You Can\u2019t Read That! is a periodic post about book banning, featuring news and opinion roundups, personal observations, and reviews.<\/p>\n
\nYes, McKinney is using a photo of Nazi youth partaking in a book burning to argue that banning LGBTQ books in public schools is good. She says banning these books “is not only justifiable but the only moral option, it’s our duty in fact to purge our schools of such filth” pic.twitter.com\/TeLOxkngFW<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 MMA ? (@Emmamae143) August 23, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nMe speaking at the Granbury ISD school board meeting tonight . Granbury ISD is continuing to purge books. The folks that show up at every meeting demanding books be removed , not a single one is a GISD parent. Yet , the school board seems to be giving them everything they want . pic.twitter.com\/CUqCacoqYI<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Adrienne Quinn Martin (@MrsAMartini) August 23, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The Right in the US Has a New Bogeyman: Libraries<\/a><\/strong> (The Guardian)<\/p>\n
… the censorship frequently pushed by conservative groups is linked to wealthy rightwing donors even as they masquerade as grassroots efforts, with names like \u201cMoms for Liberty\u201d and \u201cParents Defending Education\u201d. EveryLibrary, a political action committee for libraries, reports that many states have passed laws to change how libraries handle complaints about books, making it easier to remove them. Republican legislators, who loudly claim they are all for freedom of speech, are working to change how library board members are appointed and challenging laws that protect librarians and teachers from prosecution should they be accused of sharing something someone could find offensive.<\/p>\n
Schools Slammed over Decision to Remove Bible, Anne Frank Adaptation<\/a><\/strong> (Newsweek)<\/p>\n
The Keller Independent School District spokesperson told Newsweek the Bible was challenged by a parent because of “inappropriate content including: sexual content, violence including rape, murder, human sacrifice, misogyny, homophobia, discrimination, and other inappropriate content.” Meanwhile, the graphic adaptation of Anne Frank’s Diary was challenged by a parent who requested moving the book to a high school level instead of young children, according to the spokesperson who added that the parent said that children’s mentality is “premature to understand the concept that is given in the book.”<\/p>\n
Will You Just Look At All This (Straight) Library Smut?<\/a><\/strong> (Wonkette)<\/p>\n
… the Jamestown Township defunded Patmos Library because the library was carrying some LGBTQ-themed books and a bunch of Christian Nationalists calling themselves “Jamestown Conservatives” were sad about it and worried that said books would
kill their children in cold blood<\/del> turn their children gay or bi or trans.<\/p>\nBook Bans, Lawsuits Resurgent 40 Years After \u2018Island Trees\u2019<\/a><\/strong> (Bloomberg Law)<\/p>\n
Forty years after the US Supreme Court ruled that school boards can\u2019t take books off library shelves simply because they disagree with ideas or viewpoints, book challenges have erupted anew as a political and cultural flashpoint.<\/p>\n
Wanted: Student Plaintiffs to Fight Back in Court Against Districts Removing Books<\/a><\/strong> (School Library Journal)<\/p>\n
The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE),<\/a> a nonpartisan\u00a0organization with a mission to defend and promote free speech, wants to help high school students strike back against school districts removing books from\u00a0libraries and classrooms\u2014and help solidify legal backing of the First Amendment right to access to books.<\/p>\n
School Librarians in Missouri Pull Books as New Law Allows Charges for ‘Eexplicit’ Material<\/a><\/strong> (St Louis Post-Dispatch)<\/p>\n
School librarians across Missouri are pulling books from shelves as they face the potential for criminal charges under a new state law banning \u201cexplicit sexual material.\u201d<\/p>\n
In Rare Move, School Librarian Fights Back in Court against Conservative Activists<\/a><\/strong> (NBC News)<\/p>\n
