Become History: Learning from Identity Texts and Youth Activism in the Wake of Arizona SB1070

Abstract

The title of this article comes from a poster in Pedro’s Arizona classroom. The poster read, “The only violence in schools should be the kind you read about in history classes. Be smart. Don’t become history.” This message became increasingly salient to me while investigating Pedro’s engagement with literacy.  Using critical theory and contextualizing his work in the policies and shifting demographics of Arizona, I offer vignettes of Pedro’s participation in classroom and protest literacy.  Pedro’s participation calls out a different message from the poster: his action and reflection through literacy is about becoming history.