A group of Latino educators are drafting a public petition that will demand that San Diego Unified School District to require all students pass an Ethnic Studies class for high school graduation.

The Association of Raza Educators (ARE) San Diego announced this week the Ethnic Studies Now Campaign –San Diego, which aims to make Ethnic Studies courses more readily available at SDUSD, which is a high diverse school district, with a majority of students of color.

“It’s important to have curriculum that empowers the student body,” said Liz Ramirez, co-chair for ARE San Diego. “It is important that these classes inspire the students in our communities so that they can develop critical skills to create change.”

The Ethnic Studies Now Campaign—San Diego is part of a statewide campaign that has already helped make Ethnic Studies courses mandatory in school districts throughout the state, including Los Angeles. San Francisco also expanded its Ethnic Studies programs.

Currently, there’s a proposal at the State Assembly, bill AB101, which will require all school districts in California to offer Ethnic Studies curriculum as a high school elective.

“This bill highlights an important innovation that our education system needs to make,” said the bill’s author, Luis Alejo, a Democrat from Salinas. “Due to the diverse demographics of our state, public schools should have the opportunity to improve human relations and enhance socio-cultural understanding. Ethnic studies classes not only allow students to develop an understanding of other cultures, they encourage the alleviation of racial tension—which is something that communities across the nation desperately need at the moment.”

In March, the SDUSD governing board passed a resolution supporting AB101 “to promote understanding and acceptance of all cultures.”

The board also called for the establishment of an Ethnic Studies Advisory Committee “to make reccomendations to the superintendent on issues related to ethnic studies.”

At the moment, only one high school in the whole school district offers an Ethnic Studies class, more especifically a Chicano Studies course, said Guillermo Gomez, an ARE co-chair and a Spanish teacher at Lincoln High School.

“We want students to be exposed to the history and cultures of groups other than European,” he said. “This will not only benefit brown, black, Asian students, but White, too, by learning about other cultures.”

The San Diego campaign demands that all freshmen in San Diego City Schools take a year-long course in Ethnic Studies in order to graduate from high school.

During the recent planning meeting at Lincoln High School, educators and ARE San Diego members invited the public to get involved in the campaign.

“Parents, students, educators, and community members are invited to attend our campaign meeting to learn more about the campaign and how get involved in this critical struggle,” read an invitation to the meeting.

The Ethnic Studies Now Campaign –San Diego is currently drafting a petition that will gather signatures from supporters to present to the SDUSD governing board. Organizers said that they will seek the support of leaders in the African-American, Asian-American, and Native American communities, to strenghten the petition.

Consuelo Manriquez, a former principal at San Diego High School’s School of Arts, said that throughout her tenure at San Diego High School she was able to create a Chicano Studies class, but that district administrators didn’t trully support her efforts.

“We never had enough funding to develop an appropiate curriculum, books, materials,” said Manriquez, who is not part of the Ethnic Studies Now Campaign—San Diego.

Manriquez is now a principal of King-Chavez Community High School, a charter in Downtown San Diego. There, students can take Ethnic Studies, Chicano Studies, and Women’s Studies.

Ethnic Studies Now Campaign—San Diego members said that they’re having a public meeting on Wednesday, April 22nd, at 6 p.m., in room 651, Lincoln High School, 4777 Imperial Ave., San Diego.

To learn more about the Ethnic Studies Now Campaign—San Diego, please visit www.AREsandiego.com.