Tomorrow evening in New York City, the National Coalition Against Censorship is honoring "free speech defenders whose activism has had a profound impact on the protection of First Amendment rights in schools, libraries, and publishing." The honorees include:
Michael Bamberger, a longtime First Amendment lawyer in the U.S., who has appeared in more than 100 First Amendment cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, nine federal courts of appeals, the New York Court of Appeals, federal and state trial courts, and many state supreme courts. Presented by Vans Stevenson of the Motion Picture Association.
Edha Gupta, a 17-year-old student activist in York, Pa., who served as the president of the Panther Anti-Racist Union during the 2021-2022 school year and led fellow students in a successful protest to a school board ban on an anti-racist resource guide. Presented by Gupta's academic advisor, Ben Hodges.
George M. Johnson, author of All Boys Aren't Blue, a target of book banners. Johnson has continued to speak out for understanding, acceptance, and free speech, writing on race, gender, sex and culture for Essence, the Advocate, BuzzFeed News, Teen Vogue and more than 40 other national publications. Presented by TV host Tamron Hall.
Colin Kaepernick, author and NFL quarterback who has sought to bring attention to systemic oppression against people of color. Since 2016, he has founded and helped fund three organizations--Know Your Rights Camp, Ra Vision Media and Kaepernick Publishing--that advance the liberation of Black and Brown people through storytelling and political education. Presented by film director Spike Lee.
In addition, Phil Harvey (1938-2021) will receive the Leanne G. Katz Founder's Award in honor of his lifetime defending free speech. He founded the DKT Liberty Project to protect against government intrusions on personal liberty, focusing on fighting for free speech, criminal justice reform and drug law reform. He also founded an international charity that promotes free access to birth control and HIV AIDS prevention information. He was a longtime member of the NCAC board. Presented by Chris Finan, executive director, NCAC, and accepted by his partner, Harriett Lesser.
High school librarian Martha Hickson receives the 2022 Judith Krug Outstanding Librarian Award. Hickson has successfully fought six attempts to ban books and actively protects students' right to read in her Washington, N.J., school district. She has worked to share freedom to read best practices with school librarians by presenting at conferences and webinars, including the American Association of School Librarians, Future Ready Schools, Freedom to Read Foundation and the New Jersey Association of School Librarians. Presented by author David Levithan.
Aryeh Neier receives the Judy Blume Lifetime Achievement Award for Free Speech. Neier is a human rights activist who has dedicated more than four decades to fighting for those marginalized by society. He is a co-founder of Human Rights Watch, a past leader of the ACLU, and serves as president emeritus of the Open Society. He is the author of more than 300 op-eds and seven books and contributed chapters to more than 20 books. Neier served as an adjunct law professor at New York University and taught at Georgetown University Law School and the University of Siena (Italy). Presented by Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU.
NCAC will also honor the winner of NCAC's Youth Free Expression Film Contest, Lipicka Prasath, for her film on censorship, Appetizer. The event is co-chaired by Ellie Berger, president of trade publishing at Scholastic, and Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, founder & CEO of the Gotham Group.