Activism

COMMENTARY: Back to School, Back to Fighting Far-Right Attacks on Education

We cannot begin to heal our divisions until we acknowledge and teach our whole history — good and bad. And we know that standing up for the freedom to learn will be a challenging task. This school year follows one in which reports of book bans and censorship reached record levels according to the American Library Association. Far-right groups and politicians are offering rewards and setting up tip lines to “report” teachers who cover “divisive” topics. School board members are receiving death threats.

Published

3 years ago

September 3, 2022

Oakland Post

Ben Jealous serves as president of People For the American Way and Professor of the Practice at the University of Pennsylvania. A New York Times best-selling author, his next book “Never Forget Our People Were Always Free” will be published by Harper Collins in December 2022.

By Ben Jealous, president of People For the American Way

Just when you thought far-right attacks on public education couldn’t get any more absurd, we hear about something new.

For the first time in almost 15 years, Sarasota schools this fall are turning down hundreds of free dictionaries from the local Rotary Club. Why? Because the district is afraid of violating a radical new law that’s part of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s crackdown on inclusive curricula. The district can’t buy or accept any new books until it hires someone to make sure they comply with the state’s draconian censorship regulations. So, the dictionaries sit on the shelf.

The idea that dictionaries might be hazardous to kids would be laughable if it weren’t so dangerous. This new school year is starting as more states are passing laws to make it easier to ban books. States are also passing laws to stop teachers from talking about topics like racism; according to Education Week, 42 states have now enacted limits on what teachers can say about racism or sexism in the classroom.

These same political forces want to make schools teach a whitewashed version of our history and our current reality in the name of “patriotic” education. They’re trying to take over school boards to impose their political ideology on teachers and students. That’s bad for our kids. And it’s bad for our country.

The freedom to learn is at risk.

This fall, it’s more important than ever to stand for the rights of teachers to teach, and students to learn, about the full spectrum of the American experience. That means lessons that include and celebrate diverse communities. It means history that doesn’t erase the experiences of Black people, brown people, LGBTQ people, women, immigrants, people with disabilities, and other communities that have been historically marginalized. The director of the nonprofit EveryLibrary warns that the current wave of book bans amounts to “the silencing of stories and the suppressing of information” that will make “the next generation less able to function in society.”

Children learn better when they can see themselves in others and see their communities as part of the great American story. At the same time, science tells us that learning how to understand and empathize with people across differences is essential to children’s healthy development. Looking honestly at our past helps students develop critical thinking skills that are desperately needed when every smartphone is a gateway to disinformation.

Democracy, too, depends on informed citizens to function. It’s no coincidence that the crowd that stormed the Capitol in 2021, was acting on lies and misinformation.

Authoritarianism feasts on ignorance. Election deniers and censors of history are in the same camp and should get nowhere near our schools.

But we don’t shy away from these challenges when we act from a place of love. Loving our children means being advocates for them when political extremists want to limit what they can learn. It means showing up to school board meetings and organizing to make ourselves heard. It means running for the school board.

It means rejecting one of the censors’ most harmful assumptions: that students are too fragile to hear the history our people have lived.

Millions of families are getting ready to send their kids back to school. Let’s also get ready to defend the freedom to learn. Before the dictionary ends up on your district’s banned-books list.

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Newsom Fights Back as AmeriCorps Shutdown Threatens Vital Services in Black Communities

“When wildfires devastated L.A. earlier this year, it was AmeriCorps members out there helping families recover,” Gov. Newsom said when he announced the lawsuit on April 17. “And now the federal government wants to pull the plug? We’re not having it.”

Published

2 hours ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

California for All College Corps.

By Bo Tefu
California Black Media

Gov. Gavin Newsom is suing the federal government over its decision to dismantle AmeriCorps, a move that puts essential frontline services in Black and Brown communities across California at risk, the Governor’s office said.

From tutoring students and mentoring foster youth to disaster recovery and community rebuilding, AmeriCorps has been a backbone of support for many communities across California.

“When wildfires devastated L.A. earlier this year, it was AmeriCorps members out there helping families recover,” Newsom said when he announced the lawsuit on April 17. “And now the federal government wants to pull the plug? We’re not having it.”

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) under the Trump administration is behind the rollback, which Newsom calls “a middle finger to volunteers.”

Meanwhile, Newsom’s office announced that the state is expanding the California Service Corps, the nation’s largest state-run service program.

AmeriCorps has provided pathways for thousands of young people to gain job experience, give back, and uplift underserved neighborhoods. Last year alone, over 6,000 members across the state logged 4.4 million hours, tutoring more than 73,000 students, planting trees, supporting foster youth, and helping fire-impacted families.

