At Liberty Podcast
At Liberty Podcast

This Podcast Could Be Banned in Florida Schools

September 8, 2022

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33:57 mins

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It’s September and we’re back! Did you miss us? We missed you. So happy to be back and bringing you a very timely episode for the back to school season.

In August, the ACLU along with partner organizations, filed a challenge to Florida’s Stop W.O.K.E. Act, a censorship law which restricts educators and students from learning and talking about issues related to race and gender in the classroom. This isn’t the first law we’ve seen like this: education gag orders have been introduced in 40 states, and nearly 20 states across the country have passed these kinds of laws.

Florida’s law, we argue, violates the First and 14th Amendments by imposing viewpoint-based restrictions on educators and students that are both vague and discriminatory. Additionally, the laws violates the Equal Protection Clause because it was enacted with the intent to discriminate against Black educators and students. Today we’re digging in and speaking with two of our clients who are impacted by this law as well as one of the ACLU’s lead attorneys on the case.

In this episode

Headshot of Leah Watson

Leah Watson

Senior Staff Attorney, ACLU's Racial Justice Program

Leah Watson (she/her) is a Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU’s Racial Justice Program, where she focuses on classroom censorship efforts (education gag orders), bias in policing, the criminalization of poverty, and racial disparities during the Covid-19 pandemic. Previously, she was Senior Counsel in the Criminal Justice Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights…
Leah Watson
Headshot of Kendall Ciesemier

Kendall Ciesemier

Host of At Liberty and Senior Executive Producer of Multimedia, American Civil Liberties Union

she/her/hers

Kendall Ciesemier (@kendallciese) is the Host of At Liberty and the Senior Executive Producer of Multimedia at the ACLU. Previously, Kendall worked as a producer and reporter for The New York Times’ Opinion section and Mic, a digital media company. Most notably at Mic, Kendall’s interview with Alice Marie Johnson, a woman serving a life…
Kendall Ciesemier
Dana

Dr. Dana Thompson Dorsey

Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of South Florida

(she/her)

Dana N. Thompson Dorsey, JD, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of South Florida. Her research and teaching focuses on education law and policy issues, as well as critical race studies. Specifically, Dr. Thompson Dorsey’s research critically examines federal, state, and local education laws and policies, as…
Dr. Dana Thompson Dorsey
Johana

Johana Dauphin

International Affairs Major, Florida State University

(she/her)

Johana Dauphin is a senior at Florida State University studying International Affairs with a concentration in Urban and Regional Planning. She is passionate about civic engagement, social justice and grassroots organizing. Her post-grad plans are to attend law school and continue to advocate for marginalized communities.
Johana Dauphin

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