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There are a lot of bad takes this week on the whys and hows of the growing firestorm of book challenges. Im not going to link to them, but the reality is this isnt new, media thats reporting on firsts for any area are behind the curve by months (thanks, death of local journalism), and no, its not school boards who are willy nilly banning books. These complaints are coming from grown adults who may or may not live in a community and more often than not, theyre aligned with right-wing groups funded by a lot of dark money. Moms of Liberty currently putting a bounty on teachers who talk about systemic racism is but one of many of such groups across the United States, typically spearheaded by a failed or hopeful politician. They share information across public and private social media tools (heres a great example of an extremist group gearing up their followers to at protest one school board meeting this week). These groups put board members in a position of being on the defense, and in many cases board members need to be escorted to their vehicles after a meeting because their literal safety is at risk.

Are there folks on the inside starting these censorship calls? Sure. But the vast majority are not, and in a not-insignificant number of cases lately, the adults who are complaining arent parents of students in the district.

Rather than offer any insights or clear up any misconceptions roaring around this weeks censorship news, Im just going to list them. In many ways, this is a really useful way to see just how widespread this issue is. Im going to miss many stories, and thats part of the point: its impossible to keep up. Note that this may be mostly not-great news, but there ARE some positive developments here.

As always, heres the tool kit for what you can do to combat censorship in your community and beyond. Spend an hour this weekend writing letters, planning a visit to your local school and library board meetings in support of intellectual freedom, and requesting books for and from your local library.

Something else to be aware of: the same groups that are pushing anti-antiracism with their anti-CRT movement that conveniently includes anyone who isnt straight, too, is going to start coming hard for mental health. Theyre already protesting social emotional learning, and the next logical step is the books that talk about mental health. (This is, of course, the same groups that complain students are miserable and why wont anyone help them. The fault lies, conveniently, in mask mandates or virtual learning or any other anti-science scapegoat).

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Two more links before the mega list: a comic about some light book banning and George M. Johnson responds to their book being challenged and banned on MSNBC.

Lets end with something that feels like the right place to end. Malinda Lo, who took home the honor of National Book Award winner in this years category for Young Peoples Literature with her queer, Asian American historical novel Last Night at the Telegraph Club, shared a powerful message about censorship going on right now. The parallels to some of the discussions in her book to whats happening across the country with censorship are chilling:

See original here:
Wake Up: The Censorship Has Been Alive Forever. Its at Fever Pitch Today. - Book Riot