In the past two weeks, Louisiana students have been silenced in two shocking and deeply troubling ways.

At Louisiana State University, seven students were arrested for speaking out at a public meeting of the Presidential Search Committee. They were exercising their right to free expression, voicing concerns about the direction of their university — and were met with handcuffs instead of dialogue.

Meanwhile, in East Baton Rouge, high school students who spent months preparing Echoes of Enough: An Evening of Art, Truth, and Hope — a performance about the trauma of gun violence — saw their voices erased overnight. The show was fully approved, rehearsed, and supported, until city and school officials canceled it without explanation.

Two groups of Louisiana students, from different institutions and generations, both punished for daring to speak — one through art, one through activism.

These are not isolated events. They are part of a growing pattern of censorship and suppression across our state, where young people are told that truth-telling is dangerous and that their perspectives are “too political.” When the next generation learns that silence is safer than honesty, democracy itself begins to erode.

Here’s what you can do right now: