Russia shares AI images of Hurricane Milton as disinformation abounds in US; The Guardian, October 10, 2024

 Ben Makuch, The Guardian; Russia shares AI images of Hurricane Milton as disinformation abounds in US

"On Thursday morning, pictures were circulating on X, formerly Twitter, showing a flooded promenade at Disney World in Orlando with the Cinderella castle at its center.

“Hurricane Milton has flooded Disney World in Orlando,” wrote one known vector of disinformation on X, with the photos, which X users immediately noted was probably created using an automated AI image creator. The post has already been viewed over 300,000 times.

Other versions of the same, allegedly deceptive post were also translated into Spanish and other languages then spread across X. The platform has added a warning indicating the images are AI-generated fakes.

Still, that didn’t stop RIA Novosti, one of Russia’s top state-owned news agencies from reposting the images to its official Telegram channel."

AS NATIONWIDE BOOK BANS TOP 10,000, RASKIN, SCHATZ INTRODUCE BICAMERAL RESOLUTION CONDEMNING BOOK BANS; Jamie Raskin Press Release, September 25, 2024

Jamie Raskin, Press Release; AS NATIONWIDE BOOK BANS TOP 10,000, RASKIN, SCHATZ INTRODUCE BICAMERAL RESOLUTION CONDEMNING BOOK BANS

"Today, Congressman Jamie Raskin (MD-08) and Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) reintroduced a resolution condemning an escalating censorship crisis that has removed and targeted thousands of books from the shelves of schools, libraries and universities across the country.  

The bicameral resolution, coinciding with Banned Books Week, reinforces congressional recognition of students’ First Amendment rights and affirms that the freedom to read is essential to a strong democracy. In the 2023-2024 school year alone, PEN America documented over 10,000 instances of individual books being banned, nearly triple the previous academic year. Many bans have removed books from public shelves with characteristics that would be targeted by Project 2025, which additionally proposes labeling teachers and librarians who distribute such books as sex offenders. 

“By filling our libraries with a diversity of stories, we help our students understand new perspectives rather than suppressing their freedom to think, read and write independently,” said Rep. Raskin. “We must close this chapter of censorship and, rather than continuing to take a page from the world’s dictators and autocrats, turn our attention to the resources students need to succeed. I am grateful to Senator Schatz for his partnership on this resolution.” 

“Any attempt to ban books because someone has an ideological disagreement or doesn’t believe in capturing the full scope of history is un-American,” said Senator Schatz. “Freedom of expression is a founding principle of our country, and it's up to all of us to stand up against these attacks on this fundamental right.”

According to findings from PEN America and the American Library Association, targeted books include classics like To Kill A Mockingbird, 1984, and The Handmaid’s Tale. Books are also more likely to be removed if they feature content related to the LGBTQIA+ experience, race or racial injustice or stories about grief and abuse...

Read what more supporters and advocates are saying about the resolution here. 

“Keep your nose in a book—and keep other people’s noses out of which books you choose to stick your nose into!” said Art Spiegelman, author and illustrator of Maus and other works...

"When we ban books, we aren’t simply just removing access to certain stories. We are telling groups of people that their stories don’t matter, which is to say their existence as human beings doesn’t matter either," said George M. Johnson, author of ALL BOYS AREN'T BLUE and FLAMBOYANTS: THE QUEER HARLEM RENAISSANCE I WISH I'D KNOWN."

Activists ‘fight against censorship’ in the largest US book bans: prisons; The Guardian, September 27, 2024

Olivia Empson, The Guardian; Activists ‘fight against censorship’ in the largest US book bans: prisons

 "In recent years the issue of book bans has become a major story in the US, often driven by socially conservative pressure groups, but nowhere has the impact of bans been felt more acutely than in America’s enormous prison population, activists and campaigners say.

Books can serve as vital connections to the outside world for incarcerated individuals, yet they are frequently censored in US prisons. Campaigners are advocating for public library catalogs to be accessible on carceral tablets.

