Anti-CRT efforts around the country were on the rise, leading to a spike in book bans and textbook censorship. Our target was parents in the political middle. Rather than focusing on explaining CRT or appealing to (unfortunately) subjective notions of “the truth,” we aimed our brief at getting them to notice they were acting out of alignment with their own values. These were parents who aligned themselves deeply with the American values ingrained from birth–like a belief in liberty, bravery, self-determination, and more.

Rather than trying to convince them to change their values, we wanted to challenge them to live up to their values. That these figures and stories represented lessons we all can agree with and learn from.

Objectives:

● Get these parents to begin to second-guess their hard stance

● Shift the conversation from “defending CRT” to defending students’ freedom to learn

● Energize resistance efforts, and educators feel more hopeful

The film follows the removal of important American historical figures of color, mimicking the removal of texts about them in schools. Taking place inside the classroom, students ready to watch a lesson about Martin Luther King Jr. suddenly see him being erased from the screen while giving his I Have a Dream speech. The erasure continues as we see Ruby Bridges, Mildred and Richard Loving, and Amanda Gorman being removed until we see a pile of books being banned. By the end of the film, the American flag is stripped of its color until we see it purely white.

The America Erased campaign had an q positive impact on engagement. To date, without a paid media buy, the campaign has been able to garner positive sentiment across a number of platforms, mainly through over 980,000 organic views in the first couple weeks of launching and the community resharing with reactions centered around comments like, “America cannot erase our history” and “ingenious concept and excellent execution”. As we continue to share the work with outside partners and the hope that they will decide to support the message that we have released to the world, we know that this work can continue to impact lives through parents and students across the United States