A Banned Books Week Action List: Book Censorship News, September 16, 2022

Next week begins Banned Books Week, and alternatively than passively “celebrate” banned books, let’s walk this week regrouping and taking a bid of tiny enactment steps toward really curtailing the non-stop assaults connected intelligence state and First Amendment rights. I’ve pulled unneurotic a database of 7 enactment items for the week positive respective bonus actions — prime and take to bash them each oregon take 1 per time for 7 days (then, of course, support the momentum going). Let this database assistance you get into the wont of championing the close to work and the close for all radical to entree the accusation they’re looking for.

Seven Action Items for Banned Books Week:

• Show up to your section nationalist room and get — and work — books that person been banned successful the past year. This means you’re going for books similar Gender Queer or All Boys Aren’t Blue or Monday’s Not Coming, not books similar To Kill a Mockingbird or The Catcher successful the Rye. Bonus action: erstwhile you work 1 of these books, permission a reappraisal connected arsenic galore consumer-facing sites arsenic possible. Books similar these are being bombed by censors; this is an casual and effectual mode to propulsion back.
• Request your nationalist room acquisition books that are by oregon astir queer radical and radical of color. You tin look astatine books that person been banned this twelvemonth and petition titles your room mightiness not person oregon you tin peruse lists of upcoming titles and taxable acquisition requests. Most libraries person a signifier connected their website oregon astatine the notation table to bash this. If they don’t, enactment up the courageousness to inquire a room idiosyncratic however you tin bash that.
• Plan to be your section schoolhouse committee gathering and talk successful enactment of books by and astir radical of colour and queer people. Your schoolhouse committee whitethorn not beryllium gathering this week and that’s okay. Get it connected your calendar to be the adjacent 1 or write a missive to the board. Here’s a template you tin usage for speaking and for your letter. Know if you write, you mightiness not perceive thing back. Because connection with nationalist employees is taxable to FOIA, astir are not responding. This is simply a bully thing!
• Write a missive to your section newspaper, and if you person much than 1 section paper, nonstop a akin missive to arsenic galore arsenic you can. In the letter, speech astir however galore books person been banned this twelvemonth crossed the country, and speech astir however that is simply a blatant onslaught connected First Amendment rights. If you’re successful an country with an progressive section of Moms For Liberty, No Left Turn, oregon equivalent, name those groups in the letter. Point retired their actions truthful you make a insubstantial trail. Example: my section country has some an progressive Moms For Liberty radical and a much section group. Both person been progressive successful stirring up transgression behavior, including vandalism astatine a section bakery (charged arsenic a hatred crime) and successful creating a menace truthful real, a nationalist room canceled their drag queen programme for teens. Name and shame. Whether oregon not the missive publishes successful the section paper, stock your words crossed your societal media and engage with comments you mightiness receive. Use research, usage facts, and usage a calm demeanor. You are apt educating a batch of folks who mightiness different not beryllium alert of what is going connected and that matters.
• Make a donation to groups doing enactment connected the ground. Do this alternatively of being tempted to bargain and donate books — books are great, but they don’t alteration argumentation and don’t support lives that request protection. The $20 you were going to walk connected a publication could beryllium sent to orgs who volition usage each penny to bash hard, thankless work. Some options see EveryLibrary, PEN America, and Florida Freedom to Read Project. You tin besides donate to fundraisers for librarian Amanda Jones, who is presently suing right-wing groups successful her authorities aft they attacked her, oregon Brooky Parks, who was fto spell from her occupation aft calling retired a caller room argumentation that censored programming.
• Find retired erstwhile schoolhouse committee and room committee elections (if applicable) are successful your country and marque a program to vote. Research the candidates and if you are unsure wherever they basal connected issues of censorship, scope retired to their campaigns and ask. They should beryllium moving for your ballot and, successful doing so, respond successful full. Then scope retired to 3+ radical astir their plans to vote. If your authorities has been added to The School Board Project (part one and part two), usage the spreadsheets to instrumentality notes connected candidates.
• Write to your section lawmakers astatine the authorities and national level astir the value of defending intelligence state and the close to work for all. Cite the probe and reports and item however the stories we are proceeding astir “parents’ rights” are astir a precise small, vocal number and not, successful fact, astir parents. If you’re fortunate to person a typical who is sympathetic to these causes, constitute successful enactment of their stances. For example: I program to archer Sean Casten his willingness to sanction and speech astir the disgusting actions of Awake Illinois is profoundly appreciated and a exemplary for different lawmakers crossed the country.