“We are adults in these prisons, and we’re told that we can’t read this, we can’t read that, we can’t read this book, we can’t see that article, and we’re like, ‘For what reason?’” Stevie Wilson, who is currently incarcerated in Pennsylvania, told the Guardian.

“We need people out there to know that, and we need them to join us in our fight against censorship.”

Prison Banned Books Week – which has just ended – is one of many initiatives in the past few years that have sought to raise awareness about the rise of literary censorship in the US. While book bans in schools and public libraries are frequently reported on and widely acknowledged, relatively less is known about the extent to which literary censorship affects those imprisoned.

A Marshall Project report originally published in 2022 found that about half of states said they had book policies and lists of banned publications containing over 50,000 titles. Other states don’t keep lists, meaning books can only enter facilities on a case-by-case basis with inconsistent rules and little oversight."

"Feedback effects": The real censorship caused by fake "cancel culture" outrage; Salon, October 8, 2024

 Amanda Marcotte, Salon; "Feedback effects": The real censorship caused by fake "cancel culture" outrage

"Cancel culture" is a phantasm. Yes, as any true believer will insist, there have been cases where a person saw consequences — such as being suspended for a year from a plum teaching gig — for "political incorrectness." A deeper look, however, often shows that what is being sold as "free speech" is instead repeated abuse of colleagues or students. More often, it's outrage at being yelled at online, as we see with self-described cancellation victims like J.K. Rowling or Elon Musk. In many cases, the "cancellation" is pure myth, such as when a few students complained about bad food at the Oberlin cafeteria, and the press decided it was "wokeness" and not good taste driving anger that limp pork sandwiches were being passed off as "bánh mì."

In his new book "The Cancel Culture Panic: How an American Obsession Went Global," Stanford professor Adrian Daub argues that the hysterics over this alleged trend amount to a moral panic. Worse, fretting about the mythical excesses of youthful leftists has created a pretext for the right to engage in real assaults on free speech, such as banning books for being "woke" or shutting down student protests. But conservatives get away with it because so much of the press — not just in the U.S., but in Europe as well — would rather feed centrist audiences a steady diet of "cancel culture" panic.

Daub spoke with Salon about his book and whether it's "politically correct" to want your bánh mì to taste like a real bánh mì."

'Enraging': Republicans ‘suddenly’ see disinformation problem amid hurricane crisis; MSNBC, October 9, 2024

 MSNBC; 'Enraging': Republicans ‘suddenly’ see disinformation problem amid hurricane crisis

"Republicans "suddenly see a conflict between the welfare of their constituents and the toxic effect of their party's propaganda," says Chris Hayes on GOP officials debunking hurricane disinformation spread by members of their own party."

Meteorologists battle flood of misinformation as they report on Milton; The Washington Post, October 9, 2024

Maham Javaid

 and 

Kim Bellware

, The Washington Post; 

Meteorologists battle flood of misinformation as they report on Milton

"Several meteorologists and climate scientists told The Washington Post that they have spent decades warning about how climate change will lead to extreme weather events such as Milton. But the struggle to disseminate information in a fractured media environment has been worsened by an aggressive flood of misinformation, they say.

“This is by far the worst misinformation [for a] weather event I’ve ever seen in my career,” said Katie Nickolaou, a meteorologist with CBS affiliate WLNS in Lansing, Mich. “Because of Helene, you have so many people who now want to pretend to be experts or people who, as I put it, cosplay as meteorologists.”

Nickolaou said social media has become a hostile environment for scientists. On the meteorologist’s Facebook page Tuesday, a user “recommended murdering people to stop these hurricanes” — which Nickolaou understood as a reference to the conspiracy theory that the government or meteorologists are controlling hurricanes."

