Oklahoma’s Classroom Censorship Act is Unconstitutional and Remains a Threat to our First and 14th Amendment Rights
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Loading... - Arthur Garcia
- 03 Mar 2023
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Today, a coalition of civil rights organizations representing multiracial teachers and students filed a brief pushing back against the state of Oklahoma’s efforts to stall litigation in H.B. 1775, a classroom censorship law that unconstitutionally restricts discussions about race and gender in K-12 public schools and higher education.
Earlier this year, in a motion for judgment on the pleadings, the Oklahoma Attorney General, State Board of Education, and other state officials sought to dismiss the group’s lawsuit, the first federal complaint of its kind against a classroom censorship law. In their response, plaintiffs argued that their lawsuit provided detailed and disturbing facts to support claims that the law impinges on educators’ free speech rights and academic freedom, violates students’ right to information, and is racially discriminatory. The law is also unconstitutionally vague and a threat to our First and 14th Amendment rights.
The brief opposing the state’s attempts to stall litigation was filed by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Oklahoma, and pro bono counsel Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP on behalf of plaintiffs the Black Emergency Response Team (BERT); the University of Oklahoma Chapter of the American Association of University Professors (OU-AAUP); the Oklahoma State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP-OK); the American Indian Movement (AIM) Indian Territory on behalf of itself and its members who are public school students and teachers, a high school student, and Oklahoma public high school teachers Anthony Crawford and Regan Killackey.
“We will not be deterred by the state’s latest obstructionist effort to brush aside the severe consequences of H.B. 1775, but double-down on our commitment to strike down this law that is unconstitutionally silencing important discussions about systemic racism, implicit bias, and the rich perspectives and lived experiences of Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ Oklahoman,” said Genevieve Bonadies Torres, associate director of the Educational Opportunities Project with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “Our courageous clients must be heard on their constitutional claims that strike at the heart of our education system, and the very functioning of our democracy.”
H.B. 1775 has caused school districts to strike books by Black and female authors from reading lists, while K-12 teachers and university professors are changing their curricula to avoid discussions about race, racism and gender. Multiple Oklahoma public schools have also scaled back or eliminated their diversity, equity, and inclusion trainings for teachers and strategic plans. These actions illustrate how, if not challenged, H.B 1775 will continue to suppress the speech of Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ+ people and other historically marginalized groups. Read More…
