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Texas limits direct communication between students and lawmakers. Some students are pushing back

Aina Marzia speaking at Rep. Veronica Escobar's campaign launch event. (Courtesy of Aina Marzia)
Aina Marzia speaking at Rep. Veronica Escobar's campaign launch event. (Courtesy of Aina Marzia)

This week Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill that bans books with sexual content from school libraries and sets new standards and ratings for school librarians to follow when they add new books to the shelves. While the book bans have gotten a lot of attention, there are other restrictions on learning in Texas, including a line from a 2021 law that limits student interactions with elected officials.

Student activists are fighting back, and Deepa Fernandes spoke with one: Aina Marzia, who is a high school student in El Paso, Texas, and a freelance journalist. She recently wrote about this restriction for the non-profit newsroom, Prism.

This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

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