Board of Directors
Board of Directors
THE AFRICAN AMERICAN POLICY FORUM
Welcome to the
#TruthBeTold Campaign
After unprecedented global protests for racial justice that followed the killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, right-wing groups across America instigated and intensified well-funded, orchestrated disinformation campaigns against critical race theory, intersectionality, and other forms of racial and gender justice discourse. Starting with Donald Trump’s Equity Gag Order banning federal agencies, contractors, and grant recipients from conducting trainings 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 its rescission at the federal level, the Equity Gag Order has since metastasized at the state and local level. Under the Trojan horse of opposing an invented caricature of “critical race theory,” at least sixteen states (AL, AR, AZ, FL, GA, IA, ID, MT, ND, NH, OK, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA) have fully passed racial and gender equity prohibitions while at least 15 others are actively considering them. In addition, similar copycat bills have been introduced by Republicans in Congress.
Across the country, this moral panic over what and how we learn about history has led to teachers being fired and courses canceled. Parents have been deceived, tensions have been stoked, and over a half century of efforts to amend the misleading narratives about our history are being reversed. If you marched last year for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, if your eyes were opened by what you have seen and learned about race and racism in our society, if you have witnessed the value of anti-racist education in your own and in your children’s lives, then don’t be confused by the lies.
JOIN US IN THIS CRUCIAL FIGHT TO DEFEND THE TRUTH!
THIRTY STATES HAVE INTRODUCED REPRESSIVE COPYCAT LEGISLATION
IT'S INTERACTIVE!
Click on one of the states below to learn more about each bill.
As of MLK Day 2022, January 17th, thirty states have introduced some form of gag order measure with respect to racial justice, critical race theory, and the teaching of racial injustice in American history, with sixteen states having fully passed some version of them.
Thirty states have introduced some form of gag order with respect to teaching Critical Race Theory or concepts related to gender justice and equality among sexes. Nine states have introduced legislation to specifically ban teaching the New York Times’ 1619 Project, and six have introduced bills either imposing “patriotic education” or demanding access to public schools for “patriotic youth societies”.
Following the blueprint of Trump’s EO 13950, eleven states have introduced equity gag orders that prohibit equity trainings for government entities, workforces, contractors, and grant recipients. Meanwhile twenty-nine states have introduced equity gag bills targeting public schools (many of which also apply to universities and colleges). Montana has even gone as far as to make teaching “divisive concepts” related to systemic racism grounds for human rights complaints.