Tuesday, March 06, 2012

Librotraficante Caravan

The following message is from Dr. Keta Miranda, director of Mexican American Studies at UTSA:

dear students, grads and supporters of MAS,


As Arizona suspended Ethnic Studies (HB 2281), Tucson Unified School District removed or confiscated books from libraries and classrooms. Officially, 50 books have been listed and artwork, posters and teaching materials have been removed from classrooms.

The Librotraficante Caravan will travel from Houston, Texas, to Tucson, Ariz., carrying many of the contraband books, and creating networks of Underground Libraries. The Librotraficante Caravan made up of writers, educators, and students who want to preserve freedom of speech will be in San Antonio, Tuesday, March 13 (during spring break).

Siempre,
dr. marie “keta” miranda
director, mexican american studies

Tuesday, March 13

10 am - Noon: Latino Cultural Caucus: SA School Board Review RSVP culturalcaucus2016@librotraficante.com

1 pm - 4 PM: Teach In for 100 Teachers rsvp ultimateclass@librotraficante.com

7 PM: Librotraficante Banned Book Bash:

Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center

1300 Guadalupe Street, San Antonio, Tx 787207

With: Lorna Dee Cervantes,

Sandra Cisneros, Luis Alberto Urrea, Carmen Tafolla,

Xavier Garza, John Phillip Santos, Anthony The Poet, Tony Diaz-El Librotraficante,

Zelene Suchilt, Viktoria Valenzuela, more to come.




The caravan is intended to:

1.Raise awareness of the prohibition of the Mexican American Studies Program and the removal of books from classrooms.

2.Promote banned authors and their contributions to American Literature.

3.Celebrate diversity. Children of the American Dream must unite to preserve the civil rights of all Americans.

4.Create a network of resources for art, literature and activism.

Specific outcomes:

1.Underground Libraries: Librotraficantes will donate copies of the banned books a local nonprofit in Houston, San Antonio, Albuquerque and Tucson. These sites will not only be given copies of the banned titles, but from now on, all multicultural authors are encouraged to mail copies of their books to these sites when they are published, so that our community will always have access to our literature.

2.Teach-ins and a Supplanted Book List: Workshops that include free curriculum guides with literary excerpts and lesson plans that can be used in class and immediately applied to other works.

3.Network of Librotraficantes across the country: This is a case of new media saving the classic media of books. Had Arizona done this ten years ago, we most likely would not have heard about it until it had impacted a second generation of youth. However, because of new technologies and the network of writers and activists who are communicating on multimedia platforms, we were not only able to hear about Arizona’s actions, but to also utilize new media tools to organize some classic activist strategies to respond - from now on!