Anti-Censorship Groups Across the US: Book Censorship News, March 10, 2023

If you’re looking for an anti-censorship radical to get progressive with, you’re successful luck. There are dozens crossed the country, with much popping up each of the time. While determination is surely a request for a nationalist propulsion against censorship — we request politicians astatine the national level to bash thing — enactment astatine the crushed level successful one’s ain assemblage is essential. Find beneath a roundup of anti-censorship groups who shared their accusation via this survey successful aboriginal January. This accusation has been dropped into a Google Sheet, which you tin prevention a transcript of and usage arsenic you spot fit.

This is, by nature, an incomplete roundup. It includes lone the groups who shared their accusation connected the survey. If you cognize of different groups, consciousness escaped to proceed utilizing the nexus supra to stock accusation astir them. In summation to processing this database of groups, those who stock accusation astir their enactment are fixed entree to a suite of tools and resources to assistance successful the work, acknowledgment to our friends astatine EveryLibrary. Note, too, that not each of these groups absorption solely connected anti-censorship efforts; immoderate are besides focused much broadly connected pupil rights and acquisition but person anti-censorship arsenic portion of their ngo and work. Not each groups person web oregon societal media beingness rather yet, but support an oculus out.

When you speech astir grassroots efforts, look to the groups below. These are not funded by governmental groups oregon organizations and are not successful the pockets of politicians. If you are successful the presumption to get involved, bash so; if you can’t, these are immoderate places wherever you tin besides donate wealth to assistance the cause.

National Level

• Comic Book Legal Defense Fund
• For the People: A Leftist Library Project (More details coming soon)
• Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE)
• Red Wine and Blue
• Stop Moms for “Liberty”

Arkansas

• No Book Bans Coalition (Bentonville)

Florida

• Citizens for Truth and Justice successful Education (Central FL)
• Clay County Reading Alliance
• Florida Freedom to Read Project
• Foundation 451 (Brevard County)
• Volusia Fight for the First

Idaho

• Idaho First Amendment Defense Group
• Society of Secret Library Friends

Illinois

• Illinois Right to Read
• Library_defense
• Protect Our Library (Lincolnwood)

Indiana

• Hamilton County Against Censorship (Fishers and Noblesville)

Iowa

• Annie’s Foundation (Johnston)

Kansas

• Kansas Against Banned Books
• St. Marys Library Alliance (St. Marys)

Louisiana

• Lafayette Citizens Against Censorship
• Livingston Parish Library Alliance
• St Tammany Library Alliance

Maine

• Maine Library Association

Massachusetts

• Mass Right to Read

Michigan

• MI Right to Read

Missouri

• Uturn successful Education (Nixa)

New Jersey

• NJASL/NJLA Regional Response Team

New York

• No Book Bans Coalition (Brooklyn)
• PEN America Prison and Justice Writing Program

North Carolina

• Guilford County

North Dakota

• North Dakota First Amendment Defense Group

South Carolina

• Freedom successful Libraries Advocacy Group (FLAG) (Greenville)
• Freedom to Read SC
• South Carolina Association of School Librarians

Tennessee

• Right to Read Sumner (Sumner County)

Texas

• Access Education RRISD (Round Rock)
• Children’s Defense Fund of Texas
• Galveston County Library Alliance
• KISD Equity 4 All (Katy)
• Mosaic Community Library (Austin and Travis County)
• No Book Bans Coalition (Houston)
• Stand Up for Tomball ISD (Tomball)
• Texans for the Right to Read

Utah

• Let Utah Read

Virginia

• Loudoun4all (Loudoun)

Wisconsin

• No Book Bans Coalition (Sheboygan)

Don’t spot an enactment adjacent you? Use this usher to build your ain section anti-censorship group.