Inside the White House’s desperate scramble to swat down hurricane misinformation; CNN, October 9, 2024

Priscilla Alvarez, Sean Lyngaas, Kayla Tausche and Pete Muntean, , CNN; Inside the White House’s desperate scramble to swat down hurricane misinformation

"In the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, senior Biden administration officials raced to engage in a round-the-clock effort to respond to what appeared to be an unprecedented amount of misinformation circling about the storm and the federal response to it.

Meetings were quickly convened across government to try to solve for the alarming rise in false information – from claims about funds being directed to migrant services instead of recovery to allegations that survivors were only eligible for little assistance – that have in part been amplified by Elon Musk and former President Donald Trump.

“This has been a galvanizing moment for the White House and the federal government because of just the outright lying and spreading of lies,” one US official said."

Biden Accuses Trump of ‘Outright Lies’ About Hurricane Response; The New York Times, October 9, 2024

 Michael D. Shear, The New York Times; Biden Accuses Trump of ‘Outright Lies’ About Hurricane Response

"President Biden on Wednesday accused former President Donald J. Trump of “outright lies” regarding the federal government’s response to Hurricane Helene, causing morale issues among emergency medical workers and confusing victims of the storm.

Mr. Biden lashed out at the former president and Republican lawmakers as he participated in a briefing from federal officials about Hurricane Milton, which is expected to slam into Florida’s west coast just two weeks after Helene hit the state.

“The last few weeks, there’s been a reckless, irresponsible and relentless promotion of disinformation and outright lies,” Mr. Biden said. “It’s undermining confidence in the incredible rescue and recovery work that has already been taken and will continue to be taken. It’s harmful to those who need help the most.”

Mr. Trump, who is seeking a second term in the White House, and his running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, have made accusations about the government’s response that have repeatedly been debunked by local, state and federal authorities in the disaster areas."

North Carolina Republican pushes back on hurricane misinformation: "Nobody can control the weather"; CBS News, October 8, 2024

Caitlin Yilek, CBS News; North Carolina Republican pushes back on hurricane misinformation: "Nobody can control the weather"

"Rep. Chuck Edwards, a North Carolina Republican, sent a letter to his constituents debunking the misinformation and conspiracy theories that have spread in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, telling them, "Nobody can control the weather." 

Edwards, who represents western North Carolina, which was devastated by Hurricane Helene, urged his constituents not to believe everything they see on social media and noted there's been an increase in "untrustworthy sources trying to spark chaos by sharing hoaxes, conspiracy theories, and hearsay about hurricane response efforts across our mountains." 

"Please make sure you are fact checking what you read online with a reputable source," he wrote. 

Some of the most bizarre conspiracy theories that have spread online claimed politicians manipulated the weather to target Republicans areas in the battleground state and that the federal government was trying to seize land in the town of Chimney Rock to mine lithium."

FEMA Chief: Hurricane Misinformation Is ‘Worst That I Have Ever Seen’; The New York Times, October 8, 2024

Stuart A. Thompson , The New York Times; FEMA Chief: Hurricane Misinformation Is ‘Worst That I Have Ever Seen’

"Disaster relief officials have issued several warnings this week that falsehoods and rumors spreading online about the government’s response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton have harmed relief efforts.

Former President Donald J. Trump and other prominent conservatives have spread several false claims about the federal response to Helene in recent days. Deanne Criswell, the administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said on Tuesday that the claims had made the agency a target of partisan rebuke and put lives at risk.

“It’s absolutely the worst that I have ever seen,” Ms. Criswell said during a phone call with reporters on Tuesday morning.

Misinformation and rumors often circulate amid natural disasters, as information is scarce and tensions are high. But the scale and speed of falsehoods that have circulated during Helene and Milton have surprised officials, including Ms. Criswell, who said on Tuesday that she had “anticipated some of this, but not to the extent that we’re seeing.”

The Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a research group that studies online platforms, found that debunked claims about Hurricane Helene and FEMA’s response were circulating widely on X, the platform owned by Elon Musk that has increasingly become a haven for misinformation. The group found that just 33 posts containing claims debunked by government sources were seen more than 160 million times by Monday."

