Poll Shows Most Americans Disagree With Republican’s Campaign To Ban Books And Censor Discussions On Race

A CBS-YouGov poll shows that an overwhelming majority of Americans surveyed reject the idea of banning books about history or race, and believe that teaching about the history of race in America makes students understand what others went through.

• 85% of Americans don’t support banning books from schools if they contain political ideas they disagree with.
  
• 87% of Americans don’t support banning books discussing race or slavery.
  
• 83% of Americans don’t think books should be banned for criticizing people and events in U.S. history.
  
• 71% of Americans overwhelmingly believe racism has been a problem in U.S. history, and continues to be a problem today – with a majority believing that teaching about racism within our history promotes understanding.

This poll makes it very clear that whatever our color, background, or zip code, we want our children to have an education that imparts honesty about who we are and integrity in how we treat others.

Yet, Republicans are focused on pushing forth a divisive campaign that is aimed at censoring the lessons taught in our classrooms, denying certain children resources and erasing people who look like them out of our history books.

Our children deserve the freedom to learn: to develop knowledge and skills that will help them learn from our mistakes, make sense of the present and prepare for the future.

During Black History Month, it is especially important to push back against the radical right as they try to erase the legacy of our ancestors from our school curriculums, all while ignoring funding our schools, addressing teacher shortages and investing in our students’ futures.