Hi there! Welcome to Easy A–Your go-to source for quick and easy actions you can take in five minutes or less about the issues you care about.
Are you a busy mom? Or maybe your work is so hectic you can’t think about anything else during the day? A lot of us are also taking care of parents or other loved ones too, leaving little time for anything else.
The good news is that these are things you can do while you’re waiting in the school pick up line, on your lunch break, or even at your kid’s soccer practice – anywhere you happen to be! And you can easily share Easy A with your friends so they can be in the know, too! We’ll send you a new action to take every week–just one, we promise –and it will always be something you can do in five minutes or less. Ready to get started? Let’s go!
Do This: Celebrate Right to Read Day
Monday, April 7 is Right to Read Day — a day to celebrate and defend our freedom to read while we also bring attention to the rising, extremist attempts to take it away. We are a partner with Unite Against Book Bans, a program of the American Library Association, and we hope you’ll join us by taking part in this day.
Earn your Easy A this week by speaking out against book bans and showing your support for reading. Here’s some things you can do:
- Visit your local library.
- Check out a library book.
- Thank your librarian(s) — in person or with a handwritten note!
- And the easiest thing you can do in less than five minutes right now? Spread the word! Share this post on your social media to let people know about the rise in book bans and the importance of standing up for our freedom to read.
Book-banning extremists are loud, but we are the majority. Let’s be louder and celebrate reading on Right to Read Day, and every day!
Watch This: The Right to Read is Under Attack
We are proud to be one of more than 200 organizations and tens of thousands of individuals who make up the American Library Association’s Unite Against Book Bans. Together, we’re helping our communities advocate for the freedom to read.
On April 7, 2025, we’re celebrating Right to Read Day to bring attention to the nationwide rise in book bans and laws targeting librarians and teachers, as well as cuts to library funding and programs. Book banning and censorship have no place in our democracy. No one should be afraid to read, learn, or teach.
Earn your Easy A this week by watching this short video. We’ll be sharing it on social media next week before Right to Read Day, but we’re giving you an exclusive sneak peek! We hope it inspires you to celebrate Right to Read Day with us. Next week, we’ll show you how!
Read This: A New Era of Fighting Book Bans
In a few weeks, we’ll celebrate Right to Read Day as part of National Library Week. National Library Week celebrates how reading and libraries enrich our lives and communities. It started in the 1950s over concerns that Americans were reading less and spending more time listening to radios and watching TV.
Now, in addition to those distractions, we also have the internet and social media keeping us from reading books. In 2024, 37% of American adults did not read or listen to a single book or audio book. Do you know what else is keeping people from reading? A rise in book bans!
This attack on our freedom to read has been happening for years. We’ve written about it before (here and here), but let’s take a look at where things stand with book banning now under the Trump administration, and what we can do about it.
PEN America recorded 10,046 instances of book bans in 29 states and 220 public school districts in the 2023-2024 school year. This is the third year in a row where book bans have increased in America. And that’s just the documented bans where access to books has been limited or completely removed. PEN America is also seeing a rise in “soft censorship” where schools, libraries and teachers are removing books on their own, simply out of fear.
The Trump administration is adding to this fear. President Trump has threatened to block federal funding to schools that don’t follow his executive orders to end diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and to deny the existence of trans people. We already know that books about race, racism, and LGBTQ+ characters or characters of color are disproportionately targeted by book bans. Trump’s threats and orders could limit the availability of diverse and representative books in public school classrooms and libraries even more.
Just weeks after Trump was inaugurated, the Department of Defense announced that it was removing books from the 160 schools run by the Pentagon for 67,000 children of U.S. military members stationed worldwide. That list included a children’s book written by Oscar-winning actor Julianne Moore about a girl learning to accept her freckles, elementary school materials for Black History Month, and even Vice President JD Vance’s memoir!
This followed an earlier announcement that Trump’s Department of Education was rescinding all previous guidance for schools on how to respond to book bans, removing its anti-book ban coordinator position, and dismissing 17 active or pending civil rights investigations on book bans. These actions ignore the very real threat and impact of book bans on our kids, and it probably won’t stop here.
This threat is an organized effort by extremists to control what we read and learn. As the American Library Association said in response to Trump’s Department of Education actions, book bans are real, they are cruel, and they are unconstitutional. The good news is that we can still fight this by speaking out against book bans, by showing up to support our students, teachers, and librarians, and by celebrating reading. In the coming weeks, we’ll show you how.
Do This: Get Your Copy of the Costs of Conflict Report!
We’ve learned that extremism cost our public schools $3.2 billion last year. Now we’re also seeing that President Trump and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon fully intend to defund and destroy the U.S. Department of Education entirely. That means our public schools can expect to lose even more money that they can’t afford.
With 97.5% of public schools experiencing some level of the extremist-driven culture wars last year, almost every one of nearly 50 million students1 and 3.8 million teachers2 in public schools has felt — or will feel — the impact of this assault. Their stories deserve to be heard.
