Students decry book bans on steps of Michigan Capitol

About 50 students from various school districts gathered on the steps of the Michigan Capitol Tuesday to read excerpts from books that are commonly banned, part of an advocacy day held by the Michigan Education Justice Coalition.

Detroit Area Youth Uniting Michigan student organizer Demetrius Davis said the books that are banned are often those featuring representation for oppressed groups.

“We the people reject the erasure of our stories and the whitewashing of our curricula,” Davis said.

Davis said the book bans are also meant to limit information to benefit those in power.

“They yearn to keep us ignorant,” Davis said. “They call true education dangerous and savage. The most dangerous thing you can be under a fascist regime is well educated.”

Michigan Education Justice Coalition youth organizer Imani Clark said the book bans are a threat to the wellbeing of students.

“Unsafe schools, both physically and mentally, are important to address for students,” Clark said.

Protesters said another part of that threat is a lack of funding for schools.

Grand Rapids Student Association for Leadership and Transformation student advocate Abigail Valdivia-Romero said that each floor in her school building has a television for displaying announcements.

“A healthy, nutritious lunch is way more important than watching announcements on a screen,” Valdivia-Romero said. “When our current school lunches are not nutritious, healthy or even appetizing, a lot of students go throughout the entire day without eating, and the only thing they can think about when they get home is what they’re going to eat. Having an empty stomach all day makes it harder to focus, to think clearly, to learn.”

Clark said the lack of adequate funding for schools is “all encompassing.”

Detroit student Nabiha Chowdhury, who is part of 482Forward Youth Organizing Collective, said that additional funding allows schools to offer better resources for students, including in the types of content they teach.

“Money gives schools the tools they need – and gives students access to the books, support and opportunities they deserve,” Chowdhury said.

Students had planned to attend House session and deliver a petition to the office of Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Twp.) but were disappointed to discover that session had been cancelled, leading to chants outside Hall’s office on the first floor of the Capitol.