running: La Vida Loca, Gang Days in L.A.” (paperback by Touchstone Books/Simon & Schuster). Now selling more than 400,000 copies, this book garnered a Carl Sandburg Literary Award, a Chicago Sun-Times Book Award, and was designated a New York Times Notable Book. It became a stage play by the Cornerstone Theater Company at the Mark Taper Auditorium in the L.A. Public Library from 2003-2005 to 6,000 high school students, and at the Ivar Theater in Hollywood for a limited six-day run in 2005. Written as a cautionary tale for Luis' then 15-year-old son Ramiro—who had joined a Chicago gang—the memoir is popular among youth and teachers. One Los Angeles Public Library official said “Always Running” is the most checked out book in their vast library system—and also the most “stolen.” Despite its popularity, the American Library Association called “Always Running” one of the 100 most censored books in the United States.

And he’s founder in 2009 of Barking Rooster Entertainment, which plans to create new content for films, books, CDs, TV, radio, and the Internet.  (to see full bio click here).

Beautiful movement.  Its finally here and its right on time.  Our youth need to learn the truth about their ancestors and the lands that we come from.  We can no longer wait for our children and the youth to get introduced to the truths about the colonization of our home lands and our true culture until they are in college.  I am so excited for this movement and cant wait for the next event. 

Over 20 people representing different orgs and and communities across LAUSD and beyond met this morning for the Ethnic Studies Now - LAUSD Coalition.

Here are some pics: