Posted on December 30, 2022
CREDO in 2022: Year in Review — thanks to you!
What a year we had in 2022!
Thanks to amazing CREDO members like you, we helped our partners fight back against the attacks on reproductive freedom and LGBTQ rights with donations to groups like Planned Parenthood, National LGBTQ Task Force, Abortion Care Network, and the Transgender Law Center.
We worked to combat the climate crisis with grants to 350.org, Earthjustice, Sunrise Movement and Rainforest Action Network.
We helped keep our communities and schools safe from gun violence by funding Brady: United Against Gun Violence and March for Our Lives. We stood with civil rights and voting rights activists with donations to the American Civil Liberties Union, Fair Fight Action and the Zinn Education Project.
And CREDO members like you helped us donate 400,000 meals to families in need over the holidays through a partnership with Feeding America.
We can’t thank you enough for an incredible year — and we’re looking forward to even more in 2023. Here’s a quick recap of everything you helped make possible in 2022.
Posted on December 22, 2022
The Top CREDO Tips of 2022 (part 2): Stop robocalls, protect your data and so much more
As we say a fond farewell to 2022, it’s that time again to revisit the most popular phone and tech tips from the year!
From stopping annoying robocalls, protecting your personal data from the prying eyes of your favorite apps, or extending your smartphone’s battery life, here are the top 5 most popular tips since June — in case you missed them the first time around.
Enjoy these great tips with your friends and family — and we hope you are having a happy and safe holiday season!
#1: How to protect yourself from annoying spam and robocalls calls
This year, Americans will receive roughly 52 billion spam and robocalls. These calls are not only annoying — they’re dangerous, too. Last year alone, scammers swindled a whopping $39.5 billion from unsuspecting Americans with increasingly sophisticated techniques.
We’re sick and tired of these aggravating calls, and we know you are too. Here are some ways you can protect yourself and reduce the number of spam calls you get.
#2: How to stop smartphone apps from collecting your personal data
Smartphone apps can collect a whole lot of data about you — because your personal data is worth money. While Apple and Google are working to crack down, these app companies may share and sell your data to third-parties, usually without you even knowing.
#3: How to extend the life of your smartphone
Buying a new smartphone is a big investment — so it makes sense that you want it to last as long as possible.
In addition to purchasing an insurance plan to protect your phone from accidental damage, there are some tricks you can easily do to extend the life of your smartphone.
Here are 7 tips to keep your phone running for the long haul.
#4: Here’s what to do if your smartphone gets wet
We all dread the day when it happens: you’ve dropped your smartphone in a puddle or pool, or even worse, a toilet.
So what now? You rush to wipe it off and throw it in a bowl of rice, right?
Not so fast, and don’t panic. Here are some quick tips and tricks to dry your phone and save it from certain doom — the right way.
#5: Turn off this one setting to save your smartphone battery
If you’ve noticed your smartphone’s battery draining faster than usual, you’re not alone. It happens to all of us — and we make sure our charger is always close by.
So what can you do to save the charge in your battery day after day?
We have a super simple solution: Turn off background app refresh — and we’ll show you how.
Posted on December 15, 2022
CREDO’s 2022 Grantee Gift Guide
Still looking for that perfect gift for a loved one this holiday season? Look no further!
We’re pleased to share with you our 2022 Grantee Gift Guide, with an array of gift ideas straight from the nonprofit organizations CREDO members have supported throughout the years.
Share great gifts with your friends and family over the holidays while supporting the groups that share your values!
AMAZON WATCH
For over 25 years, Amazon Watch has protected the rainforest and advanced the rights of Indigenous peoples in the Amazon Basin.
Check out these beautiful Amazon rainforest-inspired t-shirts. Proceeds from your purchase directly support Amazon Watch’s work to defend the rainforest in solidarity with Indigenous peoples.
ZINN EDUCATION PROJECT
The Zinn Education Project provides lessons, study groups, and campaigns for teaching people’s history. In the face of anti-history education legislation, they also defend teachers’ right to teach truthfully.
They recommend The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks: Young Readers Edition for teenagers and adults. Author Jeanne Theoharis introduces the story of Rosa Parks as a lifelong activist, starting as a small child sitting with her grandfather as he protected their home from the Klan. The book includes Parks’ decades as an organizer in Detroit after she and her husband fled due to violent threats in Montgomery.
This history of racism and resistance is exactly what the right does not want taught. Defy the “anti-CRT” bills. Get the young reader’s book (adapted with Brandy Colbert) as a gift for yourself and all the young people they know. They’ll come back asking — why didn’t I know this before? Where can I learn more history like this? Why are these stories banned in many school districts?
Learn about the book and order here. Check out The Rebellious Life of Mrs. Rosa Parks documentary film and a free teaching guide.
WOMEN’S MARCH:
FEMINIST – FIERCE – FUTURE
That says it all. Women’s March is a women-led movement providing intersectional education on a diverse range of issues and creating entry points for new grassroots activists & organizers to engage in their local communities through trainings, outreach programs and events.
Women’s March’s products are ethically sourced and WRAP-certified to ensure safe, legal, and ethical manufacturing processes with 100% of proceeds supporting the organization’s work.
Visit the Women’s March store here: https://www.womensmarch.com/store
MARCH FOR OUR LIVES:
You can support March for Our Lives’ national efforts to end America’s gun violence epidemic by purchasing this sticker pack this holiday season. Your support enables MFOL to organize young people in their communities to demand lawmakers do more than send thoughts and prayers in the wake of senseless gun tragedies.
Visit the link here to purchase the MFOL sticker pack.
WIN WITHOUT WAR:
At Win Without War, we’re proud to be antiwar as f***!
Celebrate your antiwar values all year long by wearing this t-shirt — or check out our other gift ideas like mugs, baby clothing, yard signs, stickers and more.
Visit Win Without War’s store here: https://www.cafepress.com/winwithoutwar
Want another way to support our amazing grantees?
Cast your vote at CREDODonations.com for one, two or all three of our December grantees to help us determine how we will distribute this month’s donation. You can support disaster relief, protect wildlife habitats and promote the “people’s history” in education by voting to fund All Hands and Hearts, Defenders of Wildlife and Zinn Education Project. Click here to vote today!
Posted on December 10, 2022
How All Hands and Hearts provides disaster relief to underserved communities
Note from the CREDO team: This December, All Hands and Hearts is among three amazing groups that will receive a share of our monthly grant. Funding from the CREDO community will will help All Hands and Hearts to provide community-inspired, volunteer-powered disaster relief and continue making commitments to disaster survivors who may not receive help elsewhere, and it would help the group build capacity, so it can deploy services efficiently.
Read this important blog post about the organization’s critical work, then click here to visit CREDODonations.com to cast your vote to help determine how we distribute our monthly grant to this organization and our other amazing grantees this December.
All Hands and Hearts provides community-inspired, volunteer-powered disaster relief. Our work has spanned 24 countries across the world and has supported recovery efforts with the help of over 63,000 volunteers. We have built schools, repaired fishing boats, constructed WASH facilities, and rebuilt homes, impacting the lives of over one million people. These households and communities have been afflicted by hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and even the terror of war. The All Hands and Hearts model allows the organization to arrive early and stay late, working alongside the community throughout the entire process.
The accomplishments of All Hands and Hearts throughout the years are a testament to its unique Smart Response model, a volunteer-powered approach.
So what does it mean to be volunteer powered? It means volunteers from around the world can come together with one goal in mind and get things done. All Hands and Hearts welcomes those from all walks of life into our community. Volunteers can make a difference and warm the hearts of families whose lives and homes have been torn apart. Every day new volunteers arrive, nervous and uncertain, only to walk away with their lives changed.
Through community and volunteer engagement, we focus on helping families recover faster after disasters using our Smart Response model, which is highlighted through Response, Recovery, Resilience and Renewal.
Response
We immediately respond to communities impacted by natural disasters by engaging volunteers, partners, and local communities to help families rebuild homes and schools. We carry out activities such as “mucking and gutting,” “rubbling” after an earthquake, or safe demolition of dangerous structures. We begin by carefully listening to the community to identify its greatest needs, and only then, create a long-term action plan, executed with speed and real-time problem-solving.
Recovery
Where needed, we make a long-term commitment and engage our trained volunteers to work with the community to rebuild disaster-resilient homes, schools, daycare facilities and community centers – the hubs of every community. By providing a free and open door for every volunteer around the globe, (as well as cutting-edge training), we transform the good hearts and willing hands of our volunteers into a powerful team that can jump in and create an immediate impact in disaster-affected areas.
Resilience
We bring our hard-won expertise and experience to help communities put the pieces back together, rising even stronger in the face of devastation. By laying out and constructing disaster-resilient buildings to code, we ensure they are stronger and more resilient in the face of future disasters, in turn preserving the future which we are rebuilding for the community.
