Hi, I’m U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona.
Thank you for inviting me to speak to you today.
I’m so grateful that you’re holding this event. The name of your symposium says it all: “Shelved Voices.”
Books — and book bans — do impact everyone, everywhere.
As a lifelong educator, I’ve seen how books can shape the lives of students of all ages. I believe in the wise words of Dr. Rudine Sims Bishop: Books are “mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors.”
Books can reflect our own experience back to us in ways that help us feel less alone. They can transport us to worlds different than our own. And they can help us learn about, and build empathy, for other identities and experiences.
More than 4 million students have had their reading censored through book bans. Most of these bans are cynical, hateful efforts to censor stories of, and by, people or color or LGBTQ Americans.
This serves to prevent students from learning about the history, arts and culture, and contributions of marginalized communities. As a father, I can’t imagine being a parent whose kid had never read a single book in school about people who look like us.
Make no mistake: these bans are nothing short of an attempt to erase American history in all of its complexity. No one who seeks to ban books can claim to represent the freedom we hold dear as Americans.
Here’s what I know to be true: educators and parents don’t want politicians dictating what their kids can learn, think, and believe.
And I’m so heartened by students like Edha Gupta.
When Edha’s school district in Pennsylvania tried to ban more than 300 books … books like “Ven a Mi Casa” by Dr. Seuss, and biographies of leaders like Rosa Parks…Edha and her friends spoke out. They protested. And eventually, their school reversed the ban.
Edha has been on national news, won an award from The King Center, and gave a TEDx talk about this journey that I know has inspired me and so many others. She’s also the co-author, with Christina Ellis, of a forthcoming book called Fighting Censorship:A Handbook for Pushing Back on Book Bans.
I feel an immense sense of hope and optimism when I look to the next generation, and young people like Edha.
It is my pleasure and my honor to introduce her today.