I’ve been (woefully) aware of the rampant book bans being pushed by conservatives, but up until now I’ve been (blissfully) ignorant of the actual numbers. This week the American Library Association released data that 1,915 book titles were challenged or censored in 2023 through August, making it a 20% increase from last year. It’s become so pernicious that Biden has created a new position in the Dept of Education to address the bans. And in a bit of brilliance, in June Illinois became the first state to ban book bans. This is where we are, folks. While right-wing politicians are desperate to bring us back to Pleasantville, artists are fighting back to keep us in color. An open letter condemning the spate of book bans sweeping the nation has now garnered almost 200 signatures from celebrities in creative arts:
Who: Nearly 200 top actors, musicians and authors denounced the recent wave of right-wing book bans in an open letter Tuesday. Ariana Grande, Guillermo del Toro and Gabrielle Union were among 195 entertainers and writers to sign their names to the letter, part of an effort spearheaded by former “Reading Rainbow” host LeVar Burton and the liberal advocacy group MoveOn. … The effort reportedly started collecting signatures this summer and includes names like Mark Ruffalo, Billy Porter, Chelsea Handler, John Leguizamo, Constance Wu, Christie Brinkley, Idina Menzel, Andy Cohen, Sarah Paulson, Emma Roberts and Sharon Stone.
What: The letter argues that this “restrictive behavior” is both “antithetical to free speech and expression” and “has a chilling effect on the creative field.” It further says the government has no right to “dictate” what people can create or consume. “We cannot stress enough how these censorious efforts will not end with book bans,” the letter reads. “It’s only a matter of time before regressive, suppressive ideologues will shift their focus toward other forms of art and entertainment. … We refuse to remain silent as one creative field is subjected to oppressive bans,” the letter said. “As artists, we must band together, because a threat to one form of art is a threat to us all. … There is power in artistic freedom, and we refuse to allow draconian politicians to take that from us.”
Bad politicians: While the letter itself doesn’t name specific politicians, the website that introduces it goes even further: “Far-right politicians like Ron DeSantis are championing draconian laws to ban books and the teaching of accurate multicultural American history in favor of upholding a homophobic, transphobic, and white supremacist vision of our nation.” … The ideologues include Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R), who championed a new law forbidding instruction on gender or sexual orientation, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) — who approved course materials that teach enslaved Black people gained a “personal benefit” from slavery.
Bad statistics: The American Library Association reported in March that bans and restrictions at schools and libraries are continuing to surge, with more than 1,200 challenges in 2022, nearly double the prior record of 729 in 2021. Another institution found even more than that. Nonprofit research organization PEN America — which counts more than 7,500 novelists, journalists and other literary professionals as members — reportedly identified more than 4,000 book challenges and bans in school districts since June 2021.
LeVar Burton gets the last word: “It’s embarrassing that we are banning books in this country, in this culture, in this day and age,” Burton told The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday. “And it’s dangerous that a handful of individuals are deciding that any book with Black and queer people is divisive.”
This is horrifying. I went to a Jewish day school growing up, so I know I had more lessons on and exposure to the Holocaust than in typical elementary curriculums. The links are chilling to me. Banning books is where it starts, because the less you know the easier you are to control. It’s perhaps a lowbrow reference, but I have Sean Connery’s voice stuck in my head from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, when he says to the Nazis “goose-stepping morons like yourself should try reading books instead of burning them!” I nominate ‘goose-stepper’ as DeSantis’s next nickname. Vote them OUT.
When I was 12 yo, my French literature teacher told the class: “If you ever find yourself in a country that start banning books: run. That’s how totalitarianism starts. Run for your life.” He was dead serious. It was such a stark, chilling warning, and it made such a mark on me at the time.
The first time I got that feeling with the USA, was with the “Patriot Act” and all that surrounded it. It seemed like people in the USA were suddenly not allowed to give opinions anymore that weren’t pro-war (whether against Afghanistan or Iraq).
