This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
One by one, they took turns sitting in a solitary chair on a stage Friday evening in Salt Lake City, reading to a crowd selected excerpts from books no longer allowed to be a part of the curriculum in Arizona schools.
It was part of a movement dubbed "50 for Freedom" where activist groups in cities around the country protested a law signed by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer in 2010 that restricted courses that were "designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group."
The effect of that law, HB2281, removed from classrooms titles of classic literature, including Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya. The law came about when Arizona's state superintendent of public instruction Tom Horne pushed for state lawmakers to eliminate ethnic studies. Horne, now Arizona's attorney general, said such studies were divisive.
The penalty for teaching ethnic studies classes in Arizona includes the witholding of some state funding to offending school districts.
Tony Diaz, a leader in the Librotraficante Movement and organizer of the nationwide protest that took place Friday, said Arizona's law was the slippery slope toward other states attempting to marginalize cultural studies.
He said the protest was a way to highlight what he believed to be a dangerous trend.
"To me it's as clear as the light of day," Diaz said. "I think most Americans don't know about this, but when they do find out, well, Americans don't condone censorship."
He said there were similar readings happening in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
At the event, held in the gym at Centro Cívico Mexicano, about a dozen readers took books that were part of ethnic studies classes in Arizona and read them aloud. The event gathered about 100 attendees.
Robert "Archie" Archuleta kicked it off with Yo Soy Joaquín by Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales. That long poem about the struggles of the Chicano movement in the '60s is considered a cornerstone piece of literature.
Metzli Sanchez, a student at Highland High School, chose House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros. That book features a series of vignettes about a young girl growing up in an impoverished Latino neighborhood in Chicago.
Sanchez said it was given to her to read in seventh grade by her teacher and that it had a profound impact on the way she saw herself as a Latina living in Utah because it felt familiar to her.
She said she hoped others would read it to learn about different life experiences.
"I was angry when I heard about what happened in Arizona," she said. "I hope people could read it and understand that there is nothing wrong with us. We're human beings."
The event, sponsored by The Salt Lake Dream Team and the Librotraficante Movement, also featured booths selling T-shirts and buttons, paintings and artwork as well as live music. The event also raised money to support Mexican-American studies teachers around the country.
Twitter: @davemontero