Elon Musk is piling onto all the hurricane disinformation, hampering relief efforts; Politico, October 8, 2024

ADAM ATON and SCOTT WALDMAN, Politico; Elon Musk is piling onto all the hurricane disinformation, hampering relief efforts

"Elon Musk is using his social media network to spread election conspiracy theories about U.S. disasters — just as online falsehoods are complicating the federal response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton...

Falsehoods about natural disasters complicate the logistics of disaster response, which can hinge on survivors cooperating with a patchwork of authorities, the FEMA leaders said this week. They warned that conspiracy theories have already hampered the work of rescue and recovery...

Republicans, Democrats and nonpartisan officials have pushed back on the claims from Musk — as well those from Trump, who has gone even further and falsely accused Democrats of blocking aid to Republican-leaning areas. GOP officials in those areas say federal agencies and officials have been in close contact...

Musk’s amplification of conspiracies comes as he prepares to hit the campaign trail for Trump in the next month before November’s election, with a focus on Pennsylvania...

After their conversation Friday, Musk thanked Buttigieg on X: “Just wanted to note that Sec Buttigieg is on the ball.” And in a Monday interview with Tucker Carlson on X, Musk credited Buttigieg with waiving “insane” flight planning requirements.

“I want to give Buttigieg some credit here,” Musk said. “When I complained about it, he reacted in a very levelheaded way. And he reached out to me, and he called me. And we discussed the issue, got to the bottom of it, and he fixed it.”...

Internationally, Musk and his social media company have faced penalties for what other governments have described as disinformation and hate speech." 

Removing Books From Libraries Often Takes Debate. But There’s a Quieter Way.; The New York Times, October 8, 2024

Elizabeth A. Harris , The New York Times; Removing Books From Libraries Often Takes Debate. But There’s a Quieter Way.

"Thousands of books have been removed from schools and libraries over the past several years, often accompanied by stormy public meetings and acrimonious debate. But there is a quieter way books have been pulled from libraries — a process called weeding.

The practice is standard for librarians, a regular part of keeping their collections current. Traditionally, weeding involves removing books that are damaged, out of date or haven’t been checked out in a long time. This makes room for new editions and titles that are of more interest to the community.

Now, three years into surge in challenges and removals of books from libraries, weeding is sometimes being used to remove books because of the viewpoint they express or the story they tell. The issue is now working its way through the court system.

Advocates say that, increasingly, administrators and library board officials are using this approach to avoid the public spectacle of formally pulling them because of their content."

How Book Bans Happen Under the Radar; The New York Times, October 8, 2024

Elizabeth Harris, Farah Otero-Amad, Karen Hanley, Claire Hogan, Laura Salaberry and Gabriel Blanco , The New York Times; How Book Bans Happen Under the Radar

"Thousands of books have been publicly challenged and removed from libraries in the past couple of years. Elizabeth Harris, who covers books and the publishing industry for The New York Times, explains how books are being pulled from libraries in a quiet process called weeding. Weeding normally allows librarians to keep collections current, but some lawsuits argue that it has been used instead to remove books for content about racism, sexuality and gender."

AI Put on Trial in ‘Life or Death’ Police Tech Clashes; Bloomberg Law, October 4, 2024

 Alex Ebert, Bloomberg Law; AI Put on Trial in ‘Life or Death’ Police Tech Clashes

"Lawyers across the country who believe their clients have been wrongly implicated by a new technology are forced to wage individual battles against companies keen to keep their intellectual property under wraps...

Business sends “law firms into criminal courtrooms and they’re telling us, ‘My R&D to develop this for three years is more important and precious than the liberty your client is losing,’” said Cynthia Conti-Cook.

