“Any pursuit of knowledge that is not also a pursuit of truth is corrupt, including those "savants" whose work is scientific or technical. Truth is knowledge about what you love. The lack of concern for truth in the modern world is one of the obstacles to civilization.”
— Simone Weil
“One parent could get my poetry banned from classrooms. And yet one country can't ban assault rifles from massacring them.” — Amanda Gorman
90 years ago, beginning in May of 1933, the German Student Union made an organized attack on the Institute of Sex Research and publicly hauled out and burned in the street around 20,000 books and journals. The next week close to 25,000 works of prominent Jewish, liberal, and leftist writers, "un-German" books, ended up in a bonfire in the square of the State Opera in Berlin. Thus began an era of intolerance whereas culture that did not reflect the idea of German purity was to be purged and destroyed.
Now, in the U.S., we have right-wing organizations such as Moms for Liberty and No Left Turn in Education to thank for over a thousand instances of book banning in the 2022-2023 school year which includes 874 unique titles in 182 school districts and 37 states.
And there are the new crusaders such as Teresa Mull writing for The Hill: How left-wing and racist radicals are infiltrating our children’s minds. In the article she writes, The progressive left is proud of its infiltration into the school system and truly believes it has a right and duty to force its “superior” viewpoints on everyone else. They might even, God forbid, send them to religious schools. They are the same folks who rally against prayer in school and any mention of the Bible while they inject one-sided, liberal-fueled propaganda about how to think and feel on moral issues into every facet of our children’s public educations. I guess it’s ok to indoctrinate kids about “right” and “wrong” so long as God isn’t involved. Mull has a long reach as a policy advisor for the Heartland Institute and is also the editor of Gunpowder Magazine. The Heartland Institute’s mission is to discover, develop, and promote free-market solutions to social and economic problems, in other words, no nasty guvment oversight.
But several conservative groups have cropped up in the last few years, often describing themselves as defending parental rights. According to the New York Times, The groups have pursued their goals by becoming heavily involved in local and state politics, where Republican efforts have largely outmatched liberal organizations in many states for years. They have created political action committees, funded campaigns, endorsed candidates and packed school boards, helping to fuel a surge in challenges to individual books and to drive changes in the rules governing what books are available to children. Two such groups are Utah Parents United and the Florida Citizens Alliance. Said Keith Flaugh, one of the founders of Florida Citizens Alliance, “This is not about banning books, it’s about protecting the innocence of our children, and letting the parents decide what the child gets rather than having government schools indoctrinate our kids.”
According to Charlie Pierce, in Alabama Earlier this year, the State Board of Education approved English Language Arts textbooks for kindergarten through third grade after a public hearing where critics suggested the books had too much Black history and multicultural stories. These books had already been delayed after they were originally meant to be adopted in 2022. Melissa Gates, who had identified herself as a member of Eagle Forum, said the books, called the Amplify Core Knowledge Language Arts, would “indoctrinate our children with DEI [Diversity Equity and Inclusion], SEL [Social Emotional Learning], woke agenda and grooming our little ones.” Cathy Odom, who had identified herself as a resident of Mobile County, said the vetting process was unclear, and she had concerns about the content. "And I thought personally there was too much Black history,” she said.
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, said school districts often have policies in place if a parent wants to challenge a book or keep their child from reading it, but this is not the system most of the advocacy groups or politicians have been following. She said, “What’s truly needed right now is for individuals to step up and support their libraries, both in schools and in public libraries. We need to counter this vocal minority that seems to have an outsized place on the stage and push back on the idea that having the government tell you what to think or what to read or limit what you think or read to a particular agenda imposed by an advocacy group.”
The EveryLibrary organization is charted “to promote public, school, and college libraries, including by advocating in support of public funding for libraries and building public awareness of public funding initiatives”. They are monitoring state legislation during the 2023-2024 session that would limit Americans' freedom to read and think for themselves. Of most concern are proposed laws that would allow for civil and criminal prosecution of librarians, educators, higher ed. faculty, and museum professionals.
PEN America’s latest report, Banned In The USA: State Laws Supercharge Book Suppression in Schools, released in April of this year, underscores the calls advocates and activists have been shouting over and over. There are more books being banned and more books being banned in bulk than ever before. Book Riot reports that Florida and Texas remain at the top of the list of states banning the most books, followed closely by South Carolina, Missouri, and Utah. These states earn their titles thanks to legislation and broad, “wholesale” bans of entire swaths of books. While individuals and coordinated group efforts on the ground lead to book bans, the report showcases how state-level legislation has amplified and encouraged even grander overreach of the government into school libraries.
Kelly Jensen, the writer of the Book Riot article and a former librarian, goes on to say This is not the time for a hashtag campaign. It’s not the time for sitting back and saying it’s a problem in red states, in other states, not in your backyard. It’s the time to act. It’s the time to show up to your school boards and library boards and speak. It’s time to write and show up to your state legislator offices, demanding action against book bans. Demanding the upholding of First Amendment Rights for every individual and not just those who fit the rich, white, cishet, right-wing, Christian nationalist identity.
What can you do? Jensen writes about these tools as a start; Vote, Serve on a Board, Show Up to Meetings, Write Letters, Talk to the Newspaper, Correct Misinformation, Familiarize Yourself With a Library’s Collection Development Policy, Submit Materials Requests, Ask Why Items Are Not Purchased, Report Hate Groups, Stay Alert, and Donate Money. More information on all of those points in the link provided. She also provides a handy template to help in language composition with downloadable and shareable material. You can also check out these current bills of concern being tracked which includes ‘Take Action’ links.
Remember, the firemen are rarely necessary. The public itself stopped reading of its own accord. — from Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury
And now…