Small Victories

Our Freedom Starts in Our Schools

Of all the weird restrictions that Republicans want to put on our liberties, one of the scariest is banning books. Conservative school boards have the power to wreak havoc in school libraries, pulling books from shelves on the slightest pretext. A majority of one member on a school board can destroy the rights of a whole school to read the books they choose.

So it’s good news that Ron DeSantis’s campaign to take over school boards in Florida had a big setback recently, when almost a dozen of his endorsed candidates lost their races. From a recent Politico article:

The Democratic Party of Florida endorsed 11 candidates this cycle, of which seven won Tuesday with two of those races heading to runoffs. The party’s efforts were meant to “fight back against Ron’s Moms for Liberty candidates and their partisan extremism,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried.

“When we knocked doors and made phone calls for these candidates, we kept hearing the same question from voters — ‘is your candidate going to ban books, or are they going to protect them?’” Fried said in a statement Tuesday night. “Our freedom starts in our schools.”

In many of the races the winning candidates were from a progressive organization called RUN FOR SOMETHING, a not-for-profit that helps young people run for office. (A worthy cause if you happen to have any spare money lying about…)

By the way, Banned Books Week is coming up soon: September 22-28, 2024. The American Library Association kicked it off years ago: “By focusing on efforts to remove or restrict access to books, Banned Books Week draws national attention to the harms of censorship.”

Plan ahead now—how can you celebrate? One of the most effective ways is to write a Letter to the Editor, raising awareness of the issue. And pay attention to when school board elections happen in your state—in New York State it’s in May. These are the elections where candidates might literally win by one vote.

Your vote.

Thanks to Jessica Craven’s substack Chop Wood Carry Water for this bit of good news.

One of my favorite banned books.

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Dear Friends,

Are you excited, terrified, and worried about the election of 2024 and wondering what to do about it? I hope you’ll continue to check out The Optimistic Activist.

Every week I post some ideas for doing something. How to get out the vote, spread the word, and support progressive candidates. Ideas for simple but effective activism. As easy, as practical, as do-able as I can make them.

Together, I think, we could really make a difference.

                “Optimism is a strategy for making a better future.”

                                      --Noam Chomsky