Wes Moore, the first African American to be elected Governor of Maryland — and the sixth Black governor in U.S. history — is celebrating Black History Month and has declared 2024 his state’s “Year of Civil Rights.”
While Republican governors including Ron DeSantis (Florida), Glenn Youngkin (Virginia), and Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Arkansas) are allowing books that address the country’s history of racial inequality to be removed from school libraries, Moore is “seeking to advance access to literature and curriculums on the African-American experience through the critical periods of U.S. slavery, racial segregation and institutional racism.”
Today, Moore is amplifying a recent article entitled “Democrat governors holding the line to protect Black history and books” — which includes a quote from his 2023 commencement address at Morehouse College, where he “chastised Republican lawmakers for leading statewide bans and questioned their motivations.”
Those who do not learn their past will never know their power. It's why we must stand together to protect our history and be unapologetic about it.https://t.co/d0HBocQqgB
— Gov. Wes Moore (@iamwesmoore) February 26, 2024
Moore said: “When politicians ban books and muzzle educators, they say it’s an effort to prevent discomfort, guilt — but we know that’s not true. This is not about a fear of making people feel bad. It is about a fear of people understanding their power.” He added: “A threat to any history is a threat to all history.”
Below is Moore’s complete commencement speech.
The article also highlights the efforts of fellow Democratic Governors Gavin Newsom of California — who signed a bill to prohibit school libraries from banning books — and Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, who signed a bill to prohibit public libraries from banning books.
