About Trouble in Censorville
White supremacists opposed to a curriculum that teaches the enduring effects of anti-Black racism, political action committees, such as Moms for Liberty, calling for the banning of novels featuring LGBTQ+ people, Christian nationalists hell-bent on erasing the line between church and state, and profiteers eager to divert taxpayer dollars into private schools are mounting a relentless attack on teachers, the students they serve, and the commitment to public education that is a cornerstone of democracy. “It’s a phenomenal, unprecedented moment that we’re in,” says a librarian, recently retired from her Texas school. “It’s surprising how many people don’t know what’s going on. I talk to reporters who have no idea. And they’re reporters.”
Now, for the first time, K-12 educators from across the nation offer a teacher’s-eye view of the radical right crusade to take down public education, coordinated by well-funded, well-connected far-right political interests. Presented as video testimonials on this site and through print form in the Trouble in Censorville book, 15 public school teachers describe being threatened, doxxed, ostracized, smeared as pedophilic “groomers,” placed on leave, or fired for teaching historical truth and racial justice, supporting LGBTQ+ students and, in one case, for wearing "insufficiently" feminine attire. Their stories bring viewers and readers face-to-face with the human cost of these attacks, which range from social isolation to pent-up anger over institutional betrayal to the terrible toll on teachers’ mental and physical health.
And yet, these teachers are fighting back. They’re mobilizing colleagues, parents, and community members who share their faith in the freedom to read, the freedom to think critically, the freedom to challenge small-minded provincialism. Their stories of frontline resistance, collected here, provide a battle plan for confronting censorship, rallying support, and mobilizing a grassroots defense of public schools.
A note to the viewer / reader
Trouble in Censorville began in August 2022 when a public school teacher reached out to Nadine M. Kalin, a professor of art education, and Rebekah Modrak, an artist, activist, and professor of art. The teacher asked: Did the professors know how they could bring to the public’s attention their story of being placed on leave for wearing "insufficiently" feminine attire? As important, how could they sound the alarm about the far-right assault on our public schools? Their story moved Kalin and Modrak to collect it and others like it in a book that would not only bear witness to history, chronicling the radical right’s full-court press against public education, but rouse readers to action – before it’s too late. The testimony of the educators in this book is both a form of self-healing and a firehouse alarm: democracy’s burning.Educators targeted by right-wing activists deserve a platform unconstrained by the soundbite limitations and biases of the news media and the algorithm-driven corporate commons of Facebook and X.
Interviewees reviewed their oral histories at every step of the editorial process to ensure that the published results were scrupulously factual, true to their unique voices, and reflected their intent.
Readers should be aware, too, that some contributors chose to use pseudonyms and remove identifying details to protect themselves from workplace retaliation, job loss, and the like. If colleagues or friends are mentioned in testimonials, we requested that every contributor confirm that individual’s willingness to be included and, if willing, whether to be identified by name. Bad actors are provided with pseudonyms when necessary to protect the educator. Otherwise, political and religious extremists, legislators, administrators, and school board members who violated district protocols or professional ethics, social-media trolls, and others whose treatment of educators reflects poorly on them are named and should answer for their actions in the court of public opinion.
Interviewees received honorariums and, when the book went to press, an additional sum. One hundred percent of the profits from the book will go to the teachers whose testimonies made Trouble in Censorville possible – a small contribution to the welfare of those whose courage cost them their jobs or impacted their well-being and an investment, we hope, in the activism many of them continue to pursue.
Team
Creator / Editor
Rebekah Modrak
Rebekah Modrak is a Professor at the Stamps School of Art & Design at the University of Michigan. She is an artist and writer who analyzes and critiques consumer culture. During the COVID pandemic, she examined the privatization of public education as parents began referring to (formerly beloved) K-12 teachers as "public servants" subsidized by their tax dollars and therefore answerable to them, as consumers. Rebekah is co-editor of Radical Humility: Essays on Ordinary Acts (Belt 2021) in which twenty people (a philosopher, a psychologist, a cook, a marketing scholar, a lawyer…) consider humility as a countermeasure to Trump's golden escalator and incessant boasting. Rebekah and Nadine M. Kalin are the creators of Trouble in Censorville. For two years, they recruited, listened to, and worked with K-12 teachers to edit their testimonials for the videos and book and to develop the work.
Creator / Editor
Nadine M. Kalin
Nadine M. Kalin is a professor in the Department of Art Education in the College of Visual Arts and Design at the University of North Texas. She teaches courses in the areas of curriculum and pedagogy, pre-service art teacher preparation, socially engaged art, and economic justice, as well as theories and methods associated with art educational research. Recently she acted as principal editor for the International Journal of Education through Art and is author of the book The Neoliberalization of Creativity Education: Democratizing, Destructing and Decreating Creativity, published by Palgrave. Nadine and Rebekah Modrak are the creators of Trouble in Censorville. For two years, they recruited, listened to, and worked with K-12 teachers to edit their testimonials for the videos and book and to develop the work.
Director
Devon Redmond
Devon Redmond is a writer, director, and musician from Detroit. He studied music at Florida A&M University and Grand Valley State University. In 2015, he was hired by Wayne State University’s Theatre and Dance Department to manage the front of house for four theatres, where he was blessed with the opportunity to do sound design for their productions of The Colored Museum and Xtigone. He served as a playwright for WSU’s Company Fresh theatrical company, connecting with The Black and Brown Theatre (and acting in their production of The Ticket), Oak Grove AME Church (acting in their production of Misconceptions), and The Detroit Playwright’s Lab (where he directed his first production, Ground Hog Hell). As Director of Trouble in Censorville, Devon co-edited testimonials, advised the actors and educators on their readings, and oversaw the set during the filming.
Cinematographer and Film Editor
Joey Ostrander
Joey Ostrander has produced film, video, television, and theater as Videographer, Editor, and Production Designer in southeast Michigan, across the U.S., and abroad. His content has featured students who tackle teen pregnancy, election engagement, and community response to a growing art presence in Detroit. He tells stories about human conditions, conflicts, and empathies that explore culture, social action, creative reflection, and personal and environmental change. In his ethos, being carefully deliberate and accurately representative tells a clearer, more honest, and more memorable story. He makes good stories better by establishing a reflective tone in lighting, a familiarity in composition, and a tempo in editing narrative. For Trouble in Censorville, Joey led the video and audio team that documented the performed testimonies of teachers, actors, and contributors and composed these impactful stories for public broadcast.