The Costs of Conflict report includes compelling stories directly from superintendents who were interviewed. Earn your Easy A this week by downloading the full Costs of Conflict Report and giving them a look!
Want to take it one step further? Once you download the report, share it with everyone you know. We give you an easy way to share when you get your copy of the report. Let’s get loud with our support of public education!
Watch This: The Costs of Conflict
A new research report found that extremist attacks on schools and teachers — from book bans to new laws controlling what is taught about race and history — cost our public schools $3.2 billion last year alone!
Watch this short video to hear directly from one of the researchers, Dr. John Rogers from the University of California – Los Angeles, about what else was learned in their study.
Mainstream parents don’t want this level of conflict in our schools. We want our teachers to be able to focus on their teaching, our students to feel safe and supported, and for our schools to spend their funding on their needs, not on fighting extremism. We must speak out when politicians and other groups hurt our kids, waste our educators’ time, and waste our schools’ precious funding like this. We’ll have one more action for you to take on this next week!
Read This: The Costs of Conflict
Between 2021 and 2024, more than 300 bills were introduced in state legislatures to ban books, restrict schools from teaching about race and racism, and set restrictive policies for LGBTQ+ students. It’s all part of an extremist effort to attack our public schools with culture wars.
You’ve probably already heard a lot about this, especially if you’ve been reading our Easy A blog for awhile. And you probably know that these culture wars are hurting our kids’ mental health and taking a toll on our educators.
But a lot of us have been asking, what is the financial cost of these culture wars? Well, now we have the answer!
According to a recent report, “The Costs of Conflict: The Fiscal Impact of Culturally Divisive Conflict on Public Schools in the United States”, these culture wars cost our public schools $3.2 billion just last year. That’s right, we said $3.2 BILLION!
How is that possible? The report found that for an average-sized school district experiencing high levels of culture wars, fighting them cost $812,000 last year. Here are some more findings from the report:
- Two-thirds of the schools in the study were experiencing moderate or high levels of “culturally-divisive conflict.” Only 2.5% reported no conflict at all.
- When schools become the center of these culture wars, districts and school boards have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on:
- Hiring lawyers and paying legal fees to fight the challenges.
- Increased security to protect board members and educators at meetings.
- Paying for additional staff hours spent responding to overwhelming public records requests, emails, and online disinformation.
- Community and government relations.
- Recruitment of teachers due to high staff turnover rates. 29% of the superintendents interviewed in the study had lost teachers due to culture wars!
We can all agree, this is not what mainstream parents want. We can think of a lot of ways that $3.2 billion could be better spent, and so did the study. Things like: hiring more counselors and teachers, upgrading supplies and technology, offering nutritious meals to all students, and providing more opportunities for kids and educators to prepare for the 21st Century.
You can learn more about “The Costs of Conflict” study on our website here. Please join us in speaking out in support of our public schools and against these divisive — and expensive! — culture wars!
Do This: The Truth About Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs have a long history of preventing discrimination in the U.S. And it’s been proven that even if each DEI program isn’t meant for us individually, on the whole, they make things better for everyone.
Unfortunately, extremists are lying about DEI and they’re getting really important programs cut within the government and in private business. These cuts will have a lasting impact on our country. So, now that you know the facts about DEI, it’s time to earn your Easy A this week by spreading the word!
Scroll through and pick one — or all! — of the three posts below to share our information with your friends and family on social media. Let’s stand up together for diversity, equity and inclusion in our communities.
Watch This: The Truth About Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
On his first two days back in office, Donald Trump issued executive orders to:
- End Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs in the federal government.
- Investigate private companies and discourage them from continuing their DEI programs.
Well, that threat was intimidating enough to make at least one big company cave. By the end of the same week, Target announced that they’d be ending their programs supporting Black employees and shoppers, and Black-owned businesses.
The hosts of our The Suburban Women Problem podcast had some thoughts on all this! Take just a couple of minutes and give them a watch:
As we learned last week, DEI is good for all of us, and many people don’t realize the far-reaching consequences of ending DEI programs — intended or not. Next week, we’ll have a simple action we can all take to protect DEI initiatives in our communities.
Read This: The Truth About Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)
You’ve probably heard the term “DEI” — an acronym for “Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion” — a lot lately. Far-right extremists are attacking the concept and want to end DEI programs for good.
Unfortunately, their plan is working.
Companies like Walmart and Target have ended their DEI policies. Since 2023, more than 230 colleges and universities in 34 states have stopped programs because of anti-DEI laws or mandates — the same year the U.S. Supreme Court ended affirmative action. President Donald Trump has already issued executive orders and memos that end all federal DEI-related programs and positions. People who work in DEI are losing their jobs. And Trump and members of his cabinet had the nerve to blame DEI for recent tragedies like the D.C. plane crash and the L.A. wildfires.
But when people understand what it truly is, the majority of Americans support DEI and say it’s a good thing, so let’s learn a little more about it.
