LAUSD Votes to Close LA Indigenous High School

LAUSD Votes to Close LA Indigenous High School

The Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education voted to close the Anahuacalmecac International University Preparatory High School on Tuesday. Trustee Mónica García was the only board member who voted to renew the Indigenous-themed school’s 5-year charter.

“We have had more than 500 years of resistance. This is nothing new,” Marco Aguilar, the schools’ co-founder and executive director, told crying students and supporters after the meeting.

Anahuacalmecac can still appeal to stay open to the Los Angeles County Office of Education. Stay tuned for more information.

Visit: Semillas Community Schools

Photo Credit: Bob Chamberlin, LA Times

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Here is a reader's reaction to this news:

They will never, ever, ever let us fucking run our own business. We need to do it WITHOUT them and IN SPITE of them. Always. They are not our friends. They do not have our best interests in mind. They want us to disappear. This is what the coloniser has always wanted.

Mayan Priests denied access to Guatemala ceremonial sites

Guatemala, the heart of Mayan culture, has started their festivities for the 13 Baktun - the last cycle of the Mayan calendar, due to end on Friday, December 21, 2012. But sadly the celebrations were dominated by staged government shows which were neither led nor shared by indigenous communities or spiritual leaders.

On stage, non-indigenous peoples were wearing indigenous clothes in a folklore show while non-indigenous attendees from the Guatemalan elites were in the most important ceremonial Mayan center, Tikal, waiting for the new era to arrive. Indigenous peoples were left outside, were they were demonstrating, playing the traditional instrument marimba. 

Related, due to this party, an ancient stone temple at Tikal, the largest archaeological site and urban center of the Mayan civilization was ruined.

So not only were the indigenous Mayans not allowed to celebrate on their ceremonial site, their ceremonial site was destroyed.