We are confronted today in America by an attack on truth in education. It is an attempt by politically motivated individuals, government offices, and politicians to halt the full teaching of American life by eradicating truthful aspects of our past, present, and potential futures.  Politicians have promoted “anti-woke” agendas that eliminate the histories and experiences of millions of Americans. They seek to deny tenure to professors in state-funded institutions in an effort to suppress truth and tightly control a historical narrative that eliminates how white supremacy created structural inequalities. Educators are being fired, intimidated, and leaving their jobs for simply teaching factual history. These policies criminalize and demonize the teaching of truth in an effort to promote and codify an educational agenda defined by white supremacist ideals. It is an agenda that erases the contributions of women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ communities out of fear of a loss of power as it messages to youth who are members of these targeted communities that they don’t matter, they are not valued. These actions echo a Jim Crow-era strategy that sought to maintain racial dominance by white Americans. But we know, and the large majority of Americans know, that these antiquated ideas and discriminatory laws shall be defeated by righteousness and all who value truth over lies, justice over fear. Hate will falter before the strength of virtue and decency.

The Institute for Common Power cannot and will not idly watch. The Institute’s Truth Matters Initiative is committed to teaching truth, to countering those who are trying to silence it, to supporting educators who stand for truth, and to partnering with organizations and leaders who are committed to combating efforts to erase truth from existence.  We have been in this general conversation for a while, and in 2023 we elevated our actions to declare our intention and presence, and to go forward strongly into the national political winds. We have been calling this accelerated action our Truth Matters Initiative.  In 2023, it took the form of multiple lectures on dismissed and ignored aspects of American history, topics that are now illegal for educators to teach in classrooms in places like Florida or Texas.  We also held a 24-hr. Teach-In for Truth on the ground in St. Petersburg, Florida from May 17 to May 18.  We brought scholars and activists together from across the country and taught truth in history for the entire time.  We wrote an open letter to Governor Ron DeSantis and enjoined him to engage with us as we demonstrated why truth matters.  The program was streamed live and received thousands of views. It continues to be viewed by audiences nationwide.

During this election year, we will engage in programming that very clearly demonstrate the connections between truth in education and local and statewide elections.  Organizations like Moms for Liberty, cited as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and others are running for School Boards on platforms that vow to remove diversity training, African American history courses, and policies that seek to include LGBTQ+ identifying students.  Governors in varied states are illegalizing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion offices in state-funded educational institutions.  And fear among educators who desire to seek the truth continues to fester.  We can combat this with the power of the ballot!  We will spend this election year making the connections between truth in education and local and statewide elections extremely clear in an effort to register and mobilize voters.  Our emphasis on attempts to eliminate truth in education will serve as the catalyst for voter engagement efforts created and promoted by the Institute for Common Power.