蜜桃传媒 joins National Day of Action for 鈥楩reedom to Learn鈥�
American education is in crisis.
Books are being banned, curricula censored.
State laws are stripping educational instruction of so-called 鈥溾�� involving race, history, sexual orientation and gender.
School boards are morphing into political battlegrounds as takes a foothold in American education.
Teachers are scared. Students are anxious.
Today, the Southern Poverty Law Center and its program join a broad, nationwide coalition of organizations taking coordinated action against school censorship, racial inequity and intolerance as part of .
[List of recommended banned books]
The event, organized by the (AAPF), spotlights right-wing attacks on inclusive education as part of what AAPF calls a larger 鈥渓ethal assault on democracy,鈥� in concert with the suppression of voting rights, body autonomy, gender nonconformity and sexual orientation. Its purpose is to rally the American public, local communities and lawmakers to fight back against these incursions on individual rights.
鈥淧artnering with communities to fight censorship matters more than ever as efforts intensify to erase stories of difference and diversity from our schools and public discourse,鈥� said Margaret Huang, 蜜桃传媒 president and CEO.
鈥淒ifficult but essential conversations about racial justice and confronting our collective past must continue in classrooms. Nothing should stop that 鈥� not hate groups or anti-democracy extremists, not unrepresentative school boards and not authoritarian governors.聽The Southern Poverty Law Center is pushing for a full, truthful telling of our history and to reimagine how we can repair the harms of our past and present to build a multiracial, inclusive democracy for everyone.鈥�
Learning for Justice 鈥� a leading resource in the national campaign to promote accurate and inclusive learning 鈥� in collaboration with the 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 JEDI (justice, equity, diversity and inclusion) team, has partnered for the event with (AATB), a Central Florida-based, Black woman-led organization focusing on rural and suburban communities.
AATB is hosting a 鈥溾�� in the Mount Dora, Florida, bookstore . Staffers are handing out free banned books and the latest issue of the 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 , both provided by the 蜜桃传媒, and 鈥淚 read banned books鈥� T-shirts. The mayor of Mount Dora owns the bookstore and is hosting the event.
The 20 titles LFJ selected for the event are just a few of the nearly that have been banned since the start of the 2022-23 school year, according to .
鈥淟FJ鈥檚 work is all about inclusive education, so we wanted to be a part of AAPF鈥檚 brainchild,鈥� said Jalaya Liles Dunn, LFJ director.
AAPF, a human rights, justice and equity think tank, was co-founded by . Crenshaw is a Columbia University Law School professor, theorist and writer on social justice, race and gender who coined the word 鈥溾�� three decades ago to describe the intersection of social identities 鈥� gender, sexual orientation, race and other traits 鈥� and how they are affected by institutional white supremacy.
鈥楪round zero鈥�
Earlier this week, faith leaders and civil rights advocates from across Florida, including the 蜜桃传媒, gathered in Tallahassee for a two-day campaign to galvanize the public to challenge Florida鈥檚 repressive laws against free learning, voting and women鈥檚 rights and inclusion of Black, LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities.
Liles Dunn calls Florida 鈥済round zero鈥� in the fight against disinformation and school censorship. The state鈥檚 , known as 鈥淒on鈥檛 Say Gay,鈥� was enacted in March 2022 and later expanded to apply to grades 4-12. The 蜜桃传媒 has challenged the law in federal court, joining critics who say it has chilled free speech in classrooms.
Last year, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis also signed 鈥� a measure that bans educators from teaching certain topics related to race 鈥� into law. Other Southern states have followed with their own versions. In Georgia, the Legislature passed and two additional repressive classroom laws. Alabama鈥檚 own version of will come up for a vote for a second time during this legislative session. And in Louisiana, the Republican Party in an asked lawmakers to 鈥減ass laws removing diversity, equity and inclusion departments and agencies鈥� in higher education.
LFJ鈥檚 decision to partner with a grassroots Florida organization for the Day of Action reflects the 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 new strategic framework to engage with all communities affected by white supremacist laws and actions. In Florida, LFJ hosts monthly community learning sessions, sometimes with the 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 Children鈥檚 Rights legal practice group.
鈥淟FJ is centered on Black and Brown communities, but we are looking across the board at how injustice plays out across multiple populations 鈥� the LGBTQ+ community, the Jewish community, the AAPI [Asian American and Pacific Islander] community, anti-poverty organizations 鈥� and how they intersect with other communities,鈥� Liles Dunn said. 鈥淲e have to tell the whole story of what democracy looks like and what we have to do today.鈥�
For AATB co-founder Cassandra Brown, who is also the Lake County, Florida, chair of the , democracy in education means that 鈥渁ll children should be able to see themselves on the pages of books, in art, in leadership positions, thriving, accepted, loved and successful.鈥�
During Black History Month last February, AATB held an 鈥淓mbrace Not Erase鈥� protest before the Lake County school board and listed a year鈥檚 worth of Florida鈥檚 repressive education legislation on a flyer.
With this Day of Action, Brown said, 鈥渨e are hoping to raise awareness so that parents are knowledgeable about censorship in education. We are afraid that we are not reaching parents in marginalized communities. I need to make sure they know that this is happening and connect the dots to voting. That鈥檚 where your power is and how we can make change.鈥�
Illustration at top: The 蜜桃传媒 is part of a coalition of organizations participating in National Day of Action: Freedom to Learn on May 3, 2023. The event seeks to rally communities and lawmakers to fight back against incursions on individual rights.