Renewal
We live in the communities where we serve and become a part of them. As we do, our volunteers uncover new ways to help, which invariably brings new ideas and creative solutions. Projects have included everything from weekly movie nights for kids in Malawi, English tutoring sessions in the Philippines, entrepreneurial and financial classes for secondary school girls in Peru, and Thanksgiving dinners for hundreds of flood victims in Detroit.
As a nonprofit, disaster relief organization, All Hands and Hearts effectively and efficiently addresses the immediate and long-term needs of underserved communities impacted by disasters around the world. Communicating directly with local leaders and community members, we then deploy our unique model of engaging volunteers to enable direct impact, helping to build safer, more resilient schools, homes and infrastructure. The communities we serve are not only vulnerable in terms of disasters, but also financially. By building in a disaster resilient way, we better prepare them for future events.
Posted on December 8, 2022
The 12 Best Ways to Reduce Your Data Usage and Save Money
If you’re like us, you’re always trying to save a little money, especially these days.
Here’s one way: Switching your data plan from unlimited to a metered plan, especially if you’re not a heavy data user.
Over the course of a year, it could save you hundreds — but you’ll need to make sure you’re monitoring and conserving your data every month, just in case you get close to going over your monthly limit.
But we’ve got you covered! There are many ways you can reduce and manage your data usage to save on your bills every month on a metered data plan. Here are 12 easy tips.
Connect to WiFi — at home
Did you know that streaming high quality audio uses over 100MB per hour while HD quality video can use anywhere between 1GB to 3GB per hour? If you have a metered data plan, you could easily hit your cap in no time!
So, if you use your smartphone primarily at home, make sure you connect to your home’s WiFi network. It’s the easiest way to save data on your cellular plan.
Connecting to WiFi networks consistently can surely reduce the amount of cellular data you use, and this is always our first recommendation for our members. Sadly, we’ve seen situations where customers thought they were connected to their home WiFi network while watching Netflix, but were using cellular data instead.
To avoid mishap, make sure your WiFi settings are turned on, and you are connected to an available and safe WiFi network — at home or away.
Connect to WiFi away from home — friends and family
Likewise, if you are visiting friends and family, make sure to ask for their WiFi passwords and connect to their local networks.
Many home routers have guest networks already built in to make sharing WiFi easy for visitors. You’ll save a ton of cellular data on those weekend family getaways.
Be wary of public WiFi networks
Not all WiFi networks are built the same, so be careful of public WiFi networks, like at coffee shops, shopping areas, or airports, as you may put your personal information at risk. Many times these networks are not secure and other users may be able to see your internet traffic, including your personal information, logins and passwords.
If you are going to use a public WiFi network to reduce your cellular data usage, make sure you are connecting to secure networks and connecting to secure websites and apps. Consider using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) app to encrypt your internet activity (here’s our tip on how to get a VPN for your phone). And make sure not to access personal or financial information on public WiFi.
Here are some more tips from the Federal Trade Commission on how to use public WiFi networks safely.
Enable Data Saver / Low Data Mode
Data Saver (Android) and Low Data Mode (Apple) are built-in features that allow people with limited data plans to conserve data by pausing background data refresh, data syncs and more while using mobile data.
- On iPhone, go to Settings > Cellular > Cellular Data Options > Data Mode > Select Low Data Mode
- On Android, go to Settings app > Tap Network and Internet And then Data Saver > Turn Data Saver on or off.
Disable background app refresh
Some of your apps will continue to gather data in the background while you’re not using your phone if you do not enable one of the features above, so here’s how to disable background app refresh manually:
- To turn this feature off for your apps on iOS, go to Settings > General > Background App Refresh. Here, you can choose whether you want this feature on or off completely, or just WiFi only. You can also toggle this on and off for individual apps.
- On Android, go to Settings > Data Usage to see which apps are using the most data. Tap on the app you’d like to restrict and disable background data.
Prevent photos and videos from backing up over cellular network
Cloud backup services, like iCloud and Google One, are great for backing up your photos and other important data, but they can really eat into your data plan if they are syncing over a cellular network. It’s a good idea to turn that setting off to conserve data.
- On an iPhone, go to Settings > Photos > Cellular Data > then toggle off Cellular Data
- On an Android, open Google Photos > Tap the Account icon > Settings > Backup & sync > Cell data usage > Select None.
