How To Explain Book Bans to Those Who Want To Understand: Book Censorship News, August

The Books Being Banned Are Pornographic or Not “Age Appropriate”

• There is no such thing as “pornography for kids.” That would be in violation of obscenity laws, which have a clear, concise legal definition.
• Among the most commonly banned topics in books are those about gender, sexuality, sexual violence, and reproduction. Applying the label “pornographic” to educational texts is inappropriate and sexualizes health, wellness, and social-emotional growth.
• All books have age ratings on them, provided by the publisher. Library workers and educators use that information, alongside reviews by professionals in the industry, to make informed decisions about purchasing and shelving material.
• Parents and guardians always have the right to tell their children not to borrow something at the library. That guidance is their job. They can also request alternate assignments in school for those with which they feel uncomfortable.

But How Is It A Book Ban If They Can Buy The Books?

• A book ban is the deliberate removal of a book from a place it once was. It is a straightforward definition. Young people who had access to a book at their school library lose that access when a book is banned. Those young people may no longer have any way to access the book, even if it is available on retail websites because of the hurdles placed in their way (needing to ask someone to buy it for them, needing the money to acquire it, and so forth).
• Those under 18 are the most vulnerable members of society. Those from marginalized backgrounds, even more so. Removing a book from their local library or school library means they lose out on the ability to access, read, digest, and discuss materials available to wealthier peers elsewhere.
• Bookstores have been targeted by book bans, too. Success in book banning at the schools leads to attempts at the public library then onto businesses, too.

Book Bans Are Tied to Authoritarianism/Fascism

• Book banning has historical roots in authoritarianism and fascism. Anti-literacy laws proliferated in America to keep enslaved Black people from reading and learning, while Nazis burned books they deemed “anti-German.” (See also groups like United Daughters of the American Confederacy and others throughout history trying to rewrite history and literature to push a narrow, white supremacist version of education).
• Why do some parents and lawmakers want to decide what every child has access to? Because it gives them power.
• Throughout the country, legislators at the state, county, and municipal levels have tried to make decisions about what happens in classrooms and libraries, despite having no experience or expertise in either field.
• One of the common rallying cries from book banners is that they “do not co-parent with the government,” a phrase they use to demand books about topics like gender, race, and sexuality (wrapped in phrases like “Critical Race Theory,” “Comprehensive Sexual Education,” and “Social Emotional Learning”) be removed from shelves. Ultimately, what they want is for the government to do all the parenting for them by removing those books and topics entirely. Parents have rights and have always had rights. This puts the power into the hands of the government.

Book Bans Are About Destabilizing and Defunding Democratic, Publicly Funded Institutions Like Libraries and Schools

• By targeting public institutions, taxpayer money can be funneled into for-profit institutions. This is the scheme behind voucher programs, which benefit families already wealthy enough to pay for private education and leave public schools without necessary budgets.
• If a buck can be made, it will be. Defunding public libraries doesn’t mean libraries will disappear entirely. Instead, subscription libraries—available to those who can afford the cost—will pop up. At least one sitting state legislator has suggested defunding public libraries in favor of “beautiful, church-owned public-access libraries.”

Book Bans Happen in Every State

• There’s a tendency to write off book bans as only happening in states that have gotten a lot of media attention for them, such as Texas or Florida. But book bans happen in every state in different ways. Writing off your state as “safe” or another as “of course” is not helpful.
• People who live in “bad”/”red” states still deserve their rights to be protected. Writing off an entire state writes off queer people and people of color living there, and it writes off the efforts of those on the ground pushing back.
• Those “bad”/”red” states have extensive histories of gerrymandering and voter suppression.
• “Blue”/”Good” states have extremists, too, and groups like Moms For Liberty have chapters in these “good” states. Book bans happen not only at the state level. They happen at the local level, so it is easy for local-level bans to happen, especially with the death of local news covering these stories.
• Even states that have passed anti-book ban bills deal with quiet/soft/silent censorship.

Yes, Some State Legislatures Want To Try To Arrest Librarians

• By changing the way “obscenity” is defined and codified in state law, politicians are trying to create provisions that would allow librarians to be arrested for having books deemed “obscene” in the library. States have yet to be successful in passing this legislation, but they’re going to keep trying.

Most People Are Against Book Bans

A Small Number of People Are Seeking Book Bans Nationwide, But They’re Backed By Big Money

• According to data from The Washington Post, during the 2021-2022 school year, only 11 people nationwide were responsible for 60% of book bans. In fall 2023, one woman was responsible for the removal of 444 books in a single Wisconsin school district.
• These people act independently, but they aren’t doing this in a vacuum. They’re being supported by groups like Moms For Liberty, No Left Turn in Education, and other right-wing politically-affiliated groups. They’re often also supported by local-level groups that aren’t affiliated with national groups but that act in similar ways (for example, Utah Parents United, Purple for Parents Indiana, Protect Nebraska Children, and more).