Bonus and Additional Action Items:

• On “meet the teacher” nights oregon “back to school” nights — immoderate specified lawsuit volition enactment — amusement up and instrumentality clip to spell work successful the library. This tiny enactment not lone shows however overmuch the schoolhouse room matters and however overmuch beingness determination is wrong it, but it besides protects the room workers who whitethorn different look harassment from right-wing “parental rights” people.
• Find oregon physique a section anti-censorship group.
• Subscribe to our biweekly Literary Activism newsletter to enactment connected apical of publication censorship quality and different stories and ideas for engaging successful on-the-ground enactment related to books, reading, education, and literacy.
• Talk with 3 radical successful your assemblage — friends, family, neighbors, etc — astir publication censorship. This is especially important successful communities wherever specified censorship is not occurring oregon hasn’t been highlighted successful the quality but whitethorn beryllium occurring. Emphasize wherefore it is an contented everyone should attraction astir and stock however radical tin get progressive and engaged.
• See a idiosyncratic connected societal media station mendacious stories of grooming oregon indoctrination happening astatine schools? Call them out. Define those terms. Tell the individuals however they’re being indoctrinated by right-wing acheronian wealth groups into reasoning these things, adjacent though they are patently mendacious (and created precisely for this reason).

Your enactment volition substance this coming week. Sharing a photograph of yourself speechmaking a banned publication and/or utilizing a hashtag has immoderate selling value, but it doesn’t determination the needle connected the existent threats against the quality to read. Particularly for the astir marginalized.

Here’s what the close is doing and preparing for this week. How you take to antagonistic these narratives volition assistance find the occurrence of Banned Books Week arsenic activism toward protecting the state to work oregon whether it pushes things backmost different step.

Book Censorship News: September 16, 2022

• A Katy Independent School Teacher (TX) pulled each azygous YA publication from their classroom. This is what the chilling effect of gag orders and publication prohibition authorities is. Wholesale removal of books. Some much discourse for this story:

• 7 books were pulled from Dearborn Public Schools (MI) for review. The books bash not adjacent get to enactment connected shelves oregon successful integer format during the review.
• In St. Joseph schools (MI) a genitor claimed triumph astir getting What Girls Are Made Of pulled from shelves. Problem? It wasn’t removed due to the fact that determination was ne'er a ceremonial reappraisal filed. (And they were surely celebrating this “victory” hard successful their Facebook group, contempt the information they…did not situation the book).
• Banned books person go a focal constituent of the Maine governor’s race.
• Craighead County Jonesboro Public Library (AR) will support l8r g8r disconnected room shelves.
• Gender Queer and White Fragility are being challenged astatine Spruce Mountain High School successful Maine.
• All Boys Aren’t Blue by George Johnson, Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez, Me, Earl, and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews and Looking for Alaska by John Green were each challenged successful Osceola Public Schools (FL). There was nary ceremonial complaint; the reappraisal was initiated due to the fact that of nationalist remark and the superintendent responding to that. Why person policies if you’re not going to travel them?
• “‘I conscionable privation to authorities that it’s wholly inappropriate that these sexually explicit books are disposable to children without parental consent,’ said Turkosz. ‘The availability of these texts besides shows that you are highly insensitive to students whose family, spiritual beliefs, struggle with the pornographic texts and images contained wrong their pages.'” And yet there’s nary information for the families for whom specified things are not inappropriate due to the fact that they recognize what pornography is and is not. This is successful Amity Schools (CT) and 1 genitor brought implicit 80+ books up to kick about.
• Alamance-Burlington (NC) superintendent Dr. Dain Butler removed Gender Queer from the precocious schoolhouse library. Read that again.
• Parents showed up to the Kearney Public Schools (NE) committee gathering to kick astir respective LGBTQ+ books and demand that they beryllium notified what their students get from the library.
• Gender Queer and Patience and Esther are back connected shelves astatine Dixon Public Library (IL).
• However, the aforesaid room is drafting caller policies surrounding what tin and cannot spell connected a nationalist publication display.
• “The Greeley-Evans School District 6 Board of Education mightiness measure whether it volition proceed nationalist information astatine committee meetings, saying the process is being abused and utilized for daze worth aft 2 speakers Monday evening work an excerpt from 1 caller and showed illustrations from a graphic novel.” I had not considered the thought this is maltreatment of time, but it truly is. This is successful Colorado.
• And similarly, successful Salem (OR), implicit attempts to prohibition books (and akin topics the close chooses alternate facts for), “The Salem-Keizer School Board volition nary longer let the nationalist to be meetings in-person pursuing a territory reappraisal of an August committee gathering wherever tensions betwixt groups of attendees escalated into threats and conflict.”
• Polk County Schools (FL) created an opt-out enactment for 16 books successful the territory (and you’ll recall, successful different schools crossed the authorities with specified options, they’re not popular). But the County Citizens Defending Freedom are present truthful incensed by this determination not to region the books, they’re filing transgression complaints against the Board. Whose state is being defended?
• “A national justice denied a petition from a Great Valley School District genitor to contented an injunction to region ‘sexually explicit’ books from the libraries.” This is successful Pennsylvania.
• Perry High School (IA) is reviewing a publication used for years successful English classes aft a genitor complaint. The publication is not named successful the story, and successful the years of its use, lone 1 genitor has ever sought an alternate duty for their student.
• One triumph worthy celebrating, adjacent if the crushed for it is absurd: Mead School Board (OR) will not prohibition captious contention mentation nor volition they prohibition immoderate “books that notation they/them pronouns.”
• Moms For Liberty members suggest that the existent Christians volition cognize who they are pursuing a determination successful Natrona Public Schools (WY) not to region 2 books from the schools.
• In Forsyth County Schools (GA), parents tin present get notification of books their students cheque out of schoolhouse libraries.
• Fauquier County School Board (VA) is moving connected a argumentation that allows parents to opt their students retired of schoolhouse assignments that impact speechmaking sexually-explicit material. Which is bizarre, since those kinds of things aren’t assigned speechmaking to statesman with, and who gets to find what that yardstick is?
• Puberty is Gross, But Also Really Awesome by Gina Loveless, Own Your Period by Chella Quint, and Making a Baby by Rachel Greener volition stay connected shelves successful Ashland Public Library (OH). Yes, people wanted puberty books banned from the groups for whom these books are intended.
• “Legislation has been introduced successful the Pennsylvania authorities legislature that would let officials to region worldly deemed “highly sexual” from schoolhouse libraries.” Who gets to find what “highly sexual” is? For groups that don’t coparent with the government, they definite privation the authorities to beryllium parents.
• Guilford County Schools (NC) will support Salvage The Bones connected schoolhouse shelves.
• The Victoria Public Library (TX) advisory committee conscionable gave themselves support to reappraisal “contested” books purchased for the library.
• Bedford County Schools (VA) person a new publication reappraisal committee structure for challenges.
• “Parsons acknowledges successful his situation that helium has not work either book. He contends each publication ‘breeds stupidity’ and writes, ‘Kids and immoderate parents bargain into that if a kid ‘feels’ antithetic than they are someway magically antithetic than however they were created.'” There are respective books nether occurrence successful Conway Public Schools (AR) with a caller schoolhouse committee subordinate who is anxious to bash immoderate banning.
• This is simply a heck of a story. Book challenges were abound successful Wellington Public Library (CO) acknowledgment successful portion to idiosyncratic connected the committee being joined to a publication banner. Now the municipality assembly has decided that the room committee can’t beryllium progressive successful determining publication challenges.
• Stillwater Schools (OK) are still debating respective books that person been challenged. There is present an anti-censorship radical progressive (go Highlighter Resistance!).
• Valley City Barnes County Public Library (ND) removed Let’s Talk About It from their shelves.
• Protesters and antagonistic protesters met earlier the Loudon County School Board (VA) gathering over CRT this week.
• You request to work what this precocious schooler said astir the existent interaction of publication removal connected students successful East Coweta High School (NC).

Further Reading

• Are you successful Illinois and receiving fake quality newspapers to your mailbox without your permission? Here’s a look astatine what these are and who is backing them.
• How publication bans turned a Texas municipality upside down.