Turn off Wi-Fi Assist or Smart Network Switch
WiFi Assist (iOS) and Smart Network Switch (some Android models) are built-in settings that try to boost a spotty or slow WiFi connection by using your cellular connection. But, these settings can also use a lot of data, too.
- To turn this setting on or off on your Apple device, go to Settings > Cellular or Settings > Mobile Data. Then scroll down and tap the slider for WiFi Assist.
- On your Android device, go to Settings > Connections > WiFi. Tap the three dots, select Advanced, and tap the slider for “Switch to mobile data.”
Turn off cellular data for specific apps
Some apps are data hogs, and you might not know which ones are eating up your monthly cellular data until it’s too late. Thankfully, you have some control to limit which specific apps can be used on a cellular network for both Apple and Android devices.
- On iOS, go to Settings > Cellular. Scroll down to see which apps are using cellular data and toggle them on or off. You will also be able to view which apps are using the most data and consider limiting their use only to when you’re on a WiFi network.
- For Android, the process may vary depending on the device model. Open the Settings app > Wireless & networks > Data usage > Network access > Selectively uncheck which apps you would like to prevent from using cellular data.
Limit monthly data usage (Android)
Keeping an eye on your monthly data usage will really go a long way to prevent unexpected overages.
Android makes it very easy to limit your monthly data usage with a built-in feature allowing you to set up a warning when you’re reaching your data limit — or by actually limiting your cellular data to a set amount based on your billing cycle. Here’s how to set that up (note: these instructions may vary depending on your device):
- Go to Settings > Network & internet > Data usage > Data warning & limit (or Data limit & billing cycle) to set your maximum amount of data you want to use for the month. Or, tap “App data usage cycle” to set the first day of your billing cycle.
Watch your monthly data (iOS)
Apple devices don’t include the same built-in feature to physically restrict your data usage, so you’ll need to keep an eye on your data use in your device’s settings.
- To see how much cellular data you’ve used, go to Settings > Cellular > Scroll down to Cellular data.
- Alternatively, you can log into your CREDO account periodically to keep an eye on your data usage, too!
Update apps over WiFi only
If you have your apps set to update automatically, they may be draining your data over a cellular network. You can set your device to update apps over WiFi only to save your monthly data.
- On iOS, go to Settings > App Store > scroll to “Cellular Data” and toggle “Automatic Downloads” to the off position.
- On Android, go to the Play Store and tap Menu > Settings > Auto-update apps, then select “Auto-update apps over Wi-Fi only.”
Save on your data plan
If you want to save on your wireless bill and switch to a service that shares your values, check out our plans at CREDO Mobile.
CREDO offers great savings on metered plans for those who don’t want to pay for data they don’t need. Even better, when you switch to CREDO Mobile, you help support donations to amazing non-profit groups helping to make the world a better place. Since 1985, CREDO Mobile has donated over $94 million dollars to groups like 350.org, the ACLU, Planned Parenthood and Vote.org.
Learn more about all the plans we offer and find the right one for your data needs.
Posted on December 7, 2022
It’s Time to End the War on Wolves in the Northern Rockies
Note from the CREDO team: This December, Defenders of Wildlife is among three amazing groups that will receive a share of our monthly grant. Funding from the CREDO community will help Defenders of Wildlife’s scientists, lawyers, advocates and activists protect wildlife in courtrooms and in communities across the nation.
Read this important blog by Defenders of Wildlife’s Jamie Rappaport Clark and originally posted here about the group’s work protecting gray wolves, then click here to visit CREDODonations.com to cast your vote to help determine how we distribute our monthly grant to this organization and our other amazing grantees this December.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is now long overdue on determining whether federal protections should be restored for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies. While gray wolves are now protected in most states under the Endangered Species Act, the populations in the Northern Rockies states of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho are still in grave danger.
Throughout my career, including years overseeing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and now leading Defenders of Wildlife, I’ve watched the treatment of these incredible animals with intensifying outrage. Lawmakers in Montana and Idaho have relaxed wolf hunting rules. Idaho now supports a bounty of up to $2,000 per animal to kill wolves, permits year-round trapping on private land, and allows hunters and trappers to kill an unlimited number. Meanwhile, Montana relaxed state trapping rules to include snaring wolves and now permits baiting and night hunting. As with Idaho, Montana allows bounties and has even increased the number of wolves allowed to be killed in a season. Wolves are being targeted with little regard for science, long-standing wildlife management principles, or acknowledgment of their contribution to the ecosystems they inhabit and the economies they bolster.
In September 2021, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service issued an initial finding stating that “human-caused mortality” may be a “potential threat” for wolves in the Northern Rockies and that the federal protection requested by two petitions may be warranted. Under federal law, the agency is required to decide whether a listing is warranted within one year of receiving the first petition. However, the service missed the deadline this June, triggering a handful of conservation organizations to file a lawsuit. So far, there has been no response.
Is the agency I was proud to lead going to allow a handful of states to roll back history and undermine one of the great wildlife restoration stories of the last century? Will it continue to stand by and watch decades of collaborative wolf recovery work be for naught?
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must issue its determination and protect wolves in the Northern Rockies. Not only does the agency have the legal responsibility to respond to the petition, but it also has a moral obligation to protect a species so critical to the balance of nature and which hundreds of other wildlife species depend on. Regardless, federal protections should be immediately reinstated before the situation gets worse for wolves. Without this important oversight, it certainly will.
Posted on December 7, 2022
Thanks to CREDO members, the Center for Constitutional Rights continues the fight for a more just and liberatory world
Through high-impact litigation, advocacy campaigns, and strategic communications, our grantees at the Center for Constitutional Rights partner with progressive social movements to dismantle structural racism, gender oppression, economic inequity, and abusive government power.
In May 2022, CREDO members voted to donate $34,000 to help CCR fight oppressive systems of power, protect social movements and communities under threat, and build a more just and liberatory world.
Powered in part by the generosity of CREDO and our members, CCR had some recent victories and launched some great new initiatives. Here’s a quick rundown from the organization:
Recent Victories
In August, CCR and a delegation of clients hosted by CCR from our Louisiana Environmental Racism Justice Project traveled to Geneva, Switzerland to testify at the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination’s (CERD) latest review of the United States.
On August 30, the Committee issued their report, which took the unprecedented step of calling on the U.S. government to address the legacies of colonialism and slavery by beginning a process to provide reparations to descendants of enslaved people. The Committee also took the unusual step of citing human rights violations in a specific state: environmental racism in Louisiana’s Cancer Alley.
Their report incorporated several of the delegation’s proposals, among them “adopting moratoriums on the authorization of new heavy industry facilities and expansion of existing ones,” and “protect[ing] historical sites of cultural significance for these communities from harm by extractive and manufacturing industries.”
While affected communities have been calling attention to the harms of toxic industries in Cancer Alley for decades, the day after our clients testified, they received an invitation from the Army Corps of Engineers for a consultation under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966.
New Initiatives
This year marked the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the prison at Guantánamo Bay, which was opened by the Bush administration after the terrorist attacks on 9/11. Since its opening in 2002, CCR has been at the forefront of the legal battle against indefinite detention and torture at Guantánamo, directly representing dozens of detainees in habeas cases, before military commissions, and in civil cases, and doing all we can to advance efforts to close the prison in a just manner. This year brought once-unimaginable developments, including the transfer of two CCR clients, and the eligibility for transfer of the remaining three.
Among the latter is Guled Hassan Duran, who was brought to Guantánamo in 2006 after being rendered at CIA black sites following his capture in Djibouti. Upon his transfer to Guantánamo, the U.S. government designated Guled as a High-Value Detainee (HVD) — but unlike nearly all of the 16 others so designated, he was never charged or even slated for prosecution — an indication that the government did not believe it had much of a case against him. On January 10, 2022, the Biden administration announced that Guled had been approved for transfer through the administrative Periodic Review Board (PRB) process. (PRBs are parole-like administrative proceedings held before representatives of multiple federal agencies in which the government determines whether or not to clear a detainee for release. The decision must be unanimous to take effect.) As a result, Guled became the first High Value Detainee to be cleared for release from Guantánamo through the PRB process. The development was a remarkable milestone that opened the door to potential clearances of additional HVDs and eventual closure of the prison.
Despite Guled’s clearance for transfer, he remains imprisoned due to inaction by both the courts and the Biden administration. On November 7, CCR and co-counsel filed a motion in federal court urging the judge to act on Guled’s long-stalled habeas case, in which discovery motions were filed in fall 2020 but no ruling has been issued. At the same time, the government said it would make “vigorous efforts” to transfer Guled, but has not done so, according to his legal team. Guled’s need for transfer has been made all the more urgent by continuing medical problems exacerbated by his abuse in a CIA black site, including a hospitalization in October for life-threatening intestinal maladies. We hope this new legal filing will urge the court to facilitate his transfer.
