My name is Nicole, I have three kids, and I live in Orange County. Two years ago, in the spring of 2023, I was worried about the increase in book bans around cultural learning in our public schools, so I rushed into my child’s school to read a book about a holiday that my family celebrates called Holi. Holi is an important holiday for Indian families around the world, like mine, because it honors the arrival of spring.  Little known fact: there are more than 200,000 Indian-Americans who call our state, Florida, home, and just like me, many hold Holi celebrations all over the state!

I wanted to make sure that I got to read to my son’s kindergarten class before a book about Holi was banned. It’s very important to me to share our culture and celebrations with our friends and community. I believe how we strengthen our community is to bring other people in and share our celebrations, so I was very excited to share the story of Holi with my son’s class.

But when I was in the class, an announcement came on the overhead speaker and an active shooter drill commenced. All twenty of my son‘s classmates quickly and quietly went to the bathroom attached to their classroom. I don’t know how familiar you are with five and six-year-olds, but they rarely do anything quickly or quietly, and this group was no different. I’ve never seen them so compliant with any instruction, and I regularly volunteered in the classroom. 

As the kids filed into the bathroom, the teacher feverishly ran around the classroom, closing blinds, locking the classroom door and the window, as well as covering the window on the door. As everyone quickly did what they needed to do, I watched and had no idea what to do. I realized it was because they had done this so many times before. By the time my son turned six, he had been involved in twenty active shooter drills!

We all huddled in the bathroom for several minutes, which felt like an eternity, and the kids were so still and quiet. That’s when it hit me – although our policymakers were trying to keep kids safe through book bans, they were unwilling to do the same thing that would actually keep kids safe – pass gun safety reform.

It is now 2025, and it’s about to be spring and Holi again. We are no closer to gun safety reform, but we have banned thousands of books in the name of safety.

Holi is a time to celebrate rebirth, triumph of good over evil, and love. This year Holi falls on the first week of the Florida legislative session, so I hope our legislators bring these lessons and values with them to Tallahassee. 

In that spirit, I invite you to join me at FLAAPPs first-ever Holi on March 8th in Orlando! Be prepared to get messy as we celebrate the arrival of spring altogether! It is not necessary to have celebrated Holi before or even know what it is about. We can all learn together.