Defying President Donald Trump? You get an award!
During a Tuesday Teach Truth Day of Action Briefing, the education chair of the Cleveland, Ohio, NAACP said the group is honoring school board members who defy the Trump administration. The Zinn Education Project hosted the “Day of Action” event.
The group touted that the briefing was intended to “draw attention to the chilling effects the restrictive laws introduced or passed that restrict, ban, or censor what educators can teach and what their students can learn about history, LGBTQ+ rights, race, and gender, among other topics.”
Meryl Johnson, chair of the NAACP Cleveland Branch’s education committee, said Tuesday that the group is giving awards to Ohio school board members who have defied President Trump’s executive orders eliminating DEI policies.
🚨EXCLUSIVE: Meryl Johnson of the Cleveland NAACP said Tuesday the group is giving awards to Ohio school board members who have DEFIED President Trump's executive orders eliminating DEI policies pic.twitter.com/yw7cgaad83
— Ohio.news (@RealOhioNews) June 5, 2025
“Especially in Ohio, we have school board members who understand what their job is, and that’s to put students first,” Johnson said during the event, according to a video obtained by Ohio.news. “And so, some school board members in Ohio have defied … what I call an immoral suggestion from the president to sign anti-DEI, anti-Diversity, Equity and Inclusion directives.
“And so at our Teach Truth Day of Action, … we are going to be giving what we call Guardians of Justice Awards to school board members who stood up and said, ‘No, we’re not signing that,’ who believe that their students are the most important thing and that they are going to look out for their students because that’s their job,” Johnson said.
The event was co-hosted by the National Education Association and coordinated with 80 “social justice” groups. They are hosting 200 “Day of Action” events on Saturday, June 7, nationwide to organize teachers on how they can defy Trump’s executive orders.
As soon as he took office for his second term, Trump signed a series of executive orders to nix DEI initiatives within the federal government. While conservatives lauded the moves, they sent liberals into a tailspin, sparking pushback and obstruction nationwide.
Johnson, who retired from the Cleveland school system after 40 years and ran for the Ohio State Board of Education in 2020, said the group would present awards and certificates to school board members on Saturday. Johnson said officials from three Ohio school districts plan to attend the event: the Cincinnati, Shaker Heights and Cleveland Heights-University Heights school districts.
“We’re going to hold on to the awards, and as we continue to hear from more school board members, we will mail them their Guardian of Justice awards and their certificates,” Johnson said. “We want to encourage people: Don’t be intimidated, don’t be … afraid, okay? We have a democracy to protect, and it’s our job to do that. So, I want to thank you for this opportunity.”
According to its website, the Zinn Education Project purports that it “promotes and supports the teaching of people’s history in classrooms across the country.” However, critics have decried it as a revolutionary socialist organization with connections to far-left projects, such as Rethinking Schools and Black Lives Matter in Schools.
The group launched in 2008, supporting educators and using historian Howard Zinn’s controversial “A People’s History of the United States” to help teach middle and high school history.
Defying Trump’s executive orders could be costly for local school districts. Despite the risk, several Ohio schools refused to comply with the federal mandate to forgo Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the classroom and sign a compliance document or submit alternate versions.
Cleveland.com previously reported that nine systems — Cincinnati Public Schools, Kelleys Island Local, Medina County Joint Vocational School District, Monroe County Board of Developmental Disabilities, Monroeville Local, Seneca County Board of Developmental Disabilities, Shaker Heights City Schools, Union County Board of Developmental Disabilities and Warren County Education Service Center — did not send certifications to the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce.