If you’d like to learn more or get involved with CCR, please visit their website, or follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Posted on December 7, 2022
The Fairness Project thanks CREDO members for huge victories on Election Night
Our grantee partners at the Fairness Project help grassroots organizations run ballot initiatives to support working families. In just a few years, the organization has raised wages and brought health care, paid leave and more to over 17.7 million people.
In July 2021, CREDO members voted to donate $50,805 to help the Fairness Project empower voters through ballot initiatives to win progressive policy change for economic, racial, and gender justice by raising wages, expanding Medicaid, guaranteeing paid leave, curbing predatory lending, and more.
And thanks in part to CREDO members, the Fairness Project had an incredible election night winning ballot initiatives across the country. Here’s a quick update from Kelly Hall, the executive director of the Fairness Project, to CREDO members on the organization’s victories during the November midterm election:
I wanted to take a moment to both thank you for your support, and highlight some of the very bright spots from our work at the Fairness Project you helped make possible:
We WON in South Dakota!
- 42,000 South Dakotans now have access to Medicaid coverage, making it the seventh state to expand Medicaid via a voter approved ballot initiative.
We WON in Michigan and Vermont!
- Over 5 million women in Michigan and Vermont have their right to an abortion protected, whichwill also set the stage for more states to protect or restore abortion access next cycle.
We WON in Nebraska!
- We passed a $15 minimum wage, giving a raise to over 150,000 people.
We WON in Arizona!
- We capped interest rates on medical debt and protected millions of Arizonans from losing their homes and savings to debt.
We WON in Arkansas!
- We defeated an extremist attempt to hamstring future ballot measures with a requirement to win with a 60% supermajority, holding open the option to pass progress at the ballot box there for years to come.
I cannot stress this enough: none of this would have happened without your support, in all the ways. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
If you’d like to learn more or get involved with The Fairness Project, please visit their website, or follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Posted on December 6, 2022
The Right Wing War on Teaching the Truth
Note from the CREDO team: This December, the Zinn Education Project is among three amazing groups that will receive a share of our monthly grant. Funding from the CREDO community will help the Zinn Education Project double the number of Teaching for Black Lives teacher-led study groups; expand its Climate Justice and Reconstruction education campaigns; and defend the right to teach honestly in the face of anti-history education laws.
Read this important blog post from a Rethinking Schools editor then click here to visit CREDODonations.com to cast your vote to help determine how we distribute our monthly grant to this organization and our other amazing grantees this December.
At least thirty-six states have introduced or enacted bills or rules to restrict teaching about history, identity, and today’s social realities. Right-wing activists are mounting attacks at school board meetings, libraries, and on social media. They aim to ban teaching critical race theory (CRT), “divisive topics,” and discussion of gender and sexuality.
The real target is the truth.
Although the framing of these laws and penalties varies across states, they are all part of a coordinated right-wing campaign to enforce a single message to educators: Shut up or else.
Tennessee prohibits teachers from even including material in the curriculum that promotes “division between, or resentment of, a race, sex, religion, creed, nonviolent political affiliation, social class, or class of people.” This law could make it impossible to teach the U.S. Constitution as a document written by white men that protected slavery or Andrew Jackson’s justification of the Indian Removal Act. Florida’s so called “don’t say gay” law restricts lessons on gender and sexuality — intended, according to Gov. Ron DeSantis, to stop the spread of “woke gender ideology.” Penalties for violating these bans range from fines against teachers and revocation of their teaching licenses, to withholding state funding and rescinding school districts’ accreditation, to the threat of lawsuits by parents.
By requiring educators to lie to students through omission, euphemism, and sanitized accounts of the past and present, these are anti-education measures as surely as those that once made it illegal for enslaved people to learn to read.
After the Zinn Education Project (coordinated by Rethinking Schools and Teaching for Change) invited educators to “pledge to teach the truth” (“We, the undersigned educators, refuse to lie to young people about U.S. history and current events”), the right-wing website The Daily Wire published the names of roughly 5,000 educators who signed the pledge, and organized a hit list by state and community. Dozens of teachers received hate mail, online harassment, and calls for their dismissal.
