Civil Rights Leaders Declare The Freedom To Learn at Rally in Washington D.C.

Organizers with the Freedom to Learn (F2L) network and the Right to Learn (R2L) coalition are planning a rally May 3 in Washington, D.C. The annual Freedom to Learn DC Rally convenes at the Library of Congress, and participants will march to the U. S. Supreme Court to hear from a slate of speakers — students, educators, parents, artists, and leaders civil and human rights organizations like National Urban League President Marc Morial and Kimberlé Crenshaw, cofounder and executive director of African American Policy Forum and a law professor at UCLA and Columbia University. 

Leaders will speak on the connection between book bans, anti-CRT or “anti-woke” laws, and the suppression of other civil liberties and social justice values as part of a coordinated far-right effort to extinguish civil rights at all levels of federal government.

Kimberlé Crenshaw“We’re hoping this summer is where we draw the line in the sand, where we push back,” said Crenshaw, during a panel discussion at the recent National Action Network Convention moderated by Dr. Jamal Watson of Diverse. “We save this democracy, but after that, we want something more. We want a real democracy where our votes really count. We cannot save our democracy and leave anti-racism on the side of the road. The two have to come together.”

May 3 is the Second Annual National Day of Action, part of the Freedom to Learn coalition’s launchpad for Freedom Summer 2024, which marks 60 years since Freedom Summer 1964. Then, organizers risked their lives in opposition to Jim Crow and segregation.

This year also commemorates 70 years since Brown v. Board of Education, when the Supreme Court recognized that there could not be a functioning democracy where there existed a segregated and inequitable education system.

The Freedom to Learn National Day of Action unites around principles believed to be vital to a healthy democracy and not limited to the following:

· Public educators across the U.S. should be empowered to teach curricula that reflect true history and inclusive, anti-racist and intersectional ideas without fear of retribution from federal, state, or local government or officials;