Tupac Enrique Acosta

Tupac Enrique Acosta is a Xicano elder, practitioner of Nahua tradition, organizer, and human rights activist. His guidance was critical in the formation of the Nahui Ollin educational framework implemented in the former K-12 Mexican American Studies Department Programs in Tucson Unified School District and in its evolution, the Xicanx Institute for Teaching & Organizing. Acosta roots his work in a holistic perspective of history, attributing contemporary human rights abuses in the United States to colonialism and the doctrine of discovery. He has founded several organizations and frequently works in collaboration with Indigenous rights groups.
Organizing
In 2010, Acosta was arrested for protesting Arizona SB 1070 in front of the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office. In his holding cell, he discussed with Colin Bossen, a minister at the Unitarian Universalist Society in Cleveland, how "the purpose of SB1070 was to consolidate the perceptions of some white Americans around the idea of an America that is white in a continent that belongs to them." Bossen was supportive of Acosta's perspective and stated that "SB1070 is designed to enforce a border that divides not only the United States and Mexico but the indigenous peoples who belong to the Uto-Aztecan language group. They have been moving back and forth between what is now the U.S. and Mexico long before either country existed. SB1070 criminalizes their traditional freedom of movement." Acosta states "When we did that marching... we didn't come to legalize ourselves before the state of Arizona. We came to legalize Arizona... Now, let's get this clear, colonization is illegal... If we're going to legalize Arizona we have to decolonize Arizona."

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