Public libraries are so important. It’s also one of the only kinds of inside spaces where you don’t need to pay to be in and gives access to internet, knowledge etc to everyone.
Anyway, for my part, you’re welcome to come to Europe if it comes to it, but please safeguard freedom of reading as much as you can over there.
UGH.
so my county is in the thick of this right now. Moms4Liberty suggested almost 60 books that should be banned, and our county has a pretty good review process in place for reviews of book ban suggestions, but its lengthy, bc everyone on the committee has to read the book. So with 60 books in question – the superintendent just removed all of them at the beginning of the year while they were pending review, which is frustrating bc to me that’s a de facto ban.
Anyway M4L made it clear that they weren’t even reading the books, they were just using a website that lists the problematic passages with zero context (and yes, anyone of any age can go to said website and just……read all the problematic passages. I mean if I was in HS that’s the first thing I would do, lol.) But for example, one of the passages that’s flagged as “problematic in a book” is literally the trigger warning in a book about surviving a rape/sexual assault.
also, M4L has been very very open that while this move is targeted towards school libraries, their end goal is to have these books banned from all libraries- which is stupid bc it weakens their argument that “kids can still get these books other places.”
My county is fairly split, the north and west is pretty red and the south and east is pretty liberal. But the book banning is not the winning argument that M4L thought it was going to be. Our BoE members are for the most part pretty conservative and toe the DeSantis line (so for example last year they banned Pride flags that teachers were using to show they were a “safe space”.) There is one member who is not like this.
So one of those conservative members is coming out against the book bannings now – her argument is basically this is costing a lot of money and taking too much time and how many high school kids use the school libraries anyway to check out The Handmaid’s Tale or George RR Martin or toni Morrison? (all on the ban list). She basically said its a solution without a problem and there are other things to focus on. So……I’m interested to see where this goes from now.
And in case you were wondering, no, arguing with M4L people that “your kids don’t have to read those books” or “kids will want to read the books MORE if you ban them” does not go anywhere.
I mean I read my mom’s entire collection of romance novels that I was banned from reading…..and lordy some of those books from the 70s really play it fast and loose with the idea of consent………
Agreed, Becks. M4L is a scourge on everyone.
And I remember those romance novels from the 70s (like Mills & Boon and Harlequin) – most were very rapey.
@Becks, we might live in the same county. Is your county the one where the teacher was fired for teaching “My shadow is purple?” An excellent teacher was fired because of these morons. I’m a teacher, but thankfully at a private school that has decided to embrace DEI work and diversity, and is one of the most diverse schools in my city. That the superintendant just capitulated to these fascists is really unnerving. How are public school teachers expected to do their jobs (they aren’t. schools are supposed to become christian indoctrination facilities)
No, I’m in a county where a BOE member said “pride flags make you feel safe, my gun makes me feel safe” or something like that 🙄🙄🙄
The worst part to me is that M4L are all about how “parents should get to choose” but then they take that choice away. If you don’t want your kid to read X book, tell them they can’t read X book. they’ll probably want to read it more, but whatever, you do you.
I think a turning point for us (and for the BOE member I mentioned in my original post) was when M4L leaders started attacking a sexual assault survivor who was talking about how much one of the books they are trying to ban helped her. I’m surprised that some of them still have shame, but apparently a small amount do.
I really, really, really don’t understand how these people can live with such cognitive dissonance and not lose their minds. So it’s “parent’s rights” when YOU want something to be added or subtracted from the curriculum, but when I want the same (I am in favor of kids reading pretty much anything they can get their hands on within reason) then I’m infringing on your/your kids’ rights. It’s maddening.
We have a high schooler and an elementary-age kiddo. My kids KNOW what our values are, and bumping up against different values out in the real world offers us MORE opportunities to discuss and evaluate. It strengthens what they already know. The reason for all of this bullsh!t is that THESE POSITIONS ARE UNSUSTAINABLE when you attain even a basic level of understanding/education about the world around you. We are NOT a homogenous, Judeo-Christian, white, hetero mass, and I am GLAD FOR IT.
