A Dangerous New Law
The president just signed the “Big Beautiful Bill” into law. And I’m mad.
Let’s be clear: this is a monstrous piece of legislation. The more people learn about it, the more they hate it—across the political spectrum.
It’s been well-reported that 16 million people will lose health insurance. We’ve heard about the devastating cost of the bill and how it balloons the national debt to give tax breaks to the wealthy. And there’s been reporting on the environmental fallout: subsidies to fossil fuels that worsen emissions, accelerate global warming, and raise energy costs across the country, while halting important investments in renewables.
This bill hurts everyone, and as always, the most vulnerable bear the heaviest burden.
The Silent Threat to Public Education
What’s received far less attention is the bill’s national voucher program—a quiet but deadly blow to our public education system.
We’ve seen how voucher programs play out in states across the country: they siphon public resources so the already-privileged can spend less on private school tuition, while increasing segregation, as they long have.
This bill isn’t just bad policy. It’s an existential threat to public schools—the very institution that, while imperfect, remains our best hope for a true, multiracial democracy.
We’re Being Driven Apart
In his dissent in Milliken v. Bradley (1974), Justice Thurgood Marshall wrote:
“Unless our children learn together, there is little hope that our people will learn to live together.”
Perhaps no time since the Civil War has our ability to live together felt more fragile.
Worsening economic inequality, increasing climate disasters, growing threats to healthcare access—all of these forces are driving us further apart.
And while this bill was backed by people who show active disdain for the very idea of a true multiracial democracy. They are out of step with the majority of people in this country.
And still, despite its wild unpopularity—and even with many of the legislators who voted for it calling it a catastrophe—the bill passed and was signed by the President on the Fourth of July. It is the law of the land.
Where Do We Go From Here?
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed. Easy to turn toward apathy. That is, in fact, the goal.
The political process that should have stopped this bill didn’t work.
The media ecosystem that should have made the stakes clear failed.
So now, those of us who care about all people in this country, who still believe in the possibility of a multiracial democracy, who find hope in the founding ideals of our nation, even as we acknowledge we’ve never fully lived up to them, are left to ask:
What should we do?
To start, we must continue to express our displeasure. We must continue to call our elected representatives and let them know that this bill does not represent our values. We must make it clear that those who voted in favor of this bill will be held accountable at the ballot box. We must continue to show up at protests and make sure that our government and our fellow citizens hear our disgust.
But in moments like this, all of that is necessary but not sufficient.
We Must Reaffirm Our Commitments
When the institutions that form the foundation of our country are under attack, we must reaffirm our support for them. Not because they’re living up to their promises, but because the only way they can is through collective belief and investment.
Just this week, the federal government refused to release already-appropriated funds to public schools across the country. The Department of Education is being dismantled. The institutions we rely on are rejecting honest history and refuse to confront our shared past.
In the wake of relentless attacks on public schools, it might feel like pulling our kids out of a struggling system is the right thing to do. It’s tempting to retreat to our corners and focus only on our own kids. But the world such a retreat will create is not one that will serve even our own kids well.
We all must ask ourselves – what can I do to reaffirm my commitment to integrated public schools?
To start, let’s opt in to the public education system. Then, choose a school where we aren’t contributing to segregation. Maybe we move our kids to a new school, across town, and be thoughtful about how we show up when we get there. Let’s show up at our neighborhood school, ready to help. Let’s be loud in our support for public schools. Let’s ask elected officials what they are doing to support integrated public schools, and let that inform our vote.
Contributing to integrated public schools is a powerful act of resistance, and this moment calls us to action.
The only version of this country that’s worth passing down to our children is one where we can all live together—and that starts when our children can learn together.
Choice is a privilege
Many of us have a choice of where to send our kids to school, and we all have a choice in how we show up in our school communities. That choice is a privilege.
We can use it to desegregate our kids and integrate our families. We can opt in to public schools that push back against segregation. We can choose to allow our kids to learn together with kids from all different backgrounds so that they might find their shared humanity. We can choose to give our kids the chance at an education that prepares them to build the world we want them to live in.
This choice isn’t about pity. It’s not about “saving” a school. It’s rooted in the conviction that our own kids are only better off when all kids are better off and that learning together is the most important experience our education system can provide.
The only way we win is together. Policy may not be moving us toward that goal. Active disinvestment may be making it harder. But this is the moment we must show up. Not because our one choice will solve everything. But because we can choose not to make things worse. We can choose solidarity.
Real progress in this country has only ever come through organizing by the most impacted communities, and multiracial solidarity in support.
A Brighter Future Is Still Possible
The immediate future is darker because of this bill. But there is still a brighter, more hopeful future within reach.
If we are willing to step in.
If we are willing to invest in integrated public schools.
If we are willing to believe in the power of a diverse group of people working together, celebrating one another’s full humanity, and building a world worthy of our children—
—One where we have learned to live together by learning together.
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