Moms For Liberty Is Not The Only Group Targeting Books

• While Moms For Liberty has marketed itself very well and has plenty of cutesy social media nicknames, it is not the only group in the book banning game. They have created one of the most-cited and used book “review” sites to help its members target books on the local level, but there are hundreds of other groups nationwide.
• Moms For Liberty’s strategies are aligned with several others, including No Left Turn in Education and Mary/LaVerna In The Library. Because of Moms’s connection to big money, including the Heritage Foundation, they have a lot of ability to create influence and as such, have influenced other local groups.
• It is important to point this out because there’s a false sense of “it doesn’t happen here” if your area does not have an official Moms For Liberty group and/or school board candidates supported by the group do not win their election. See: “Book Bans Happen in Every State” above.

Down Ballot Votes Matter As Much, If Not More, Than Top Lines

• Your vote on the president, governor, and other high offices matters. But real change happens on the local level, so your down-ballot elections need to be as carefully researched and decided as those at the top of the ballot.
• Decisions about book bans are being made by groups that may only have five or seven people. Learn who those people are on school and library boards, as well as how they get their positions. For those in elected positions, it is crucial to know what they stand for. If those positions are appointed, pay attention to the elected officials who do the appointing. What do they stand for? It’s going to show up in their appointees.
• When you vote, tell your friends, family, neighbors, and others with whom you share values who you voted for down-ballot. Tell them why. This will help them, too—too often, the smaller elections are overlooked and yet, those offices have the most impact on your day-to-day life.

How Can I Fight Back Against Book Bans?

Book Censorship News: August 9, 2024

• Three city council members in Mount Pleasant, Texas, are claiming there are inappropriate books in the public library and want them removed. This is authoritarianism.
• Wilson County Schools (TN) have closed their school library and told teachers not to have classroom libraries because of the new state laws over “inappropriate materials.”
• The Mat-Su School District (AK) will decide this week what to do with four more books in the school district. Seven books have already been banned.
• The Mat-Su School District, though, will have to return every book to shelves due to a court order that said the removal of books violated students’ constitutional rights—the seven they do not have to return yet will be involved in the court case next spring, though.
• The first hearing in the lawsuit against Prattville Public Library (AL, see here) happened this week.
• Alabama lawmakers already pre-filed two laws for the next legislative session that would remove control of library board membership from local control and also criminalize library workers.
• A lawsuit against Independence School District (MO) challenging the district’s book banning law was dismissed by the Eighth Circuit Court.
• Marietta, Georgia, middle schoolers are having books about race and race history removed from the curriculum. But why? Georgia’s divisive concepts law is what parents think but the district claims it’s not.
• This story is paywalled, but the Grand Forks Public Library (ND) has moved its sex ed books into a new section in the library, away from where they actually belong and serve their readers. The ACLU is calling this soft censorship. It is, though it is more accurately defined as relocation, one of the four Rs of book censorship. Small distinction, ultimately, but one worth making. Also, how about the fact that democracy is behind a paywall, eh?
• Another paywalled story here: a parent in Carroll County Schools (MD) is filing an appeal in the decision the board made to remove two LGBTQ+ family-themed books from curriculum.
• After a very long battle, Let’s Talk About It will remain on high school library shelves at North Hunterdon-Voorhees High School (NJ).
• Remember last year when police in a small Kansas town raided the local newspaper? The former police chief there will now be charged.
• Campbell County Public Library (WY) is asking for volunteers to help them create a “new adult” section in the library. This is where they’re putting the books they can’t outright ban.
• Some residents in Garland County, Arkansas, are trying to get a ballot measure that would reduce the tax money the public libraries receive. This…is precisely what they want to do. Their initial proposal was to completely eliminate tax allocation for the library.
• The ACLU talked with students about why they’re concerned about classroom censorship.
• The Greenville School District (SC) is still trying to figure out how to implement their new book banning policies, and wouldn’t you know it, it’s going to be burdensome to professionals? (Note that it is also complicated by the state’s new school materials policy).
• King George Public Schools (VA) have implemented a policy that requires parents to opt-in students to certain books. Two books are also under threat of being removed following an appeal on an earlier complaint decision to keep them. Read this one to see how at least one parent parrots the talking points of professional educators wanting “access” to children in their jobs.
• In really good news, despite the campaign claiming the library is filled with sex books, Alpena Public Library (MI) won its millage during the primaries this week.
• Taking the editor’s note with a grain of salt—the removal of a book following complaints about a book is a ban—here’s a story about the pulling of How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent from an honors optional reading list in Tillamook School District (OR).
• (Paywalled) One of the new proposals for the Corpus Christi Public Library (TX) is to prohibit anyone under 18 from borrowing “books with sexual orientation and gender content.” I guess that means any book with pronouns in it, right?
• An individual who demanded that the Arlington Public Library (TX) be fired for keeping books on shelf that they believed were “pornographic” (they weren’t) has now been appointed by city council to the library board. That’s…not great!