(PartiallyPolitics.com) – On Friday in Washington, D.C., civil rights leaders from across the United States met to protest the attack against diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) as well as the recent book bans, arguing that these sorts of restrictions were harmful to students, educators, and democracy.
Freedom to Learn rally protesters marched to the Supreme Court from the Library of Congress. The rally was not only focused on DEI and book bans, as it also opposed the Supreme Court’s rulings from last year which overturned Roe v. Wade and ended affirmative action in higher education.
The African American Policy Forum executive director and co-founder Kimberlé Crenshaw had argued that the Supreme Court has “lost its way.” She continued by arguing that the Supreme Court had gone into the “business of erasure” and that DEI was the new N-word in politics in the U.S.
The Chronicle of Higher Education has noted that since 2023 there have been 85 bills introduced in 28 states that are limiting DEI policies. Out of those 13 have become law, while another 14 are just waiting to receive the final approval. At the same time during the previous school year, there were book bans in 153 districts spanning 33 states. Many of the books being targeted are written by authors of color, LGBTQ authors, or women. The books often discuss key issues such as sexuality, identity, racism, and race.
Crenshaw’s work on critical race theory, which she is credited as the founder of, has also been banned in academic institutions.
Copyright 2024, PartiallyPolitics.com
