Activists protest book bans, curriculum censorship outside SCOTUS

(NewsNation) — Civil and human rights leaders rallied Friday outside the U.S. Supreme Court to denounce book banning, curriculum censorship and other “politically motivated” actions in schools.

The “Freedom to Learn” collective opposes “the attacks being waged on educational curricula,”  “intersectionality, critical race theory, Black feminism, queer theory, and other frameworks that address structural inequality,” according to the Freedom to Learn website.

Friday marked the group’s second National Day of Action, which included banned book reviews, teach-ins, rallies and discussions.  

“Since the summer of 2020, an emboldened and well-resourced faction in the United States, and increasingly around the globe, has declared war on hard-fought advances in civil and human rights, social justice, and democratic participation,” the group’s open letter against “’Anti-woke’ censorship” states.

Advocates aligned with Freedom to Learn say politicians are attempting to censor concepts “that sprang to life out of decades of struggle against racism, sexism, ableism, colonialism, and related forms of domination.”

Attempts to ban or restrict access to books have ramped up in recent years. PEN America recorded 3,362 instances of book bans in U.S. public school classrooms and libraries during the 2022–23 school year. Those bans targeted 1,557 unique book titles, many of which were written by women, people of color and LGBTQ+ individuals.