About 60 students gathered at the Texas Capitol on Wednesday to speak out against restrictions on which books they have access to at school and to write letters to lawmakers.
“You should not ban books because it helps people read,” one student wrote. Another penned, “[It] would break my heart if you banned some of my favorite books.”
The kids were taking part in a Freedom Schools summer program run by Children’s Defense Fund Texas. The program gets its name from the Freedom Summer of 1964, during which hundreds of volunteers — many of whom were college students — worked to register Black voters in Mississippi. Civil rights activists also created dozens of Freedom Schools to teach and empower Black students.
“It's very much centered around social justice, but also literacy and making sure that children are able to continue to develop their reading skills during the summer,” Natacha Jones, who has a daughter in the program, said.
According to Children’s Defense Fund, nearly 90% of students who participate in the six-week program avoid summer learning loss. They also make significant gains in reading proficiency. On top of that, Jones said, the program is joyful and community-oriented.
“It’s so empowering because children take pride in who they are and where they come from and then get to advocate for things and feel like they can make a difference in the world from their young age,” she said.
Rachel Myles, the youth organizer with Children’s Defense Fund Texas, said she hopes students who visit the Capitol learn they have the right to advocate for what they're passionate about.
“I think one of the best things that they can get out of it is that this is their house. These are the people who work for them and they should be working in their best interest,” she said. “And if they’re not, you have the right to come up and check on it. You have the right to talk to your representatives.”
Myles said something that is not in students’ best interest is House Bill 900, which passed last year. Also known as the READER Act, the law restricts what books students have access to in their school libraries. It bans “sexually explicit” books and requires parental permission to check out “sexually relevant” ones.
While the bill’s author, state Rep. Jared Patterson (R-Frisco), has said the goal of the legislation is to protect kids from inappropriate content, opponents say the law’s language is vague and will make it harder for students to access books that highlight the experiences of LGBTQ+ people and people of color. (BookPeople has also been fighting the law in federal court.)
“A kid is not at risk learning what a menstrual cycle is. A kid is not at risk knowing what slavery is and the history of it in this nation,” Myles said. “A lot of these books teach kids how to deal with basic life events like grief, like health."
Books also help cultivate empathy, she said, including understanding "views they may not agree with."
If a parent is concerned about a book in a school library, she said, that can be discussed locally with librarians. That discussion requires nuance, not a “sledgehammer," she said.
“We do need to think about how to safeguard children but we also need to think about how to make sure that we’re not robbing them of something so, so precious as having the right to read and learn,” she said.
Jaleeah, 11, said she wants to make sure future generations have access to books they want to read.
“Books are important to me and the world," she said, "because the way I look at books is they are the key to the future in education and livelihood."
Gloria, another student in the Freedom Schools program, said she is also worried about efforts to restrict access to books in schools. The 14-year-old said reading is an important part of her life.
“Books help us realize what our ancestors went through," she said. "That’s why books are so important to me and for our representatives to protect our freedom to read."
Both Gloria and Jaleeah said this summer program has introduced them to books they wouldn’t normally get to read in school.
And TeraLynn Steele, who has been involved with the Freedom School program for six years, said that is one of the goals: to expose students to books that represent them.
“It is about teaching them their history, the history of other oppressed minorities in the United States," she said. "It is about giving children of color, specifically, the most well-rounded and scholarly experience with literacy."
Steele said Wednesday’s demonstration at the Capitol is the culmination of what students have learned in the six-week program about the difference they can make in their families, communities, country and the world more broadly.
“We are here on this very last week with our theme being, ‘I can make a difference with hope, education and action,’” she said. “I hope that our scholars see they have a voice and that they are able to do anything that they can set their mind to and that they know that they don’t have to sit down and take anything that comes their way.”
Steele added that making sure young people have the freedom to read is critical because it is a gateway to the world.
“Readers are leaders,” she said, “and the reading that we do, it not only teaches them but it empowers them.”
