TO: Miguel Cardona, U.S. Secretary of Education

Books are being challenged, restricted, removed, or outright banned from schools across the country—including the first-ever National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman’s “The Hill We Climb.” Students should be encouraged to read books that accurately reflect the diversity and history of our country. Celebrate this history-making piece of literature and make sure students everywhere have the freedom and encouragement to read it.

Why is this important?

It only took one complaint and one week for a school in Miami-Dade County to restrict Amanda Gorman’s book—“The Hill We Climb”—and limit access for younger students. It was one book of several that an individual parent reported, citing that it was “not educational” and contained indirect hate speech. [1]

Schools should not so swiftly censor literature based on the whims of individual parents. This is part of a sweeping trend across the country to ban and restrict books, often targeting authors and content from historically marginalized and underrepresented groups. And because of conservative laws being passed on the local and state level, it’s even easier in many places for a small but loud minority to challenge books—and win.

In response to the incident, Amanda Gorman wrote: “The Hill We Climb is an inaugural poem for the world. Relocating it to older age group library shelves by its nature bars younger and equally deserving generations from accessing said moment in history.” [2]

Amanda Gorman made history when she read “The Hill We Climb” at President Joe Biden’s inauguration—the youngest inaugural poet to date. People of all ages deserve to have access to her work and see themselves not only in the context of that moment, but also in the possibilities of the future. They, too, can make history.

We refuse to allow one parent’s opinion to limit our children’s freedom to read, learn, and imagine. Join us in calling on the Department of Education and State Education Departments to add “The Hill We Climb” to every associated recommended reading list in the country and to reaffirm the values of equality and access espoused in the mission of the DOE. [3]

1. “1 complaint led a Florida school to restrict access to Amanda Gorman’s famous poem,” NPR, May 25, 2023
https://www.npr.org/2023/05/24/1177877340/amanda-gorman-poem-restricted-miami-school

2. Amanda Gorman [@TheAmandaGorman], Tweet, May 24, 2023 https://twitter.com/TheAmandaGorman/status/1661590069982142465

3. “Overview and Mission Statement,” U.S. Department of Education, Accessed June 20, 2023 https://www2.ed.gov/about/landing.jhtml

Photo Source: Penguin Random House

HEAD-QUARTERS, DISTRICT OF TEXAS
Galveston, Texas
June 19, 1865
The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with the proclamation from the executive of the United States. All slaves are free. This involves absolute personal rights, and rights of property between former masters and slaves; and the connection heretofore existing between them becomes that between employer and hired laborer.
The freedmen are advised to remain quietly at their homes, and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts, and that they will not be supported in idleness either here or elsewhere.
by order of Maj. Gen. Gordon Granger
signed F.W. Emery
Major & A.A.G.

blackpast.org

A Section 1983 lawsuit is a civil rights lawsuit. It can be filed by someone whose civil rights have been violated. You can file a lawsuit if the wrongdoer was acting under color of law.¹

Civil rights are those guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution or certain federal laws. The Supreme Court recognizes that there is a deprivation of rights when:

• police misconduct such as excessive force and unreasonable use of force (like the use of a taser during an arrest),²
• police officers wantonly search your home and kill their dogs,³
• a judge sexually assaults women while in the course of his/her job,⁴
• state officials strip welfare recipients of their benefits,⁵
• jail guards put an ex-gang member in a prison cell with current gang members, even after being told of the danger.⁶

Rights guaranteed by state law cannot be the basis of a Section 1983 lawsuit. Only federal rights are protected by the statute.⁷

1.1. How it works

Technically, Section 1983 is nothing more than a procedural device based on a federal statute. It gives federal courts jurisdiction to hear civil rights actions.

No one can be liable under Section 1983. Instead, it creates liability for violating other federal laws. That is why 1983 cases always include an alleged violation of another law, such as the:

• First Amendment (freedom of speech, religion, and the press),
• Fourth Amendment (for example, arrests without probable cause, unreasonable searches),⁸
• Eighth Amendment (freedom from cruel and unusual punishment),⁹
• Fourteenth Amendment (for example, lack of due process, equal protection), or
• Social Security Act.¹⁰