What it comes down to is that these book-banning nut bars are scared little creatures who have so little faith in their own parenting and the transmission of their own values that they are desperate to control the entire world their children are exposed to.
My wonderful (genuinely) Christian mother got so exasperated with another parent in our church ranting about the moral evils promoted by teachers in the public school system that she finally asked sweetly if they were calling her a force for evil. Note: she and our pastor’s wife were public school teacher-librarians of 30 years’ duration. Shut the fool up, at least temporarily.
Public librarian here. I did a talk about book banning at a Book festival in Illinois recently and the stats were alarming, but the worst thing I encountered in my research to put the talk together was the 150-title list that Moms for “liberty” (quotes mine) has on its website for anyone to pull down and use to request reconsiderations in their local
And school libraries. It contains titles, authors and the most salacious/explosive passages with no context at all.
Book banning is not about banning books. It is about trying to restrict access to and/or erase ideas and information.
“Book banning is not about banning books. It is about trying to restrict access to and/or erase ideas and information.” Very well said, Amy T.
This is not a conservative only issue. Please search what is happening in libraries across Ontario and specifically the city of Mississauga. School libraries completely empty because all books published in 2008 or earlier were removed under the guise of a new “equity-based process”. None of them were replaced. This includes the diary of Anne Frank. And this is under a liberal government and school board.
This is not a one sided issue as much as Americans like to paint it as such.
@MM
Fellow Ontario person here, and you’re right on the mark. I was so disgusted to see what was happening in Mississauga. I’m not surprised, but I am disappointed.
I see it happening soon in the TDSB if right wing AHOLES get their way :'(
My teenager says their library shelves are still full at the school, but who knows how long that will last now.
What you are describing is not happening in the U.S. In the U.S. it is conservative groups like Moms for Liberty using a right-wing playbook to submit mass amounts of book requests according to a list. Conservatives are also stacking public library boards and dismantling standard library practices and undermining library staff. To crown it off, last week there were 7 bomb threats called in to Chicago area libraries after the Senate judiciary hearings on book bans.
The right is by far the largest group trying to ban books. But I worked in libraries for twenty years, even won a state award for my banned book display, and the left had their share of titles they didn’t like. Ones like Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn for language, including the N word. But these were more isolated cases. M4L and other groups are seriously organized and well funded.
Ya, this is terrifying. I’m gonna give the Peel school board the benefit of the doubt and believe that someone originally thought this was a way to help kids, but I don’t know how you ever get to banning books and think you’re on the right side of things. No books in schools written before 2008 because they may cause offence – no Obasan, no Diary of a Young Girl, no Anne of Green Gables.
The response has been pretty outraged across the province and I’m confident that boneheaded decision will be walked back, but I’m still scratching my head that it ever made it past the brainstorming stage. Qu’est ce que le fük?!
I’m an Albertan whose idiot knuckle-drawing, mouth-breathing excuse for a premier just both-sidesed some ugly anti-LBTQ2S+ demonstrations. Just waiting for the book ban hammer to fall, now that our school curriculum is being dumbed down to ensure we graduate a steady supply of Conservative voters.
Thanks for posting this. I’m a librarian and the attacks on public libraries and public school libraries are escalating and scary. Conservative groups like Moms for Liberty are using a right-wing playbook to submit mass amounts of book requests according to a list. Conservatives are also stacking public library boards and dismantling standard library practices and undermining library staff. To crown it off, last week there were 7 bomb threats called in to Chicago area libraries after the Senate judiciary hearings on book bans. In addition to being an attack on intellectual freedom, it’s also an attack on the public sector and the concept of a diverse, multiracial society.
