NETO'S TUCSON: Jeers, angry reaction to speech become their topic of study

Last May, University of Arizona associate professor Sandra K.Soto addressed the graduates of the College of Social and BehavioralSciences.

Hers was a typical congratulations-now-go-out-and-make-goodspeech before thousands of students, and their families and friends.But Soto received a cacophony of jeers and insults when shecriticized Senate Bill 1070, which the governor had signed into lawa month earlier, and the state ban on teaching ethnic studies in theTucson Unified School District.

A portion of her speech, where she was shouted down, went viralon the Internet, generating hundreds of angry and hostile messages,and criticism from radio and television talk shows.

Nearly a year later, Soto and fellow assistant professor MirandaJoseph were recognized for a journal article they penned on thereaction to the speech, Arizona's controversial SB 1070 and anti-ethnic-studies laws, and questions about who can and cannot talk inpublic about controversial subjects.

The National Education Association recently gave its 2010Democracy in Higher Education Award to Soto and Miranda, bothprofessors in gender and women's studies at the UA.

"Soto's speech and the reactions to it became an occasion throughwhich the political and racialized dynamics at work in the statewere repeated," they wrote in the article for "Thought and Action,"an NEA journal.

Miranda and Soto said they were asked to write the article bysomeone who suggested they analyze the issues of controversialspeech and responses to it.

It was important, Joseph and Soto said, that instead of hidingfrom vitriolic critics, they needed to stand up to those who triedto silence Soto.

Much of the negative reaction ironically had nothing to do withthe content of the speech. Soto was accused of being a socialist,communist or terrorist. Some suggested the Texas-born Soto returnhome to Mexico or Cuba or El Salvador. Some attacks weremisogynistic and racist.

The most common criticism was that Soto ruined the ceremony forthe college grads. Critics claimed they were injured by her words.They said she politicized the commencement ceremony.

But Soto and Joseph wrote that critics' claimed the speech waspolitical "because it was not their political view."

While Soto was subjected to resentment and criticism, she alsoreceived wide support. She weathered the tempest with encouragementfrom campus colleagues, academics across the country, and studentsand their families who were at the ceremony and cheered her words.

"Our reaction was that she (Soto) shouldn't be left alone,"Joseph said.

Lost in the ruckus was that Soto challenged the students to usetheir civic responsibility to have an "educated, well-informed, andnon-hysterical debate, and to develop solutions that arefundamentally respectful of human and civil rights" on the state'spressing issues.

"What we so desperately need - and yes, this does put the classof 2010 at a particular crossroads - is for you to bring everycritical thinking skill at your disposal, and then some more, tobring all of the substantive knowledge of history, diverse culturesand societies, ethics and politics - bring all of these to thetable," she said in the portion of her speech that did not go viral.

Joseph said the journal article has brought national attention toArizona, specifically the move to keep TUSD students from learninghistory and literature from a different perspective. Soto, whoteaches ethnic studies at the UA, said the state's action againstethnic studies is being watched closely across the country.

In their defense of ethnic studies, the authors wrote thatstudents in such programs learn critical thinking skills that helpthem understand and analyze social relations in our country.

They concluded: "It calls them to just the sort of livecitizenship that the 'injured' members of Soto's audience seemed toreject."

Ernesto Portillo Jr. is the editor of La Estrella de Tucson.Contact him at netopjr@azstarnet.com or 520-573-4187.