This piece is authored by youth on Deep Center’s Action Research Team: Harrison Tran, Bryah Gillison, Jalen Connor, Taniya Forrest, and Madeleine Pelli

On Monday, March 28th, 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. 

Voting NO on HB1084 means you value youth voices. Saying no puts you on the right side of history and saying no says you believe that education should not be used as a political tool.  These “divisive topics” are in no way divisive. If topics like racism, gender, and sexuality are banned because they are too “divisive,” we will miss how to learn and think critically in the real world.  The sponsors of HB 1084 say the bill comes out of concern for youth,  but it actually hurts us. Denying our testimony at the committee hearing proves that supporters of HB 1084 do not have our education or our best interests at heart. It is not fair that our education is decided without student input. We ask that you don’t vote in favor of any legislation that denies information to students.  If HB 1084 passes, our society will become less informed, because when we are not taught the truth about the past, we create possibilities for the worst parts of history to repeat, simply because we are sheltered in a tunnel of censorship that does not allow for individual, critical thinking around accurate history.  

How long has it been since you were inside a high school history class? Because for us it was last Friday. We can’t name one time we’ve seen a student (or teacher) call another student racist because of mistakes their ancestors made. It doesn’t happen.  Limiting what is taught in our classrooms limits student potential. School is where we go to learn everything we need to know in order to succeed in life, and you can’t do that if you’re censored from important lessons that make your peers allegedly uncomfortable. History is history, and it’s not always pretty, but it’s important that students are taught all parts of it, the pretty and the ugly.  Not everything is made to be comfortable. In the words of Sydney J. Harris. “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows.” So we ask that you continue to open windows for students and vote NO on the HB 1084 bill. Georgia’s future is at stake, and we are at your mercy.

CALL TO ACTION: Voice your opposition to HB 1084. Contact Governor Kemp and urge him to veto HB 1084.Call (404-656-1776) | Send a tweet (@GovKemp)