The demand that our classrooms become sites of inquiry about racism, sexism, and the long struggle for freedom comes from young people themselves. They see the “savage inequalities” in their daily lives, and they want to know “Why is it like this? How did we get here? What can we do about it?”
In many places, Republican legislators introduce “anti-CRT” bills alongside efforts to restrict the vote. They know what polls reveal: Young people aren’t voting for them. On climate change, young people want immediate action; they want increased taxation of the wealthy, college debt relief, and affordable health care; they see our country’s increasing racial and gender diversity as good, and cite racial justice as a worthy goal. Republicans do not propose a single policy to address their concerns. By targeting K–12 education, conservatives avoid the cause of their own unpopularity — a free market, serve-the-rich political project.
The right’s assault on the truth has dangerous consequences beyond the ballot box. When a gunman murdered five people (and injured dozens more) in an LGBTQ bar in Colorado Springs in November, the police insisted the killer’s motives were uncertain. But after several years of nonstop attacks on LGBTQ people by right-wing media, only the willfully ignorant could fail to draw a connection. The teenager who killed 10 African Americans in Buffalo last May wrote a manifesto filled with right-wing media tropes about the “great replacement theory.”
Across the country, educators bravely defy Republicans’ curricular gag-rules and incendiary rhetoric. One need only scan the table of contents of recent issues of the social justice education magazine Rethinking Schools to find the kind of critical teaching that is off-limits under many of these bills: “Shape-Shifting Segregation Policies: Using Mexican American School Segregation to Discuss Structural Racism” (Winter 2020–21), Can a 4-Year-Old Know Her Gender Identity? Yes. (Summer 2022), “Teaching the Radical Rosa Parks” (Fall 2020). Educators teach for justice by helping students see injustice, imagine possible remedies, and develop the tools to enact them.
These attacks are scary, particularly for educators who are already vulnerable: teachers of color, LGBTQ educators, early-career educators, and those working without strong unions. Overt resistance may not always be possible. That is why educators need parents, students, community groups, civil rights organizations, labor unions, and elected officials to join us to defend teaching the truth — testifying at school board meetings, writing letters to the editor and op-eds, and unseating the elected officials who are the architects of these attacks.
Teaching for justice is not easy. But those who do this work join an esteemed collective of educators, past and present, who have taught children that, to paraphrase Eduardo Galeano, tomorrow can be more than just another name for today.
Ursula Wolfe-Rocca taught high school social studies for 20 years. She is an organizer and curriculum writer for the Zinn Education Project and is on the editorial board of Rethinking Schools magazine. This essay was adapted from an editorial in Rethinking Schools.
Posted on December 5, 2022
Vote for All Hands and Hearts, Defenders of Wildlife and Zinn Education Project this December
Every month, CREDO members vote to distribute our monthly grant to three incredible progressive causes – and every vote makes a difference. This December, you can support disaster relief, protect wildlife habitats and promote the “people’s history” in education by voting to fund All Hands and Hearts, Defenders of Wildlife and Zinn Education Project.
All Hands and Hearts
All Hands and Hearts provides community-inspired, volunteer-powered disaster relief. We’ve worked alongside 140 disaster-affected communities, inviting over 63,000 volunteers to clear debris, repair homes, build schools and much more.
A general support grant would provide crucial funding to help us continue making commitments to disaster survivors who may not receive help elsewhere, and it would help our organization build capacity, so we can deploy our services efficiently.
Defenders of Wildlife
Up to a million species are facing extinction – some within the next decade – unless we take immediate action to save them. Defenders works tirelessly to identify and implement innovative solutions to protect endangered species and their habitat.
Funding from CREDO will help our scientists, lawyers, advocates and activists protect wildlife in courtrooms and in communities across the nation. It is essential that we work together to be the voice for the animals that cannot speak for themselves.
Zinn Education Project
The Zinn Ed Project introduces students to a more accurate, complex, and engaging understanding of history than is found in traditional textbooks and curricula. We help equip students with analytical tools to make sense of and improve the world today.
CREDO funding will help the Zinn Education Project double the number of Teaching for Black Lives teacher-led study groups; expand our Climate Justice and Reconstruction education campaigns; and defend the right to teach honestly in the face of anti-history education laws.
Your vote this month will determine how we divide our monthly donations among these three progressive groups. Be sure to cast your vote to support one, two or all three by December 31.
CREDO members who use our products and services everyday are the reason we are able to make these donations each month. Learn more about CREDO Mobile and join our movement.
