Meet 'Librotraficante' Tony, Purveyor of Banned Books
Never fear, Arizona schoolchildren! Tony is here to resurrect the ethnic studies program and restore banned bookdom to its rightful heirs.
The Arizona legislature's HB 2281, which eliminates ethnic studies programs, has prompted the Tucson school district to ban a spate of books, many Native-authored. The decision has been, to say the least, controversial. One part of the ban earning the most censure from Native authors is Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years, co-edited by Bill Bigelow and including pieces by the likes of Suzan Shown Harjo, Buffy Sainte-Marie, Joseph Bruchac, Leslie Marmon Silko and Winona LaDuke, and two books by Native American author Sherman Alexie.
In this video our hero Tony stands firm in front of his open trunk, books spilling out behind him, to tell us of the new order: "Arizona, we're throwing the book at you."
Below, a language lesson of sorts from the new self-proclaimed librotraficante (book trafficker). For more information, do as the video says: Visit Librotraficante.com.



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