I’m glad they are bringing more attention to what’s happening. Thx Celebitchy for highlighting it with this post. The DAR has done this before and affected how US history is taught. It is dangerous and I hope the “Liberty” Moms can realize the error in their ways. Many of these moms would be homeschooling or sending children to Christian private schools. This is about controlling what other children can read and THINK. It’s a scary direction and I hope the US is prepared to fight harder for our freedom and liberty.
Back in the Clinton days, the wingnut moms groups were focused on TV. They’d send out their newsletters and people would file complaints based on their lists. Eventually the FCC announced that they would ignore all complaints filed after an advocacy group publicly denounced a program. Ended the problem right there.
Something similar needs to be done here. If it’s on the Moms4Life list, it shouldn’t be pulled automatically, because it’s not a genuine local complaint from a parent. When he was wrapping up his time on the Daily Show, Jon Stewart talked about how they forgot to bleep an Fbomb. They caught it before the West Coast airing, but we’re really sweating it out waiting for the FCC hearing and fines. But nobody complained! So nothing happened. No one watching TDS was in any way shocked. If they noticed, they probably thought it was hilarious.
So local libraries should be refusing to autoban books that are on these overly broad lists. The system isn’t intended for this sort of manipulation.
I completely agree with you that the complaints should be handled differently, but one of the major issues is that conservatives have imbedded in municipal, school, and library board leadership, so they are forcing the libraries and library staff to heed the request. This is much bigger than libraries and people need to start getting more involved in local and school governance to put a stop to it.
@Concern Fae: I remember the 90s when right wing moms were concerned with TV & music lyrics (I’m 44, so I was a kid/teen then). I thought it was stupid then, and as a public librarian I now think it’s not just stupid but dangerous. I like your idea that there should just be a blanket refusal to ‘ban’ anything that so-called advocacy groups are upset about. We have plenty of material in my library system that I don’t agree with/downright loathe, but our job is not to police what anyone reads.
However, unfortunately straight-up refusal to even pretend to consider public opinion is dangerous for smaller local library systems. A library in the county next to mine lost their millage funding because right wing voters decided they would rather have NO library at all rather than have ‘gay books’. Because public libraries rely so heavily on public funding we are often finding ourselves between a rock & a hard place. I work for a large district library system in a purple county, where we fortunately have a director who will fight to the death against book banning. But we are constantly getting threats of harassment, townships wanting to withdraw their funding/close their branches, etc. Yesterday we found some of our LGBTQ+ books defaced with Bible verses written inside with Sharpie. It’s exhausting & often feels like we’re fighting a losing battle.
Major kudos for the Sean Connery reference. That line IMO was an instant classic. The Scottish accent made it more memorable but Indy films 1 & 3 actually had very strong anti-Nazi messages.
This is something I didn’t realize till college though: the holocaust impacted my family, so I heard about it all the time growing up, as did many of my peers. I attended Hebrew school on Sundays and freely borrowed books from their library. I was a voracious reader.
I never noticed that we didn’t learn about the Holocaust at public school until college when I met people who hadn’t grown up around constant references to it, and I discovered how easily one can be led to believe wildly inaccurate things.
“Nearly 200”? I could get 200 signatures in an afternoon sending emails out to my neighborhood community email. How is it not 2000 or 200,000? I mean these are “creatives” – there are thousands of writers, actors, performers, artists…am I really supposed to think that 200 signatures from famous actors will make a difference? What is this bulls$&t?
Are these books really “banned” though? Like, will you go to jail if you are caught reading one? I’m sorry but the rhetoric used here confuses me as I don’t think Americans really understand what book burning and book bans are in actual totalitarian countries.
As far as I know, these books are just pulled from school libraries, right? Are they also pulled from public libraries?
Either way, you can still buy them in a bookstore. Or order them on Amazon. Or read about them online. Or get an e-book online and read it immediately.
They aren’t banning the Internet and they aren’t jailing and torturing people for reading books, so can we tone down with the totalitarianism narrative.
Try reading the wrong book in Iran or North Korea, and you’ll see what a book ban really is.