What's next in America's book ban battle? The book ban ban. Minnesota's Gov. Tim Walz has signed into law a measure prohibiting the removal of “a book or other material based solely on its viewpoint or the messages, ideas, or opinions it conveys.” The law allows books to be challenged, but mandates that trained and licensed librarians be part of the review. Minnesota's librarians and educators told CNN they welcome legal criteria for how to address book challenges, since some are worried about losing their jobs if they order books that prove controversial.
@flexghost
It isn't the "polite" RNC of Romney, McCain, Bushes. The Gingrich loud-mouthing got normalized, stupidity got promoted, and "Straight White Males uber alles" is their unsubtle tag line. For all the three-Rs they seem to promote, they destroy #publiceducation and create #bookbans and sow division. No wonder their PR title is worse than what could be written by a 5th grade student. Also, those words are per #LauraTrump orders. MAGA - Make Americas-First-Crime-Family Grift Again!
Given no recourse during the school year, at her graduation, she tried to present Superintendent Derek Bub with a copy of the graphic novel. And like a true fascist, he wouldn't touch it. Jenkins dropped it at his feet in disgust.
My heart aches for the children who will no longer have access to their local library because some arrogant assholes decided to be offended by books with new ideas and different perspectives.
Courtney Gore, the co-host of a right-wing online talk show, won a seat on a Texas school board on the basis that she would undo leftist indoctrination and get rid of educational materials with inappropriate messages about sexuality and race. Then she took office and actually read the curriculum, finding that the subject matter simply taught children “how to be a good friend, a good human.” The Texas Tribune talked to her about why she ran for office, what she thinks is behind the push to take over school boards, and the backlash she's faced since speaking out against the ultra-right element of the Republican party.
The pervasive indoctrination she had railed against simply did not exist. Children were not being sexualized, and she could find no examples of critical race theory, an advanced academic concept that examines systemic racism. She’d examined curriculum related to social-emotional learning, which has come under attack by Christian conservatives who say it encourages children to question gender roles and prioritizes feelings over biblical teachings. Instead, Gore found the materials taught children “how to be a good friend, a good human.”
In the most glorious "fuck you" I have seen in a while, you know the book that Cumberland City Council banned because they're homophobic bigots - Holly Duhig's "A focus on Same Sex Parents"? Well, the publisher, BookLife Publishing, have made a PDF version of the book available for free.
Sure be a shame if it was shared far and wide now, wouldn't it?
Every time you ban a book filled with hope and kindness, and care and love, we will resist.
Fight for your libraries. Don’t let them take away your library by defunding it out of providing vital services. Don’t let them shackle the library with rules meant to prevent the right people from getting the right book to change their life. Don’t let them close the doors, because you know they will never open again. Fight for the freedom to read and explore new ideas. Fight against censorship and denying people the materials their souls need. If a library closes, it will never open again. You couldn’t create libraries today. You want to loan out books? And people will just willingly give them back? Are you mad? Naïve, perhaps? Once a library closes its doors, it’s over. The book banners have won. Do not let them win. Fight for libraries. Fight for library workers. Fight for patrons. Fight for free people reading freely. #libraries#censorship#librarians#LibraryWorkers#LibraryPatrons#BookBans
Proposed bill in Alabama to allow the arrest of librarians.
No one is perfect—not even librarians. But professional #librarians are terrific. They're dedicated public servants, and they know how to library better than politicians do.
…The bill in CT, pending before an #education cmte, is 1 of a raft of measures advancing nationwide that seek to do things like prohibit #BookBans or forbid the #harassment of school & public librarians…. Legislators in 22 mostly blue states have proposed 57 such bills so far this year, & 2 have become #law….
But the #library-friendly measures are being outpaced by bills in mostly #RedStates that aim to restrict which #books#libraries can offer & #threaten#librarians w/ #prison or thousands in #fines for handing out “obscene” or “harmful” titles. At least 27 states are considering 100 such bills this year, 3 of which have become #law…. That adds to nearly a dozen similar measures enacted over the last 3 yrs across 10 states.
If you care about books, about libraries, and about your own freedom to read (and write) whatever the hell you want, it behooves you to pay attention. Currently, Kelly Jensen is the only journalist devoted to this beat, 24/7, for several years now.
Here's her call to action: pay attention and show up locally; don't hope for someone else to stand up for your rights.
Double the #BookBans in half the time, via BookRiot:
"PEN’s report confirms that book bans are happening nationwide. The state’s political leanings don’t matter: 42 states, both red and blue, reported book bans in public schools over the three years of PEN’s record keeping."
A few weeks ago, a school board in Millburn school district 24, in Illinois, voted to end their participation in the Rebecca Caudill awards, declaring the award to be "woke" and "have a political agenda". Since the books are selected by middle school readers--students in the district--you can see the right wing bullshit coming.
Thanks to enthusiastic community involvement, the board reversed course.
Via @tuphlos, I just found out that Oklahoma's Supreme Court bocked the right wing state from banning books from public schools and penalizing schools who refused to comply with the fascists.
“Librarians are being harassed in private Facebook groups. They’re receiving pressure from within and outside the school.”
But bookstores, libraries and book lovers of all kinds came together to fight back against the censorious, so-called READER act. From correspondent Matthew Patin: https://www.texasobserver.org/the-booksellers-revolt/