{"id":36059,"date":"2025-05-03T10:35:05","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T17:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=36059"},"modified":"2025-05-03T10:35:56","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T17:35:56","slug":"you-cant-read-that-125","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=36059","title":{"rendered":"You Can&#8217;t Read That!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>You Can\u2019t Read That! is a periodic post about book banning and censorship. YCRT! features news and opinion roundups, commentary, history, and reviews.<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"491452820_17877106749314818_7060216248570263217_n\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/halfmind\/54493865903\/in\/datetaken-public\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54493865903_19dea8e94a_o.jpg\" alt=\"491452820_17877106749314818_7060216248570263217_n\" width=\"567\" height=\"567\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h4>YCRT! Rant<\/h4>\n<p>This dystopian PSA originally aired in 2002. It&#8217;s 2025 now: picture the student in a midshipman&#8217;s uniform; the setting as the United States Naval Academy&#8217;s Nimitz Library. Are we there? Baby, <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebaltimorebanner.com\/community\/local-news\/naval-academy-list-book-banned-library-ZQKY5R2ZQBDLNOZA4C3W6YYE3M\/\">we&#8217;re there<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet tw-align-center\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Just 23 years later. ? <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6lSeHO2ATW\">pic.twitter.com\/6lSeHO2ATW<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ryan Shead (@RyanShead) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RyanShead\/status\/1900067794118746474?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 13, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>YCRT! News Roundup<\/h4>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/americanlibrariesmagazine.org\/2025\/04\/30\/100-days-into-the-trump-administration\/\"><strong>100 Days Into the Trump Administration: Libraries Weather Attacks and Fight Back<\/strong><\/a> (American Libraries)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">This week marks 100 days since President Trump\u2019s January 20 inauguration. It has also been approximately 45 days since Trump signed the March 14 executive order that called for stripping the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) down to its \u201cnon-statutory and component functions.\u201d [&#8230;] Meanwhile, censorship attempts persist, IMLS staffers have been placed on leave, previously granted IMLS funding has been canceled, and library staffers continue to make difficult decisions about how to best maintain services for their communities.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.click2houston.com\/news\/local\/2025\/04\/28\/cy-fair-isds-school-board-removed-chapters-in-books-on-climate-change-vaccines-and-diversity-despite-state-approval\/\"><strong>Cy-Fair Isd\u2019s School Board Removed Chapters in Books on Climate Change, Vaccines, and Diversity Despite State Approval<\/strong><\/a> (Click2Houston.com)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">The excluded chapters cover topics that include global warming, diversity, and vaccines &#8212; subjects some consider fundamental to a modern education. The directive has resulted in a unique challenge for teachers: how to teach required state standards without using the state-approved materials that originally covered those standards.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/military-brats-slap-pete-hegseth-with-a-lawsuit-over-book-removals\/?utm_source=flipboard&amp;utm_content=topic%2Fpolitics\"><strong>Military Brats Slap Pete Hegseth with a Lawsuit over Book Removals<\/strong><\/a> (Daily Beast)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">The lawsuit, filed on the students\u2019 behalf by the American Civil Liberties Union, alleges that their First Amendment rights are being infringed by the decision, which they argue places children in danger by depriving them of important information about health, hygiene, biology, and abuse.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/popular.info\/p\/trump-allies-deploy-book-banning?r=2ll2cz&amp;amp%3Butm_campaign=post&amp;amp%3Butm_medium=email&amp;triedRedirect=true\"><strong>Trump Allies Deploy \u201cBook-Banning Pastor\u201d to School Districts Across the Country<\/strong><\/a> (Popular Information)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">In April 2023, Amanchukwu attended a meeting of the Wake County Board of Education in his home state of North Carolina with then-candidate for state superintendent Michele Morrow and other local activists. In his comments, Amanchukwu said that inappropriate books were being &#8220;purchased and delivered&#8221; to local schools as part of a plot by the &#8220;Democrat Party&#8221; that &#8220;castrates children, mutilates children, perverts children, grooms children, murders children, and indoctrinates children.