This is how knowledge gets erased — and how we fight back

Part six: Education & the war on knowledge

This is not about left vs. right.

It’s not about whether you voted for Trump or Harris. It’s not about whether you consider yourself conservative, liberal, or something in between.

This is about something much bigger.

It’s about who controls knowledge.

It’s about who gets to decide what we are allowed to learn, what stories are told, and what truths are buried.

Because throughout history, the first step toward controlling a nation has never been taking its land.

It has been controlling what people are allowed to know.

This has happened across political systems, across centuries, across cultures. And now, whether we want to see it or not, it is happening again.

The question is: What does that mean for us?

When Power Fears Knowledge, It Destroys It

Every time power has been consolidated in the hands of the few, the first thing it does is restrict knowledge.

We have seen this before.

The Burning of the Library of Alexandria—When Knowledge Becomes a Threat

The Library of Alexandria was one of the greatest centers of learning the world has ever known. It housed hundreds of thousands of scrolls containing history, philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, and medicine from Egypt, Greece, India, and beyond. It was a global center of knowledge exchange, where ideas flowed freely across cultures.

And that was precisely why it was destroyed.

It did not fall in one great fire. It was targeted over time—by invading forces, by rulers who saw knowledge as a threat, by those who wished to replace curiosity with control.

Entire fields of study were lost. Histories were rewritten by the victors. Ways of knowing that could have accelerated human progress by centuries were deliberately erased.

Because knowledge that liberates people—knowledge that helps them think critically, question authority, and imagine new possibilities—is always the first thing to be destroyed.

The Dark Ages—How the Suppression of Women’s Knowledge Created Generations of Dependence

For centuries, the literacy and education of women were not just discouraged—they were outlawed.

During the early Middle Ages, formal education was restricted to men in monastic institutions, while women were systematically denied access to learning. Even noblewomen, who had historically received education, were pushed into silence. In many parts of Europe, laws were enacted that banned women from reading, writing, or studying medicine.

This was not accidental.

Women who could not read were easier to control. Women who did not understand the legal and religious systems governing them had no way to challenge their oppression. And women who could not practice medicine or midwifery were forced to rely on male-dominated institutions for their health and survival.

This suppression wasn’t just about education—it was specifically targeted at feminine wisdom. The Sacred Feminine has always been rooted in intuitive knowledge, in ways of knowing that exist beyond patriarchal control. Healing arts, herbalism, reproductive wisdom—all forms of knowledge traditionally held by women—were deliberately recast as dangerous, suspicious, or trivial.

Whenever women have reclaimed their right to know and to teach, they have been met with resistance. Hypatia, one of the last scholars of the Library of Alexandria and a brilliant mathematician and philosopher, was murdered by a mob—her crime was simply being a woman who dared to possess and share knowledge.

This is why today, when curriculum restrictions target books about women’s rights, racial justice, and bodily autonomy, we must recognize it for what it is.

It is part of the same cycle.

The Colonial Erasure of Indigenous Knowledge—When History Is Rewritten to Justify Oppression

When colonial powers took land, they did not just steal resources.

They waged war on entire knowledge systems.

Indigenous languages were banned, because language carries ancestral memory and ways of seeing the world that do not align with colonial rule.

Sacred medicinal knowledge was outlawed, while Western pharmaceutical companies later profited from the very plants and remedies that were once criminalized.

Oral histories were destroyed, so that future generations would grow up with no understanding of their true lineage.

This is what happens when power fears knowledge.

First, they erase history.

Then, they destroy the language to speak it.

Then, they fill the silence with their own version of the truth.

And now, once again, they are erasing history, banning language, and rewriting the past.

The Psychological Impact of Erasing Knowledge

What happens to a people when their history is stolen?

What happens when generations are raised without access to their ancestors’ wisdom, without the tools to question authority, without the ability to think critically?

They become easier to manipulate.

They become afraid of their own instincts.

They become disconnected from their own power.

We see this in how history is taught in schools—how we are given a version of events that justifies the current system, rather than challenges it.

We see it in how people learn to distrust their own knowledge—how intelligence is framed as elitist, critical thinking as radical, questioning as dangerous.

We see it in how information is weaponized—how truth itself is made unstable, so that people no longer know what to believe.

Take a moment and reflect: Can you recall a time when you discovered information that fundamentally changed how you saw the world? A book that opened your eyes, a teacher who challenged your perspective, or a story that made you question what you thought you knew? How would your life be different if you had never been allowed to encounter this knowledge?

This is what’s at stake when knowledge is controlled.

And now, this war on knowledge is happening again.

