Voice of Witness is partnering with the Zinn Education Project and other organizations to support educators, students, parents, and community members in rallying across the country and pledging to #TeachTruth on June 11 and 12, 2022.
The Teach Truth Days of Action campaign aims to put a stop to anti-history education bills. Attacks on education through legislation are only increasing in the US. Lawmakers in 42 states have introduced legislation or pursued other measures that attempt to require educators to lie to students about the role of racism, sexism, heterosexism, transphobia, and other forms of oppression throughout U.S. history. These laws and restrictions have been imposed in at least 17 states.
As Education Week reports:
More than 17.7 million public school students enrolled in almost 900 districts across the country could have their learning restricted by local action and the recent slate of laws and policies aimed to ban teaching concepts related to race, racism, and gender, and often deemed “critical race theory.”
Books by Black, Indigenous, authors of color, and LGBTQ+ writers are increasingly being banned, with more than 1,500 book bans enacted in U.S. school districts in the last nine months.
So far in 2022, there are also more than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills under consideration in state legislatures, including bans against trans youth participating in sports consistent with their gender identity, prohibitions on teaching about gender identity, and most dangerously, attempts to criminalize gender-affirming health care.
Learn more about joining the campaign on the Zinn Education Project website. Take the pledge, sign up to get involved, or plan an action in your city.