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/rochesterbeacon.com\/2025\/02\/27\/battle-over-books\/?utm_source=flipboard&amp;utm_content=topic%2Flibrarianship\"><strong>Battle over Books<\/strong><\/a> (Rochester Beacon)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Last month, Penfield parent Jennifer Selever shared her concerns at a school board meeting about books in her fifth grader\u2019s school library. One of them, \u201cThe Rainbow Parade,\u201d contained age-inappropriate imagery, she contends. Selever\u2019s complaints about the picture book, which tells the story of a family\u2019s first time at a LGBTQ+ pride parade, include images of the naked backside of a man and two other men in leather harness outfits.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/04\/07\/nx-s1-5354808\/banned-books-library-most-challenged?utm_source=flipboard&amp;utm_content=topic\/books\"><strong>\u2018All Boys Aren\u2019t Blue\u2019 Tops the Ala\u2019s List of Most Challenged Books<\/strong><\/a> (NPR)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">George M. Johnson&#8217;s memoir All Boys Aren&#8217;t Blue has been a target of book challenges for years. According to a new report by the American Library Association (ALA), it was the most challenged book of 2024.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.huffpost.com\/entry\/librarians-trump-administration-cuts_l_67e59789e4b0455df70b3aa2\"><strong>Librarians Are Mad as Hell at the Trump Administration. They Think You Should Be, Too.<\/strong><\/a> (HuffPost)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">The attack on public libraries is another example of how Trump has never had to rely on government services and \u201cfinds no value in them,\u201d Schram said. \u201cIt is a stark reminder of how easy it is for someone who has apparently never utilized the services that libraries provide, to deprive those who desperately need those services from accessing them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/library-content-battles-alabama-funding-571d58e060fbe0b25b2317a0bf99c467\"><strong>Alabama Board Defunds Local Library After Complaints over \u2018Inappropriate\u2019 Books<\/strong><\/a> (AP)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">The Alabama Public Library Service Board of Trustees voted Thursday to withhold state funding from the Fairhope Public Library after complaints from conservative parents about books in the teen section. In the same meeting, the board voted to immediately dismiss the executive director of the state library agency, who had been planning to resign.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2025\/apr\/01\/new-book-bans-library-schools\"><strong>Rightwing Groups Across Us Push New Bans to Limit \u2018Obscene\u2019 Books in Libraries<\/strong><\/a> (The Guardian)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">There are at least 112 proposed state bills concerning school \u2013 and public \u2013 libraries that seek to expand the definition of what is deemed obscene or \u201charmful to minors\u201d and to limit librarian staff\u2019s ability to determine which books are in their collections, according to the American Library Association. Judges have already declared some recent laws that banned books unconstitutional and if approved, the other legislation would probably face court challenges.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/popular.info\/p\/texas-lawmakers-advance-bill-that?r=3paaol&amp;amp%3Butm_medium=ios&amp;amp%3Bfbclid=IwY2xjawJPs11leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHboXTbnaRJ5Da4clyOtillJlHkSMnoimG4ywc3OZkP8wMwhHt_goL3q0Yw_aem_byQxg9ulYQOeLgy-wSTtyQ&amp;amp%3BtriedRedirect=true\"><strong>Texas Lawmakers Advance Bill That Makes It a Crime for Teachers to Assign \u201cCatcher in the Rye\u201d<\/strong><\/a> (Popular Information)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 40px;\">Lawmakers in Texas are seeking to impose harsh criminal penalties on school librarians and teachers who provide award-winning works of literature to students. Identical bills in the Texas Senate and House would make it a crime for librarians and teachers to provide books or learning materials that contain sexually explicit content, punishable by up to 10 years behind bars \u2014 whether or not a book has educational or literary merit.<\/p>\n<h4>YCRT! Rumor Mill<\/h4>\n<p>Would anyone be surprised if this turns out to be true? We all know they&#8217;re not going to stop with school and college libraries, or public libraries either. They&#8217;re coming for bookstores, too, and Trump&#8217;s hostility toward Amazon is a known known, widely reported. Will Bezos cave like some small-town Texas school board director?<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"IMG_2379\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/halfmind\/54492735487\/in\/datetaken-public\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54492735487_7fe15ee72b_z.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_2379\" width=\"640\" height=\"542\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>p.s. AWS=Amazon Web Services<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You Can\u2019t Read That! is a periodic post about book banning and censorship. 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