Conti-Cook, the director of research and policy at the Surveillance Resistance Lab, is part of a nationwide network of defense lawyers, academics, technologists, and policy strategists who share data, briefs, and tactics in an effort to push back against legal tech in court. Sometimes just getting access to this data can be enough of a bargaining chip for defense lawyers to get strong plea offers from prosecutors.

“When they sent their white shoe law firms into court to say ‘trade secret,’” she said, “our attorneys weren’t ready to say, ‘No, it’s not,’ and the judges weren’t ready to say, ‘No, it’s not.”

That’s starting to change."

THE EQUALIZER; The Washington Post, October 8, 2024

Sarah Vowell , The Washington Post; THE EQUALIZER

"NARA Chief Innovation Officer Pamela Wright, a graduate of the University of Montana, grew up on a ranch outside Conrad. “My job,” she explained, “is to find the most efficient and effective ways to share the records of the National Archives with the public online. NARA has been in the business of providing in-person access to the permanent federal records of the U.S. government for decades, and we are pretty good at it.” She added, “We are still expanding and improving our digital offerings” — so far, about 300 million of NARA’s more than 13 billion records have been scanned and posted to the internet — “but now my family in Montana can easily access census records, military records and many other pertinent records from home.”

It makes a weird kind of sense that the government worker who understands the value of providing online advice and information to far-flung Americans, and who is driven to connect the citizens of the hinterlands to their own stories as told in our collective federal records, is a woman whose hometown is a 32-hour drive from a reference desk in D.C."

Maricopa election officials work to restore belief in the ballot as some continue to sow doubt in elections; 60 Minutes, October 7, 2024

Scott Pelley , 60 Minutes; Maricopa election officials work to restore belief in the ballot as some continue to sow doubt in elections

"Shelby Busch started a political action committee which investigates what she calls widespread fraud in Maricopa County—fraud no credible investigation has found. She's taken in nearly a million dollars in donations for the work of her PAC. And the Arizona Republican Party awarded her the leadership of its delegation at last summer's national convention...

Busch still questions whether signature verification was proper and whether some ballots were collected illegally. She's an administrator in a medical practice.

Scott Pelley: You're self-educated--

Shelby Busch: That's correct--

Scott Pelley: --when it comes to elections.

Shelby Busch: That's correct.

Scott Pelley: In a recent case a judge disqualified you from testifying in the case because he said you were, quote, "Obviously unqualified... not even in the ballpark."

Shelby Busch: That's one judge's opinion. who is a radical leftist who is legislating from the bench and I don't believe that it had any merit in my credibility whatsoever.

Scott Pelley: Is there a danger in undermining people's faith in the election system by persisting with these conspiracy theories that no one has been able to validate?

Shelby Busch: Again, I'm going to disagree with you, sir, respectfully-- it has been validated. And because--

Scott Pelley: Where? By whom?

Shelby Busch: The election officials--

Scott Pelley: Give me-- give me a court case. Give me something.

Shelby Busch: I don't need a government official with a vested interest in disproving information to tell me whether what I have is valid. It's up to each individual citizen, as a member of this society, to review the evidence, to think for themselves and make those decisions.

Scott Pelley: It's valid 'cause you say it is.

Shelby Busch: I say it's valid because I say it is. And if somebody looks at it, they can determine whether it's valid. The evidence speaks for itself. Data does not lie. Data doesn't lie. Election officials do."

Authors Guild to offer “Human Authored” label on books to compete with AI; Marketplace.org, October 7, 2024

 Matt Levin, Marketplace.org ; Authors Guild to offer “Human Authored” label on books to compete with AI

"The Authors Guild, the professional association representing published novelists and nonfiction writers, is set to offer to its 15,000 members a new certificate they can place directly on their book covers.

About the size of literary award stickers or celebrity book club endorsements adorning the cover art of the latest bestseller, the certificate is a simple, round logo with two boldfaced words inside: “Human Authored.”

As in, written by a human — and not artificial intelligence.

