“Education is the cornerstone of our multi-racial democracy and America’s moms have been horrified as rightwing forces have turned our schools and libraries into battlegrounds with baseless attacks on the teaching of honest history – including slavery and the Holocaust, appalling distortions of Critical Race Theory, vicious attacks on LGBTQIA+ students and educators, and a shameful increase in book bans. As Youth Justice Action Month and Banned Books Week begin, moms are organizing to protect our public schools for the students and families who rely on them, and the educators and librarians who support them. 

“Moms support curricula that educate youth about the good and bad of our history; schools that offer social and emotional learning, comprehensive age-appropriate sex education, and mental health support; and public education systems that welcome diverse students from diverse communities. We want our tax dollars to support educators, guidance counselors, and school nurses, and our schools to be welcoming for all our children and youth. We reject punitive policies that disproportionately harm students of color and students with disabilities. And we are organizing to turn back those who are trying to censor curricula and stigmatize and harm students.” 

-Statement of Beatriz Beckford, National Director, Youth and Family Justice at MomsRising

“Make no mistake: America’s moms oppose book bans and strongly support the inclusion of diverse perspectives in our schools and libraries. Age-appropriate books that accurately reflect our history, schools that provide age-appropriate health education and mental health support, and curricula that portray LGBTQIA+ families and communities belong in our schools and libraries.

“The rightwing agenda is not moms’ agenda and claims to the contrary are outright lies. Seventy-eight percent of mom voters and 76% of women voters say that ‘a few parents should not be able to ban books from school libraries and deny other families their choices about what books their children have access to,’ according to a public opinion survey conducted by Lake Research for MomsRising in May. Ninety-two percent of Democratic women, 73% of Independent women, and 57% of Republican women agree with that statement, as do 72% of voters who are grandmothers.

“At MomsRising, we are working hard to protect public education and oppose censorship. We have given free banned books to children in Florida, joined the Diverse Books for All Coalition, and petitioned the U.S. Department of Education to investigate books bans and censorship in public schools. We will continue fighting back until our freedom to learn and to read is no longer under assault. #FreeTheBooks.”

-Statement of Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, Executive Director and CEO, MomsRising