Book Censorship News: March 10, 2023

• Over 90 books person been pulled from shelves successful Martin County, Florida, schools “for review.” You already cognize this is censorship and you already cognize it’s Moms for Liberty down it.
• “Requiring publication vendors to ‘rate’ titles with intersexual contented earlier selling them to schoolhouse districts volition beryllium a precedence for the Texas House, Speaker Dade Phelan announced Tuesday.” Remember however implicit 20 radical were killed successful a shooting successful Uvalde past twelvemonth successful the aforesaid state?
• The Keene Memorial Library’s (Nebraska) determination to let patrons to request books beryllium moved to different sections of the room is going to beryllium a nightmare.
• A must-read astir the mode these publication bans infiltrate and interaction nationalist libraries. This communicative retired of Moon Public Library (Pennsylvania) shows however not bending to request means the bottommost enactment is impacted (a.k.a. retaliation). Article is, of course, paywalled, but I’ve breached it for you due to the fact that this should beryllium free.
• The authorities of schoolhouse committee meetings close now successful Brevard County (Florida) and elsewhere.
• Turns retired that the banning of The Upside of Unrequited from a Sparta, New Jersey, mediate schoolhouse came astatine the behest of a azygous complainer.
• This pastor is utilizing his escaped clip to kick astir books astatine Robeson County schools (North Carolina)…and the insubstantial is giving him abstraction to speech astir it. What adjacent successful the world?
• In bully news, Sold and Last Night astatine the Telegraph Club survived their challenges successful Flagler County, Florida.
• This Book Is Gay will stay connected shelves successful Hillsborough County schools (Florida).
• The Oklahoma legislative push to prohibition books from kids AND adults advances.
• Here’s a rundown of the latest Blount County, Tennessee, schoolhouse committee gathering connected publication banning and restrictions.
• Wareham schools (Massachusetts) seemingly never had a publication situation argumentation anterior to past month, and present they do. Policies similar this should be modular practice; however these policies are followed is cardinal to successfully combatting censorship.
• How Drag Storytime has travel nether fire successful Jackson Heights successful New York City.
• It should beryllium absorbing to spot however Laramie County schoolhouse committee members (Wyoming) fig retired how to specify “sexually explicit” successful their room policies.
• 18 books person truthful acold been pulled from Penncrest schools (Pennsylvania), with different 11 presently nether review.
• The Livingstone Parish Library manager (Louisiana) has decided to resign amid each of the publication censorship contention successful his library.
• “This week, the Campbell County Public Library Board volition beryllium going implicit projected changes to the library’s postulation improvement policy. The suggested revisions were created by a Florida-based lawyer affiliated with a nationalist nonprofit organization. […] Liberty Counsel is simply a nonprofit enactment based successful Orlando, Florida, that provides escaped assistance and practice to beforehand ‘religious freedom, the sanctity of beingness and the family,’ according to its website.” So this Wyoming schoolhouse territory drafted a argumentation from a right-wing spiritual group? Separation of religion and authorities does not exist.
• The caller policies successful Cy-Fair Independent School District (Texas) would restrict YA books to lone mediate and precocious schoolers, and immoderate books “beyond” the YA designation would necessitate parental permission. So that means adjacent classics are inaccessible to teen readers?
• Pinellas School Board (Florida) will reconsider its ban connected The Bluest Eye over the summer.
• Again, the proponents of these bills would similar you to judge their opponents are perverts. Pedophiles and “groomers” who are titillated astatine the thought of showing pornography to children. I didn’t spot anyone similar that among the 100 oregon truthful softly speechmaking demonstrators astatine the Minot Public Library connected Saturday, March 4.” An fantabulous piece astir the quiescent protestation against North Dakota publication prohibition bills successful Minot.
• Let’s beryllium clear: by putting this nonfiction astir however Moms For Liberty behind a paywall, Lancaster’s paper is complicit successful burying captious accusation from its community. This communicative is astir Moms attempting to instrumentality implicit the Warwick schoolhouse committee (Pennsylvania), and I broke the paywall for you. Guess who puts their accusation retired determination for free? It’s Moms.
• It’s existent neat however right-wing politicians are really utilizing children arsenic pawns successful their wars. This time, a Kansas enactment claimed a 4th grader’s rainbow drafting was “proof” of indoctrination.
• Buried successful this communicative is simply a statement implicit whether oregon not Gender Queer could stay successful the Hastings, Minnesota, schoolhouse libraries.
• The Faulkner County Library (Arkansas) canceled each of their nationalist programs due to the fact that bigots don’t recognize however programs work, as seen aft their choler implicit a Drag Queen event. A cardinal portion of this communicative is the manager pointing retired however overmuch complaining astir books determination is and yet nary of the complainers capable retired the ailment forms.
• And here’s who is pushing to prohibition books successful British Columbia, Canada…and the radical warring to sphere the close to read.
• The Duval County Public Schools (FL) supervisor of publication reviews has resigned. Perhaps due to the fact that her bigoted comments person present travel to light?
• “A Wilson County antheral successful a caller suit is accusing the Wilson County Book Review Committee of violating the Tennessee Open Meetings Act, arsenic good arsenic the First Amendment, by holding concealed meetings to find what books could beryllium restricted oregon banned.” More of this, please.
• We each cognize astir the Moms for Liberty list, truthful that’s not truly absorbing here. What is absorbing is this is the archetypal clip I’ve seen books being challenged successful Lonoke County, Arkansas.
• Greeley-Evans School District (CO) says the classical Beloved can enactment successful the precocious schoolhouse library.
• Gender Queer will beryllium capable to remain successful Hancock County schools (ME).
• When you work stories similar this one, you conscionable spot however made up this full publication prohibition situation truly is (Pitt County, NC).
• A parent puts connected a book situation performance for the Montgomery County School Board (VA) implicit Flamer. They aren’t adjacent originative successful however they present their dramatics.
• Western Placer Unified School District (CA) listened to publication situation performers implicit The Hate U Give being utilized successful 9th people English classes.
• The enforcement manager of the Shreve Memorial Library (LA) speaking against publication bans and the “parental rights” that already beryllium should beryllium a exemplary for others.
• They support calling Flamer pornographic which makes wide they person nary thought what pornographic means (Collier County, FL).
• Regional School Unit 24 (ME) will support Gender Queer and Queer in precocious schoolhouse libraries.