Pennsylvania High School Students Reverse Book Ban Through Protests

A year-long debate between students of the Central York School District in Pennsylvania and its school board officially came to an end on Monday. Weeks after high school students launched peaceful walk-in protests, the school board reversed its decision to place a freeze on more than 300 anti-racist resources.

According to Yahoo Life, the resource list was created in the wake of the 2020 uprisings sparked by the murder of George Floyd and subsequent protests in the wake of his death. The school district's diversity committee compiled a list of books, articles, and online guides to help students who were interested in learning about anti-racism. The list featured This Book Is Anti-Racist, So You Want to Talk About Race, and films like the James Baldwin-inspired I Am Not Your Negro, and a CNN/Sesame Street town hall about racism.

It drew concerns from some parents in the district —where 32% of its student body is comprised mostly of Black and Hispanic students—and the board decided to place a "freeze" on the resources so they could later be vetted that November. According to Yahoo Life, the board expressed concerns that those in favor of the resource list and anti-racism education were "pushing an agenda." Some sources claim that educators immediately began pulling books from shelves once the freeze was instated.

While the freeze drew in outrage from many, there were some Central York parents who supported the board's decision. An anonymous parent told Yahoo Life, "Books were not banned, an agenda was. School is not the place for politics or identity to be shaped and created. Please leave that job to the families, within their homes and churches."

The Panther Anti-Racist Union (PARU) was formed in 2020 as a safe space for Central York students to discuss issues surrounding race and social injustice. Students and their parents began voicing their concerns about the freeze during school board meetings. The students began holding dailymorning protests when the 2021-2022 school year began.

Edha Gupta, a Central York High School senior, penned a local op-ed and began a Change.org petition calling for the end of the ban. Ben Hodge, Central York High School theater teacher and PARU co-facilitator celebrated the reversal telling Yahoo Life, "It took five high schoolers organizing a peaceful walk-in protest for each day… to help make sure that our district heard that they, and many others, did not feel represented." He added, "They are heroes and should be celebrated as bastions of American freedom and democracy. I want to be clear: These kids did this."

"WE REVERSED THIS BAN. WE DID. THAT!" Edha celebrated on Instagram. "Our voices are powerful enough to demand immediate action, and that is EXACTLY what took place tonight.”

The freeze, protest, and subsequent reversal garnered nationwide coverage and the attention of Bernie King, daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr., whose biography was included in the ban. "Dangerous. People who truly want a healthy country and democracy don’t ban the truth, no matter how painful it is or how it calls for repentance and accountability," she wrote on Twitter. "You can’t dismiss my historical and current pain, then accuse me of not wanting unity."

Inspired by their success, Central York students want to keep the momentum. According to Yahoo Life, the students will use " $2,000 in donations from alumni supporters for a student activity, to provide additional copies of the controversial books as well as T-shirts with a quotation from the civil rights hero and senator John Lewis."

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