Hi everyone! As with previous years, the summer issues of the IfRFA newsletter will be written by our summer 2022 IfRFA fellows. Each fellow has picked a First Amendment topic of interest to them. We are deeply grateful to Nneka Onyekwuluje for writing this edition and we hope you find the newsletter insightful!
Change The Curriculum, Ban The Books, Fire The Teachers:
The Legacy of Anti-Critical Race Theory Politics In American Public Schools
The murder of George Floyd and sweeping protests in 2020 reinvigorated America’s focus on racial equality. Yet, as the public strives to make society more conscious, legislators across the nation are scrambling to silence the movement. In September 2020, former President Donald Trump issued an executive order that directly threatened ongoing efforts to address racial disparities throughout government agencies, nonprofits, and academic institutions. Although it has since been revoked, the stated purpose of the order was to “combat divisiveness, and anti-American race and gender stereotyping or scapegoating.” In reality, this was merely a targeted attack on emerging discussions of racism in America. Today, even with former President Donald Trump out of office, the GOP is using anti-CRT as a framework to bolster their political agenda. In 2022 alone, state legislatures have introduced 111 new bills across 33 states, many of which explicitly target K-12 schools. It is no secret that the entirety of America’s history regarding race seldom appears in grade school textbooks. But, can the erasure of centuries worth of knowledge and history or the prohibition of racially inspired discourse be considered a First Amendment violation?
The goal of the First Amendment is to foster informed citizens capable of self-governance. It provides students with the assurance to think critically and uniquely, and enables teachers to encourage the exchange of differing perspectives. The First Amendment affords a so-called negative right, which guarantees freedom of expression by prohibiting Congress from restricting the rights of individuals to speak freely. In a recent case where high school senior, Brandi Levy, was punished for posting a profane Snapchat message, Justice Stephen Breyer wrote, “America’s public schools are the nurseries of democracy.” He suggested that punishing students for unpopular speech would fail to teach them the importance of protecting all speech in democracy.
Mahanoy Area School District v. B. L., 141 S. Ct. 2038(2021)
. Yet, in less than one year following the Court’s decision in
Mahanoy more legislation banning discussions of race and gender in classrooms have been introduced than in decades prior. Legislation that runs entirely counter to the First Amendment's intention of protecting a democracy that encourages knowledgeable and informed participation in society.
Oklahoma’s House Bill 1775 is one of the many iterations of political attempts to quell strides towards a more aware and inclusive society. In May 2021, Republican governor Kevin Stitt signed the bill, which severely restricted discussions on race and gender in Oklahoma’s elementary and secondary schools, as well as institutions of higher education. As a result of the bill’s passage, school districts in Oklahoma have instructed teachers to no longer use specific terms, including “diversity” and “white privilege,” in their classrooms. They have removed seminal works of literature such as “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “A Raisin in the Sun” from a list of “anchor texts.” If teachers are found to be teaching these lessons, they could lose their licenses, and schools can lose their accreditation. This is a blatant attempt to vilify teachers willing to have honest conversations rather than an initiative to provide youth a quality education.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other civil rights organizations have since challenged the legitimacy of such policies. ACLU of Oklahoma’s legal director, Megan Lambert, said, “HB 1775 is a direct affront to the constitutional rights of teachers and students across Oklahoma by restricting conversations around race and gender at all levels of education.” The
lawsuit declares that the bill denies individuals the “full scope of their constitutional rights to engage in comprehensive, meaningful, and sometimes difficult conversations.” If their lawsuit succeeds, that win could open doors to challenge similar policies across the country and restore America’s focus on racial equality.
Resources:
Nneka Onyekwuluje is a rising 2L at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio. She is a proud member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated and recipient of the Newman Civic Fellowship. Prior to attending law school, Nneka served as a policy intern for Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman and later worked for a political consulting firm helping to ensure the election of minority federal and state public officials.
Learn more about IfRFA’s current cohort at:
https://ifrfa.org/fellows.