Dear AS220 community,

It has come to our attention that a bill prohibiting “teaching divisive concepts” in Rhode Island public schools – specifically racism and sexism – will be going before the RI House Committee on Education tomorrow. AS220 will be submitting written testimony to the House Committee on Education advocating against this bill. We are also encouraging you to do so. 

We believe that racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination are pervasive in our society, and it hurts us all to ignore those issues instead of dedicating ourselves to dismantling the ways they do damage in our communities.

You can email your testimony to HouseEducation@rilegislature.gov – the deadline is noon tomorrow (March 31). At the top of your message, please include your name, the bill number (H.6070), and your viewpoint (“for/against/neither”). Testimonies submitted as PDF files will be processed faster. Testimonies received before the deadline will be shared with members of the committee.

You can see the agenda for tomorrow, and instructions on how to submit testimony here.

You can see the bill here.

Here’s a news story summarizing the bill and the implications it carries.