Amanda Jones, a librarian at a middle school in Denham Springs, Louisiana, filed a defamation lawsuit<\/a> Wednesday, arguing that Facebook pages run by Michael Lunsford and Ryan Thames falsely labeled her a pedophile who wants to teach 11-year-olds about anal sex.<\/p>\n
Schools Banned Books about Black Life. Black Kids Are Reading Anyway.<\/a><\/strong> (NBC News)<\/p>\n
Christina and Renee Ellis, students at Central York High School, a predominantly white school in Pennsylvania, helped reverse a book ban targeting the work of Black authors.<\/p>\n
115 Books in Collier Schools on LGBTQ+, Race and Sex Get Advisory Label<\/a><\/strong> (Naples FL Daily News)<\/p>\n
The books with advisory labels include those with LGBTQ+ characters, transgender characters,\u00a0characters of color, sexual content and some are\u00a0picture books for young children.<\/p>\n
Opinion: Salman Rushdie Has Risked His Life for Decades; U.S. Must Stand Up against Censorship, Too<\/a><\/strong> (KAKE.com, Wichita KS)<\/p>\n
Rushdie was prescient about the threats to freedom in the United States. On June 3, 2020, as then-President Donald Trump led a campaign built on fomenting racial division, Rushdie wrote in The Washington Post: “I have lived in the United States for 20 years and been a citizen for the past four. One of the most important reasons for becoming a citizen was my admiration for the ideas of freedom embodied in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Trump, whose regard for the Second Amendment is well known, needs reminding of the First, which, if I may help, states in part that ‘Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.’ “<\/p>\n
Students Lose Access to Books amid \u2018State-Sponsored Purging of Ideas\u2019<\/a> <\/strong>(Washington Post\/gift link)<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a state-sponsored purging of ideas and identities that has no precedent in the United States of America,\u201d said John Chrastka, EveryLibrary\u2019s executive director. \u201cWe\u2019re witnessing the silencing of stories and the suppressing of information [that will make] the next generation less able to function in society.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018I Am Not Upset. I\u2019m Enraged\u2019: Administration Asked School Librarian to Take Down Banned Books Display after One Parent Complained<\/a><\/strong> (Daily Dot)<\/p>\n
In a video with over 855,000 views, a Texas-based librarian at a Belton ISD middle school alleges that she was approached by her principal the day before school started. During this confrontation, he told her that she needed to take down a display that featured banned books in honor of Banned Books Week, held from Sept. 18 to 24.<\/p>\n
Katy ISD Police \u2018Examined\u2019 Library Book after Complaint Claimed It Was \u2018Harmful to Minors\u2019<\/a> <\/strong>(News of Canada)<\/p>\n
A Katy ISD police officer temporarily removed a copy of a book from a high school library last month as part of an investigation after a woman filed a criminal complaint alleging the district was providing \u201charmful\u201d materials to minors.<\/p>\n
The Brooklyn Public Library Gives Every Teenager in the U.S. Free Access to Books Getting Censored by American Schools<\/strong><\/a> (Open Culture)<\/p>\n
For a limited time, the library will offer a free eCard to any person aged 13 to 21 across the United States, allowing them free access to 500,000 digital books, including many censored books.<\/p>\n
Related:<\/em> Teacher Quits in Protest after Being Punished for
Banned Books Sign<\/del>Telling Her Students about It<\/a><\/strong> (Washington Post)<\/p>\nSummer Boismier only got through one day of the school year before a parent complained and administrators descended on her high school classroom to investigate. Days later, she quit in protest of a new Oklahoma law that restricts teaching about race and gender.<\/p>\n
YCRT! YGBSM Dept.<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\nA book about George Dawson, the grandson of a slave who learned to read at 98, is currently under review for removal by Carroll ISD.<\/p>\n
The school where the book is currently found? George Dawson Middle School. Story by @memangrum<\/a>.https:\/\/t.co\/DgocpAil9n<\/a> #txed<\/a> #tellEWA<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 ? Lauren McGaughy (@lmcgaughy) August 23, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n