Shut Down HB1084 ZINE -- Action Research Team (2022)

SHUT DOWN HB1084

On Monday, March 28th, 2022, youth on Deep Center’s Action Research Team arrived at the Capitol building expecting to represent fellow young people by giving testimony at the Senate Youth and Education committee hearing on House Bill 1084, a bill that defines race and racism as “divisive concepts” and bans discussion of them in K-12 classrooms. If you haven’t heard already, that didn’t happen. Chairman Chuck Payne allowed Representative Will Wade to speak for more than 30 minutes on the bill, during which he said that “the youth behind me likely agree with the bill.”

When it came time for public testimony, Chairman Payne closed the hearing from public comment and pushed forward with a vote from committee members. At that moment, he made his mark as a senator and chairman who refused to listen to the constituents that House Bill 1084 directly impacts: US. A group of thirteen students, most in middle and high school, who came to the Gold Dome to voice their concerns in solidarity with other young Georgians who couldn’t make the 250 mile, four-hour, van-packed journey to get there, who are directly impacted by this bill. We were told there was no time for our voices.

When legislators denied hearing our testimony, we felt stripped of all the constitutional power our government classes promise us. Instead of showing us the power of our voices as citizens, their actions showed us that they’d rather shut us out than listen to the people they are representing. What happened to us on March 28th was in no way, shape, or form a democratic process. The actions of Senator Payne, and those who voted for the bill—Senators Brass, Gooch, Dolezal, Albers, and Anavitarte—will not be forgotten.

After we’d staged a press conference on the Capitol steps, we came home and got to work. We chose to channel our anger and frustration into art-making, and the result is this zine. Zines have long been a tool for spreading information that isn’t allowed in “mainstream” publications. Read on, hear us, and join us in resisting classroom censorship and demanding better.

When people in power reference education, one slogan they always stand by is “Protect the Children.”

Fundamentally it’s an agreeable enough statement. But when asked what they are protecting children from, their answers never come from the natural need to protect someone who is vulnerable and unable to protect themselves. Instead, it stems from a deeply rooted need to absolve themselves of guilt and erase the past.

Education is a means to expose children to the many wonders life has to offer, but when adults pass legislation that actively silence what children learn in classrooms, it stunts our potential for growth. And when children themselves speak out against things that harm us, we are shut out and shunned by the people who are supposed to protect us.

So how do we protect ourselves from the people in power?

With all the problems in the United States Education system—student poverty, overcrowded classrooms, underpaid teachers, lack of funding in schools and so forth—the people in charge decide to create more problems that don’t exist. By doing so they effectively avoid solving any real problems that plague the education system.

ACTION RESEARCH TEAM (A.R.T.) M A N I F E S T Spring 2022

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These bills silence the voices of the newly educated AND the activist-antiracist educators who became instructors in order to make a difference in the lives of our future leaders.

As a high school student my life would be drastically changed if I hadn’t been taught what I know.

I want my little brother to learn everything that I was taught and my parents were taught.

Nothing watered down.

Nothing sugarcoated.

Exactly as history happened.

The anti-CRT bill claims to protect children but instead promotes ignorance in our youth.

You cannot prohibit the truth from being taught.

The only way our country can progress is through education and admittance.

“Fundamental” refers to: of essence of origin, or high impact or influence So how is the U.S. not fundamentally racist, when it was literally and metaphorically built on the blood, sweat, bones, and backs of enslaved non-white peoples, specifically Black people?

Being uncomfortable when discussing “divisive concepts” is how society moves forward.

Education is about mental expansion, not contracting intellectual boundaries or bordering minds from freedom.

School is one of the earliest influences on children, so we must educate them efficiently and effectively.

You want to display a watered-down, skewed version of history that is not representative of the current and future student populations.

Racism is not only of the past, okay?!

This did not end with the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Racism is now.

It’s currently occurring.

And so teaching these subjects that you consider “divisive concepts” actually supports intellectual expansion and meets the students where they’re actually at.

Deep Center’s ACTION RESEARCH TEAM, SPRING 2022 Andrew White Bryah Gillison Harrison Tran Jalen Conor Ellie Nease Leah Spann Leroy Spann Madeleine Pelli Nazir Carr-McNair Queena Blount Taniya Forest Vicky Grimes Vivian Ortiz with support from adult allies Kassie Colón and Megan Ave’Lallemant

or

KID OF THE YEAR

RESISTANCE what we can do Push for cultural and ethnic studies courses to be added to our schools.

YOUNG PEOPLE:

Did you know the following courses are approved by Georgia Department of Education?

PARENTS:

• • • • • • •

Intro to African American/Black Studies Intro to U.S. Latinx Studies Intro to Asian American Studies Intro to American Indian Studies Intro to U.S. Women’s Studies Civil Rights In the United States Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Classroom censorship bills have increased the legal power of parents’ and students’ voices.

Use this opportunity to push for progressive, inclusive curriculum!

1. Join Deep’s Action Research Team (@deepcenter912) 2. Join/follow Georgia Youth Justice Coalition (@younggajustice) 3. Start a banned book reading group 4. Talk to your parents about who they’ll vote for and how the candidates hold power over the decisions impacting your classrooms.

1. Ask/demand your child’s school to include the courses listed on the opposite page 2. Ask/demand the SCCPSS school board do this, too 3. Support our superintendent in respecting and preserving teachers’ autonomy 4. Vote for candidates who support your student’s interests

EDUCATORS:

1. Make your students your allies. Show them you’re fighting for them (and they can fight for you, too.)

2. Join Deep Writing Project and connect to like-minded educators for solidarity and advocacy 3. Use Learning For Justice curriculum (learningforjustice.org) 4. Strategically partner with like-minded individuals to develop messaging and meeting Common Core standards 5. Talk with administrators to align messaging.

6. Partner with teachers who have a lot of credibility in the community, then get parents on board as credible messengers, too.

7. If you’ve been disciplined for teaching the truth, litigation and legal protection is available through Southern Poverty Law Center

Deep Center deepcenter.org @deepcenter912 To visit: 3025 Bull Street Savannah, GA, 31405

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Deep Center receives funding and support in part from

and many other generous institutions and individuals.