The California Service Corps includes four paid branches: the #CaliforniansForAll College Corps, Youth Service Corps, California Climate Action Corps, and AmeriCorps California. Together, they’re larger than the Peace Corps and are working on everything from academic recovery to climate justice.

“DOGE’s actions aren’t about making government work better. They are about making communities weaker,” said GO-Serve Director Josh Fryday.

“These actions will dismantle vital lifelines in communities across California. AmeriCorps members are out in the field teaching children to read, supporting seniors and helping families recover after disasters. AmeriCorps is not bureaucracy; it’s boots on the ground,” he said.

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Four Bills Focus on Financial Compensation for Descendants of Enslaved People

This week, CBM examines four more bills in the package — each offering ways for Black Californians to receive restitution for past injustices — from housing assistance and reclamation of loss property to fairer pay and the establishment of a state agency charged with determining eligibility for reparations.

Published

3 hours ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

iStock.

Edward Henderson
California Black Media

Last week, California Black Media (CBM) provided an update on four bills in the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) 2025 Road to Repair package.

The 16 bills in the Black Caucus’s 2025 “Road to Repair” package focus on “repairing the generational harms caused by the cruel treatment of African American slaves in the United States and decades of systemic deprivation and injustice inflicted upon Black Californians,” said the CLBC in a release.

This week, CBM examines four more bills in the package — each offering ways for Black Californians to receive restitution for past injustices — from housing assistance and reclamation of lost property to fairer pay and the establishment of a state agency charged with determining eligibility for reparations.

Here are summaries of these bills, information about their authors, and updates on how far each one has advanced in the legislative process.

Assembly Bill (AB) 57

AB 57, introduced by Assemblymember Tina McKinnor (D-Inglewood), would require that at least 10% of the monies in the state’s home purchase assistance fund be made available to applicants who meet the requirements for a loan under the home purchase assistance program and are descendants of formerly enslaved people.

The Assembly Judiciary Committee is currently reviewing the legislation.

Assembly Bill (AB) 62

AB 62, also introduced by McKinnor, would require the Office of Legal Affairs to review, investigate, and make specific determinations regarding applications from people who claim they are the dispossessed owners of property seized from them because of racially motivated eminent domain. The bill would define “racially motivated eminent domain” to mean when the state acquires private property for public use and does not provide just compensation to the owner, due in whole or in part, to the owner’s race.

AB 62 is currently under review in the Judiciary Committee.

Senate Bill (SB) 464

SB 464, introduced by Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D-Los Angeles), aims to strengthen the existing civil rights laws in California concerning employer pay data reporting. The bill mandates that private employers with 100 or more employees submit annual pay data reports to the Civil Rights Department. These reports must include detailed demographic information — including race, ethnicity, sex, and sexual orientation — pertaining to their workforce distribution and compensation across different job categories. Furthermore, beginning in 2027, public employers will also be required to comply with these reporting requirements.

The Senate Committee on Labor, Public Employment, and Rules is currently reviewing SB 464. A hearing is expected to be held on April 23.

Senate Bill (SB) 518

SB 518, introduced by Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson (D-San Diego), establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery to address and remedy the lasting harms of slavery and the Jim Crow laws suffered by Black Californians.

SB 518 is under review in the Senate Judiciary Committee. A hearing is expected to be held on April 22.

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Faces Around the Bay: Author Karen Lewis Took the ‘Detour to Straight Street’

“My life has been a roller-coaster with an unlimited ride wristband! I was raised in Berkeley during the time of Ron Dellums, the Black Panthers, and People’s Park. I was a Hippie kid, my Auntie cut off all our hair so we could wear the natural styles like her and Angela Davis.

Published

3 hours ago

April 28, 2025

Oakland Post

Karen Lewis. Courtesy photo.

By Barbara Fluhrer

I met Karen Lewis on a park bench in Berkeley. She wrote her story on the spot.

I got married young, then ended up getting divorced, raising two boys into men. After my divorce, I had a stroke that left me blind and paralyzed. I was homeless, lost in a fog with blurred vision.

Jesus healed me! I now have two beautiful grandkids. At 61, this age and this stage, I am finally free indeed. Our Lord Jesus Christ saved my soul. I now know how to be still. I lay at his feet. I surrender and just rest. My life and every step on my path have already been ordered. So, I have learned in this life…it’s nice to be nice. No stressing, just blessings. Pray for the best and deal with the rest.

Nobody is perfect, so forgive quickly and love easily!”

Lewis’ book “Detour to Straight Street” is available on Amazon.