Use the f-word; The Ink, October 1, 2024

 The Ink; Use the f-word

"Philosopher Jason Stanley talks about why fascists have mounted an attack on education, why universities haven't fought back, and how to resist."

Beaufort, South Carolina, schools return most books to shelves after attempt to ban 97; CBS News, March 3, 2024

Scott Pelley, CBS; Beaufort, South Carolina, schools return most books to shelves after attempt to ban 97

"Ruth-Naomi James: I'm a combat veteran, right? There's no way I went to Iraq thinking that when I moved back home, I would have to do this to make sure that the freedom that we fight for in this country is taken out of the hands of students and parents.

The final votes came this past December. Five books were judged too graphic in sex or violence. But 92 returned to the schools. Dick Geier says this lesson reaches beyond the classroom.

Dick Geier: Diversity brings tolerance. The more you understand what other people think and realize that what they say is important, but who they are, what their story, what their background is. The more you know that, the more you see the power of diversity. And then, be kind, and be understanding. And don't make judgments because you haven't lived their story. They have.

In the city that's lived a story of letters and learning, one book that was banned and restored was "The Fixer," a novel of antisemitism that won the Pulitzer prize. In its pages, the book's hero expresses this opinion, "There are no wrong books." "What's wrong is the fear of them."

As Moms for Liberty spreads, so does school turmoil; Salon, October 13, 2023

EVELYN NIEVES, Salon; As Moms for Liberty spreads, so does school turmoil

"What began in Florida in 2021 with three conservative women (two former school board members from neighboring counties and a current school board member) now claims 130,000 members in 300 chapters in 47 states. ...

But Liz Mikitarian, a retired Brevard County, Florida, kindergarten teacher and founder of STOP Moms for Liberty, says she tried seeking common ground with the group for a year. She posted comments on Moms for Liberty’s Facebook page. “I was looking for dialogue,” she said. “They weren’t interested.”

Mikitarian knew one of Moms for Liberty’s founders, Tina Descovich, who had been on the Brevard County school board before losing her seat in 2020. The connection didn’t help.

She says she attended increasingly unruly school board meetings as Moms for Liberty jelled. “They were saying they were seeing things in classrooms that were not going on,” Mikitarian said. When she objected, she said, things got ugly.

She says she was mocked and doxxed. “They started calling me a pedophile supporter. It was nuts. And I thought to myself: What is going on? Are there other people feeling this is a straight-out attack on public education? That’s when I started STOP Moms for Liberty.”

The group, she said, now has chapters in over 40 states. Unlike Moms for Liberty, STOP Moms is unincorporated and has no paid staff or funding. Its growth, Mikitarian said, has come through social media."

What's behind the national surge in book bans? A low-tech website tied to Moms for Liberty; USA Today, October 5, 2023

Will CarlessChris UlleryAlia Wong, USA Today ; What's behind the national surge in book bans? A low-tech website tied to Moms for Liberty

"These so-called challenges appeared to begin locally, with no obvious connections. But they shared a common thread: The book review material submitted by local parents was not written by those parents. 

Instead, it was taken word for word from a website called BookLooks.org.

The site launched in 2022 to showcase a book-rating system that has also been used by right-wing political activist group Moms for Liberty. It bills itself as a resource for parents, and claims not to be pushing political action: ”We do not support ‘banning’ books,” the site says. 

In less than two years, BookLooks has become the go-to resource for anyone seeking to ban books – especially books about gay people or sexuality – from school and public libraries, according to researchers, library experts and a USA TODAY analysis of book-ban attempts nationwide. 

Across at least a dozen states, USA TODAY found attempts to remove hundreds of book titles that directly cited BookLooks reviews."

CMS bans ‘Banned Book Week,’ citing North Carolina’s parents’ rights bill; WFAE 90.7, September 29, 2023

Ann Doss Helms , WFAE 90.7; CMS bans ‘Banned Book [sic] Week,’ citing North Carolina’s parents’ rights bill

"The American Library Association celebrates Banned Book [sic] Week next week — but it’s been banned in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and could face challenges across North Carolina.

The library association uses the week to celebrate freedom to read and to talk about attempts to censor books. But at a time when parents’ rights groups across the country are asking that books be removed or restricted, CMS has told principals to cancel any events or messages linked to Banned Book Week...

Groups that have recently challenged books in North Carolina include Moms for Liberty, Mama Bears of Catawba County and Pavement Education Project, based in Wake County. They have asked that books containing profanity, sexual content and other material they deem offensive be removed from libraries or restricted to students whose parents have consented.

The American Library Association itself has come under fire by some who say it’s defending inappropriate books. Colleen Miller of the Pavement Education Project told WFAE on Friday that the association’s leaders are engaged in “promotion of the LGBTQ ideology and other Marxist theories.”"