What is Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI)?
Diversity refers to the differences among people like: race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion, physical ability, class, and more. Equity means treating everyone fairly and giving them equal opportunities. Inclusion means creating an environment where everyone feels welcome, safe, valued, and heard.
So taken as a whole, DEI means any effort or program instituted to protect us from discrimination! The goal of DEI programs is to make sure that everyone has equal access to school and job opportunities, and that they are treated fairly. Examples include:
- Recruitment programs for women in jobs that have historically been dominated by men.
- Efforts to close gender pay gaps.
- Flexible work hours or locations for working parents.
- Family and all-gender restrooms in public spaces.
- Development programs for young minority leaders.
- Accessibility measures for people with physical disabilities.
- Federal grants and contracts for small business owners who have historically been passed over, like Black or Hispanic women.
- Programs to help first-generation college applicants navigate their admissions process.
When did DEI start?
DEI programs started during the Civil Rights movement, which drew attention to the systemic racism that kept non-whites from getting an equal education, jobs, and fair treatment. Segregation and workplace discrimination became illegal through efforts like the Equal Pay Act of 1963, The Civil Rights Act of 1964, the establishment of the Equal Employment Opportunity in 1965, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967, and countless other executive orders and acts that followed.
Over the next six decades, the federal government, schools, and private companies implemented DEI programs to break down barriers to access, to combat biases in hiring and admissions, and to make sure that applicants and employees were treated fairly and equally. And you know what? It turns out that DEI programs benefit companies and organizations too!
How does DEI benefit an organization?
DEI policies help organizations find the most qualified and talented candidates out of the largest possible pool. Despite what critics say, DEI brings more merit to the table. And it doesn’t tell an organization who to choose, it just gives them more people to choose from. Then, it makes sure that everyone is supported and treated fairly once they’re in the room.
Research shows that diversity brings more quality and productivity to a team. DEI combats the mediocrity that can occur when everyone looks and thinks the same way, especially in organizations that were built by “good ol’ boy” networks and nepotism.
Diversity also improves a team’s creativity and communication, and a business’s success. That’s why more than 60 U.S. companies supported affirmative action in a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022.
Companies that value DEI and that have more racial and gender diversity in their leadership are proven to be more profitable. That makes sense, because these businesses actually look and think like their customers, so they’re more responsive to their needs.
Standing up for DEI
DEI is good for everyone — individuals, schools, and businesses. Ending DEI programs will roll back the progress we’ve made towards equality since the Civil Rights movement, and it will hurt more groups of people than its critics might think — even themselves! It’s up to us to inform everyone we know about how we ALL benefit from DEI, and to fight for it to continue.
Do This: Sacred Politics and the Threat of Christian Nationalism
Well that didn’t take long! We’re already seeing the influence that Christian Nationalism has on President Donald Trump now that he is back in office. Two of his first actions were to begin the mass deportation of immigrants and to issue an executive order that denies the existence of transgender people. These are both priorities of white Christian Nationalists.
Thankfully, people are raising their voices and bravely calling out these hateful actions. One of those voices we have heard is The Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington. In her sermon at Trump’s inaugural prayer service, she asked him to show mercy to those who are scared right now due to his policies — especially immigrants and LGBTQ+ children.
Bishop Budde joins historical religious leaders like The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mother Teresa who were inspired by their faith to speak up for the vulnerable among us. Now, Trump has called her “nasty” and demanded an apology. U.S. Representative Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma has even introduced a House Resolution to censure her!
We want Bishop Budde to know that we support her, and we want you to join us. Earn your Easy A this week by signing our Thank You card below. You can even add a personal message if you’d like! We’ll be finalizing the card this week and delivering it to her in D.C. soon, so scroll down and add your name today!
It’s so important that we keep calling out Christian Nationalism for what it is — a political movement with an agenda that hurts all of us. And as Shane Claiborne said in our Sacred Politics podcast, a great way to counter something we don’t agree with is to live our lives showing a better way. Like Bishop Budde, we can all be shining examples in our community of how to treat others, regardless of our faith.
Watch This: Sacred Politics and the Threat of Christian Nationalism
Christian Nationalists, who are mostly white evangelicals, are a shrinking minority in our population.1 They are desperate to maintain the political power that white Christian men have historically had in American society. They resent the social progress that has moved America closer to our ideal of equal rights for all — progress like same-sex marriage rights, gender equality, and diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Christian Nationalism is not a religion itself, it’s a political movement made up of a small subset of conservative white evangelical Christians. Watch this short, one minute video about the goals of the Christian Nationalist movement, how they’ve been successful, and the threat they pose:
Christian Nationalists support politicians like Donald Trump — even if he doesn’t live by Christian values himself — because he delivers policies and laws that uphold white Christian male privilege. Now that he is back in office — largely due to Christian Nationalist support — they will continue to have a significant influence on his administration’s policies. To protect equal rights for all, we must keep pushing back on their efforts.