Authors Discover Book Bans Four Years Later: Book Censorship News, September 6, 2024
This week’s research on book censorship news was tiring. It looked like this:
Stephen King has apparently changed his stance from telling kids to haul ass to get the books that are being banned in 2022* to being angry that his books are among those being banned. No action or information about book banning was included. He simply asked “what the fuck” about his books being banned in Florida.
The media fell over themselves to talk about this tweet, as if it were a profound moment in the four year, ongoing battle over books in American public schools and public libraries. King had “choice words” and was “stunned.”
Is he really? Has he really been living in such a removed part of American reality that he hasn’t seen a single headline about books being banned by the hundreds or thousands? Has he not seen the lawsuits being filed over book bans in several states? Has he not seen a single headline about legislation meant to fight book bans? What about the stories — so many of which went viral — about Idaho public libraries requiring parental permission slips for anyone under 18 to even be near the adult section? What about the 13 books banned by the state of Utah in public schools? There were several stories in The New York Times and Washington Post covering book bans and the ways in which public and school librarians have been putting their safety and livelihoods on the line in the name of ensuring kids could access books.
King wasn’t the only one to Columbus book bans in the past week. So, too, did Patricia Cornwell. She couldn’t believe one of her books was banned in Florida, either. “Are you kidding me?”
No, Patricia. No one is. No one has been making this up. You’ve just elected not to think about it until you were personally impacted. You could supply your over one million followers with action items or encourage them to show up to support the freedom to read in their own communities. But alas, you didn’t.
As we face down another marketing palooza about “Banned Books Week,” it’s important to emphasize that the opportunities for significant change and action exist. Incredible work is being done on the ground. But it is going to take people who have tremendous influence, like Cornwell and King, to actually spur their millions of followers to put action behind their social media outrage. They need not look at this through the lens of selfishness — both are white authors who have hardly faced the kind of erasure, discrimination, and blatant bigotry and racism targeting authors and young people for whom books that reflect their lives have been specifically targeted over the last several years — but remember that they could step up and be the allies in the movement that we have been screaming for since early 2021. The whiteness on display aligns far more with the missions of book banners than those on the ground fighting tooth and nail to ensure that every kid has the right to access books in their public schools and public libraries.
Imagine if instead of headlines about Stephen King saying “what the fuck?” about a thing that’s no secret, the headlines were about how King told his seven+ million followers to haul their asses to a library or school board meeting and defend the right to read? Imagine if he donated money to a group like Florida Freedom to Read so they could continue to mobilize in the state that has banned his books and continue to do the tireless work of tracking books banned in its school districts.
Absolutely none of this is secret or hidden. It’s loud. It’s easy to Google. There are so damn many resource guides to putting an end to book bans. The excuses are simply whiteness.
The fact of the matter is that those with privilege and power don’t have to care if it’s not about them. And even when it is about them, they only have to care about themselves because it actually doesn’t impact them much, if at all.
No one wants to be doing this work, especially as it is undermined again and again by people with power and by the media who only continues to fuel it.
Book Censorship News: September 6, 2024
Don’t be fooled by the shorter-than-usual list. Much of this week’s news went to talking about Stephen King, so it’s unclear how many stories of book censorship were simply not covered. The holiday this week also meant one day fewer with school and library board meetings.
- New policies in Pennridge Schools (PA), a hotbed for book censorship, will put more power into the hands of administration in determining a book’s appropriateness.
- A school board member who was recalled in Plattsmouth Schools (NE) over attempting to book bans was just appointed to the local library board.
- Lexington 1 Schools (SC) won’t have a local author’s book about the Colombia Holocaust in its schools, and the authors are shocked. I feel for them, but this is what the reality is, and it’s REAL.
- This story is paywalled for me, but it might not be for you. In Utah, conservatives are celebrating the 13 books banned in schools across the state — and they’re asking authors to repent.
- Also paywalled is a story about a parent who is angry that a teacher in Williams Field High School (AZ) assigned Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi in an Advanced Placement class.
- “Fitzhugh Lee is not a book banner. He wants to make this clear. But he’s very concerned about the content of some of the books at the Coronado High School and Coronado Middle School libraries, and he’s spent the last six months researching the topic. It’s one of the reasons he’s running for school board: he wants to empower parents and encourage more transparency on behalf of the district.” Spoiler alert: this California school board candidate wants to ban books.
- “There’s been a lot of misinformation out there about exactly what is being removed and for what basis,” Ragsdale said. “We’re not banning or censoring books in any way, shape or form that we’re not banning or censoring rated-R movies.” That’s what the Cobb County School District Superintendent (GA) said about the books he’s been banning from schools. Nice doublespeak there.
- This is a wonderfully composed letter from a community member who pays taxes to the Tillamook School District (OR) about why banning books in schools is terrible — and why she asked for a reversal of the ban the district imposed on How The Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent.
- A look behind Students Protecting Education, a student group pushing back against book bans. What began in New York has expanded to several other states.
- More information on the board takeover at Christian County Library Board (MO) and their plan to label all of the LGBTQ+ books in the collection. That’s just the start, folks. This group has plans and plans. They don’t like being called book banners or bigots, either.
- Campbell County Public Library (WY) made up a new section in the library called “new adult.” This was where they dumped the YA books they felt were inappropriate. Now, they’re moving one of the books they dumped there into a new “parenting” section. This is still censorship, and it’s also clear that the board has absolutely no effing idea what they are doing. Librarians don’t need to play shuffle the books every other week because they’re actual professionals. The losers are, of course, the taxpayers.
- Texas’s State Board of Education is hosting meetings this month to show off its new Bible-inspired curriculum. That’s not a joke or sarcasm — and the state is offering districts $40 per student to implement it. The same state can’t keep the power grid consistently operational, though.
- The judge in one of the lawsuits against Escambia County Schools (FL) heard arguments this week related to whether or not the
book bannersschool board members would have to testify abouttheir actions in banning bookscreating parental rights policy that removed a title from shelves. No decision has been made yet. - After the new book restriction policy in Corpus Christie Public Libraries (TX) were no longer proceeding following the last board meeting, suddenly they’re alive again. These potential policies would dismantle access to YA books and create limitations on what those under 17 could borrow or read in the library. Thanks, Moms For Liberty.
- Lehighton Area School District (PA) is listening to Moms For Liberty’s claim there’s pornography in the schools and that kids are cutting off their genitals because of them. As a result, the district is going to audit 33 LGBTQ+ books. Can’t make this up. The obsession with the far right on genitalia is sure as hell something more disturbing than a book about LGBTQ+ people existing in the world.
- The mom who challenged 93 books in Berkley County Schools (SC) is now running for school board.
- Lee County Schools (FL) haven’t gotten their fill with book challenges and bans. Now they want to ban anything in email signatures that isn’t a name or educational designation and ban “personal items” in the classrooms.
- Erie County (PA) is axing a bunch of library positions in the name of “the budget.” This is coming from city council, who you may remember is trying to sell off part of one of the libraries to a private Christian university in a power move.
*Here’s the open letter from 2022 published in Literary Activism to Stephen King and how that viral tweet damaged real, hard, thankless, exhausting, and painful work being done against book bans. The more things change, the more they stay the same.