Moms for Liberty is winning its fight to remove books from one Maryland school district; The Baltimore Banner, September 13, 2023

Kristen Griffith , The Baltimore Banner; Moms for Liberty is winning its fight to remove books from one Maryland school district

"Carroll County is among a growing number of Maryland school systems seeing pushes to remove books from their libraries as a national movement takes root here. The American Library Association reported in March that 2022 saw the highest number of book challenges since the organization was founded 20 years ago. The 1,269 attempts nearly double the challenges in 2021.

The Maryland Association of School Librarians has supported librarians facing book challenges in Wicomico, Worcester, Calvert, Somerset and Baltimore counties. But Carroll is the only one to change its book selection procedure in response."

DeSantis names Moms for Liberty co-founder to Florida ethics panel; Politico, September 6, 2023

 ANDREW ATTERBURY, Politico; DeSantis names Moms for Liberty co-founder to Florida ethics panel

"Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday appointed Tina Descovich, a co-founder of the conservative parental rights group Moms for Liberty, to the Florida Commission on Ethics.

The move gives the Republican governor a staunch GOP ally on the panel responsible for weighing complaints against public officials in the state, which recently saw one remember resign after a conflict-of-interest violation. Aside from organizing the growing — and maligned — parental advocacy group, Descovich is a former school board member and runs a Florida political committee that helped some conservatives win local education elections in 2022."

‘There won’t be libraries left’: how a Florida county became the book ban heartland of the US; The Guardian, August 19, 2023

Jordan Blumetti , The Guardian; ‘There won’t be libraries left’: how a Florida county became the book ban heartland of the US

"Clay county has become a flashpoint in the state of Florida on the topic of book challenges. According to recent tallies, more than 175 books have been permanently removed from its public school libraries – a number which ranks among the highest of any county in the US – and hundreds more remain unavailable to students due to a policy unique to the county, requiring that books are pulled from shelves as soon as a challenge form is filed with the school district. Conservative activists from two organizations have seized on that policy, often filing multiple challenge forms at a time, which inundates the systems and committees that process the claims.

“The biggest issue facing Clay county right now is the backlog of challenges and the huge political divide that’s driving it. No other county is dealing with a similar problem,” says Jen Cousins, co-founder of the Florida Freedom to Read Project (FFTRP) and a mother of four. “They’re creating fake outrage over what’s available in libraries.”"

Objection to sexual, LGBTQ content propels spike in book challenges; The Washington Post, May 23, 2023

Hannah Natanson , The Washington Post; Objection to sexual, LGBTQ content propels spike in book challenges

"The Post requested copies of all book challenges filed in the 2021-2022 school year with the 153 school districts that Tasslyn Magnusson, a researcher employed by free expression advocacy group PEN America, tracked as receiving formal requests to remove books last school year. In total, officials in more than 100 of those school systems, which are spread across 37 states, provided 1,065 complaints totaling 2,506 pages...

A small number of people were responsible for most of the book challenges, The Post found. Individuals who filed 10 or more complaints were responsible for two-thirds of all challenges. In some cases, these serial filers relied on a network of volunteers gathered together under the aegis of conservative parents’ groups such as Moms for Liberty."

War of words: The fight over banning books; CBS News, Sunday Morning, April 23, 2023

MARTHA TEICHNER, CBS News, Sunday Morning; War of words: The fight over banning books

""Stop it!" said cartoonist Art Spiegelman. "I mean, talk about Orwellian, you know? Calling this organization Moms for Liberty, when it's actually for suppression, is about as basic as you could find in '1984,' which I think is listed as a young adult novel still, and probably has been banned in lots of places."

Spiegelman has been speaking out ever since the McMinn County, Tennessee school board voted unanimously last year to ban "Maus," his Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel about the Holocaust, citing violence, profanity, and (because of the below, right image) nudity. 

Spiegelman said, "I think it's possible for an adult to say, 'I don't want my kid reading that book in class.' But to forbid the other kids from reading it or taking it out of the library? That's not liberty; that's suppression and authoritarianism."

Spiegelman says: fight back. "Kick out the damn school boards," he said, "and get school boards in that are more nuanced in what they're doing; getting involved in local politics as necessary to try to protect libraries' funding and schools' needs, instead of making it such a low priority.""

Plot twist: Activists skirt book bans with guerrilla giveaways and pop-up libraries; NPR, March 23, 2023

Tovia Smith, NPR ; Plot twist: Activists skirt book bans with guerrilla giveaways and pop-up libraries

"It hasn't gone unnoticed by groups behind the book bans that the more books are pulled from school shelves, the more they pop up elsewhere, like a game of whack-a-mole.

"One hundred percent it concerns me, says Tiffany Justice, co-founder of Moms For Liberty, a group that has been behind many of the bans. "I think it's so messed up that so many people want to show children all this explicit graphic content," she says.

As an organization, Justice says, her group is singularly focused on controlling the books in schools. But personally, she says, she hopes prosecutors will crack down on what she calls illegal distribution of pornography by activists outside of schools."