Teachers Encouraged to Teach 1930s Mexican Repatriation

REBECCA ZENG
News Editor
KYLE ANG
Staff Writer

On Oct. 1, the Los Angeles Times reported that Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill known as Assembly Bill (AB) 146 that encourages, but does not mandate, future history textbooks in public schools to include information about the 1930s deportation of Mexican Americans.

The idea was first submitted by a fifth-grade class who struggled when searching for information about the 1930s Mexican repatriation movement.

“We should never try to hide or censor our history because we are a product of our history whether we like to admit it or not,” LASO president Sara Castro said.

According to the Southern California Public Radio, approximately one million U.S. immigrants of Mexican descent were deported to Mexico during a repatriation movement in the 1930s. The Federal Bureau of Immigration, now known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service, and local officials unconstitutionally forced Mexican Americans to leave the U.S. in order to reduce expenses during the Great Depression, according to Digital History.

The official bill text for AB 146 states that existing laws require social studies classes to provide instruction in human rights issues including genocide, slavery, the Holocaust, contemporary issues and other topics. The recent proposal simply added on to the existing law, except that AB 146 will encourage, instead of require, instruction about the unconstitutional deportation of Mexican Americans during the Great Depression.

“[Encouraging this] information [to be taught] is good because we’ll be less ignorant about the bad things that have happened [in the past]. For example, we grew up believing Columbus was a great man when he did more harm than good. Our textbooks make it look like our country […] does almost nothing wrong and we all [know] that’s not true,” sophomore Jada Thoele said.

According to Fox News, Jorge-Mario Cabrera Jr., communications director for Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, states that the deportation of Mexican immigrants is a part of history that should be taught to all the schools in the nation, not just to the students of California.

According to the LA Times, State Senator Joseph Dunn states that this issue is still pertinent because of the continuing debate over immigration, especially in times of economic complications.

“It was a very unjust and racist event to happen in America and to ignore its existence would be like excusing the country’s discriminatory actions,” junior Alexandria Vasquez-Hernandez said.