What We Are Seeing Right Now—The War on Education and Truth

Some will say these are just education policies—not censorship.

Some will say these are simply decisions about which books belong in schools.

And that’s fair. Not every policy is a conspiracy.

But history tells us that when knowledge starts being restricted—when books are removed, when teachers are silenced, when the press is controlled—we have a responsibility to ask:

Who benefits when knowledge is restricted?

Who gets to decide what “acceptable” information is?

And we are seeing this in real time.

Here’s the rewritten paragraph that explicitly connects the book bans to Trump’s influence:

In 2024, as Trump’s rhetoric emboldened conservative activism nationwide, we witnessed over 4,000 documented instances of book bans across American school districts, according to PEN America’s Index of School Book Bans. This unprecedented censorship wave has been directly inspired by Trump’s attacks on “woke” education and his celebration of parents who challenge “inappropriate” materials in schools. Books like Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and educational texts on reproductive health are among the most frequently targeted. When we look at what’s being restricted, a clear pattern emerges that mirrors Trump’s own agenda—stories of women’s autonomy, racial justice, and LGBTQ+ experiences are disproportionately silenced, while perspectives that reinforce traditional power structures remain unchallenged.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The control of information extends beyond schools and into the highest levels of government. In February 2025, the Trump administration implemented a new press credentialing system that allows the White House to directly select which media outlets receive access to presidential briefings and events. This unprecedented move gives the administration power to exclude journalists and news organizations deemed “unfriendly” or “fake news.” Several major outlets known for critical reporting have already had their press credentials revoked, while partisan media supportive of the administration have been granted preferential access. When a government controls which questions can be asked and which journalists can report on its activities, it controls the narrative the public receives—a tactic historically used by authoritarian regimes to shape public perception.

The Trump administration has also taken steps to withhold federal funding from schools that do not teach a nationalist curriculum—one that aligns with a politically motivated narrative, stripping educators of the freedom to teach history as it happened. In January 2025, the Department of Education announced the “Patriotic Education Initiative,” which frames American history in ways that minimize discussions of slavery, colonization, and women’s oppression. By incentivizing schools to adopt this curriculum, it limits students’ ability to question authority, explore diverse viewpoints, or critically engage with the past.

Because it’s one thing for parents to have a say in what their children learn.

It’s another thing entirely when politicians decide which histories can be taught, which perspectives are erased, and which voices are silenced.

That is why it’s worth asking:

Why eliminate federal oversight of education? Does this empower communities—or does it allow those in power to shape education to their advantage?

Why remove entire books from schools? If the goal is protecting students, why are books that explore history, race, and gender considered dangerous, while books about war and violence remain untouched?

Why label certain educators “radical” for teaching history as it happened? Who decides what is radical—and based on what agenda?

Why threaten federal funding for schools that choose to teach history as it truly is, not as a politically favorable version of it?

This is not just about one administration.

This is a longstanding pattern.

Because when power fears knowledge, the first thing it does is try to control it.

What We Must Do Now

If they burn the books, we must become the living libraries.

Read and share banned books. Keep the stories alive. Support initiatives like the Brooklyn Public Library’s “Books Unbanned” program, which offers free digital library cards to teens nationwide.

Support educators, historians, and truth-tellers. When they are silenced, we must raise our voices louder. Organizations like the American Library Association and National Coalition Against Censorship need our support now more than ever.

Defend independent journalism. Subscribe, donate, and amplify their work. Media literacy is a sacred skill in times of information warfare.

Teach in ways that cannot be erased. Knowledge passed by word of mouth is harder to destroy. Start reading circles in your community, focusing on banned works and forgotten histories.

Gather in spaces of learning and remembrance. Ceremony, study, and storytelling are acts of resistance. When we come together to honor what was erased, we begin the process of restoration.

What Comes Next

In our next Thread, we are addressing the MAHA-sized elephant in the room. This is the conversation we’ve all been having behind closed doors. It is the one that has most divided our specific community. And it is time we bring it into the light.

Deep breaths. We’re in this together. 

With love and fire,  

Sarah & Kelly

How to Join Us in Ceremony

Our upcoming full-day Ceremony, REMEMBER, at Old South Church in Boston is happening April 28. A gathering of 800 women, reclaiming what was lost. Join us.

ICYMI:

Introduction: An Invitation to Remember

Part one: When God became a man — the first erasure

Part two: The witch hunts — the weaponization of fear

Part three: Mary Magdalene — the Feminine Christ they erased

Part four: Colonialism – how patriarchy was enforced globally

Mid-point Check-In: how to hold yourself through this process

Part five: The Enclosure of the Commons – the economic control of women and the end of public lands