In October 2020, The African American Policy Forum (AAPF) launched the #TruthBeTold Campaign, a coalitional initiative to push back against Executive Order 13950 and the effort to silence those advancing honest conversations about the implications of America’s unequal past. After unprecedented global protests for racial justice following the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery, right-wing groups across America instigated and intensified a well-funded disinformation campaign against Critical Race Theory, intersectionality, and other forms of racial and gender justice. Starting with Donald Trump’s equity gag order (EO 13950) banning federal agencies, contractors, and grant recipients from conducting training sessions and programs that address systemic racism and sexism, this campaign has now morphed into a full-on war against racial and gender justice itself. Since EO 13950’s rescission at the federal level, twenty-three (23) states (AL, AR, AZ, CT, FL, GA, IA, ID, IN, KY, LA, MS, MT, NC, ND, NH, OK, SC, SD, TN, TX, UT, VA) have enacted racial and gender equity prohibitions. Across the country, this moral panic over what and how we learn about history has led to teachers being fired, courses canceled, and books authored by Black and LGBTQ+ authors banned. More books are being banned in schools and libraries than 10, 20, or 50 years ago. According to a report by PEN America, 1,648 unique book titles were banned from July 2021 to June 2022. The movement to stop educators from teaching history and structural racism in our classrooms comes from the same white-supremacist principles as the Jim Crow laws that sought to segregate Black children into underfunded schools. Banning books and classroom teachings about racial injustice are not new tactics, they are the latest round in a long campaign to prevent social progress from eliminating structural inequalities. Attacks on thought and reading are part of a larger assault on our democracy that includes rampant voter suppression efforts directed at communities of color and the proliferation of lies about the integrity of our electoral system. It is no surprise that the same forces funding these anti-democratic efforts with millions of dollars are also behind attempts to further marginalize LGBTQ+ students and suppress the teaching of gender equality and sexual education; these are branches of the same poisonous vine. The hateful drive to suppress, punish, and silence Black voices stretches from the earliest days of enslavement to current efforts to ban Critical Race Theory, The 1619 Project, and other Black literature. To learn more and to get involved , scan the QR codes below and visit www.aapf.org/truthbetold, www.booksunbanned.org, and www.freedomtolearn.net. Scan the QR code to read our #TBT report – How the Attack on Critical Race Theory and Anti-Racism is a Threat to Our Democracy .
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