(Courtesy The Authors Guild)

“It isn’t just to prevent fraud and deception,” said Douglas Preston, a bestselling novelist and nonfiction writer and member of the Authors Guild Council. “It’s also a declaration of how important storytelling is to who we are as a species. And we’re not going to let machines elbow us aside and pretend to be telling us stories, when it’s just regurgitating literary vomitus.”

How to Effectively Message Against Book Bans | Back Talk; Library Journal, September 24, 2024

P.C. Sweeney , Library Journal; How to Effectively Message Against Book Bans | Back Talk

"WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE

How do we effectively message in this environment? In 2022, EveryLibrary conducted political polls with the national firm Embold Research. This research included focus groups with message testing and message testing within the polling itself. Throughout the previous four years, we also conducted internal A/B testing of various messages for virality, engagement, and persuasion. Through this internal and external research, we were able to identify a number of highly effective messages against book bans.

One of the things we found throughout this testing is that the most effective messages are ones that use the fewest words or need the least amount of explanation. The reason that book banners are gaining traction is because “protecting children from porn” (even though that’s not what they’re doing) is an effective message that doesn’t require explanation. Understandably, the majority of the public is against exposing children to porn and immediately understands that message without explanation. However, our response has often been to explain the Miller Test in detail, long discussions about how it’s not pornography, the Pico ruling , how collection development policies work, and academic writings on the benefits of comprehensive sexual education. These messages are far too long, complex, and academic to be effective with the general public.

We also found that messages that reinforce the language of the book challengers allow them to control the message. The more often we repeat their language and messages, the more we solidify their messages in the minds of the public. Messages that don’t repeat the false narrative about pornography in libraries are the most effective ones.

The messages I present below are clear and concise and, according to our data, are effective at engaging 70 to 80 percent of the public and moving them into favorable action for libraries...

FIGHTING BACK

Messaging is great, but it’s nothing unless we can use it to identify our supporters and call them into action. Simply putting these messages into the world will not ensure that we triumph over book bans. Winning against censorship means sophisticated community organizing, building relationships of power with organizations, identifying supporters and cultivating them into action, and ultimately electing leaders who support libraries and the freedom to read.

Unfortunately, most libraries, as government organizations, don’t have the tools, resources, or legal authority to build the movement they need to fight off the activists attacking them. The most effective defense against book banners comes from members of the local community who are willing to fight back. Platforms such as fightforthefirst.org allow community members to launch petitions and communicate with supporters to help them organize the community against groups who are seeking to censor the library and eliminate the community’s right to read.

If your library is facing book bans, you can fight back."

Helene recovery is more political online than on the ground; NPR, October 7, 2024

Jeff Brady, Liz Baker , NPR; Helene recovery is more political online than on the ground

"Elon Musk’s social media platform X has been an especially fertile place for politically charged rumors and conspiracies. Sometimes they have been fueled by the billionaire himself.

On Friday Musk fed into a common complaint online that governments are preventing private citizens from offering help to people in need. Musk wrotethat his “blood is boiling” after engineers from his company SpaceX tried to offer help via helicopter but “@FEMA wouldn’t let them land to deliver critical supplies.”

Actually the Federal Aviation Administration regulates airspace and the FAA said in a statement that following Helene the skies have been crowded and it's trying to maintain safety. A federal official confirmed to NPR that there have been more than 30 cases where two aircraft almost collided, as air traffic in the region increased 300% after the storm. There are no restrictions to aerial recovery operations.

Perhaps no area in North Carolina has been the subject of more blatant false online rumors than Chimney Rock — including the persistent untrue claim that FEMA abandoned the village so that the Biden administration can mine lithium there.

“Anything that you see, that you hear that sounds like that is not true,” says village mayor Peter O’Leary."

“We Are a Relatively Easy Punching Bag”; Slate, October 3, 2024

LAURA MILLER , Slate; “We Are a Relatively Easy Punching Bag”

"While it’s not unusual for other industries to dedicate staff to influencing or changing public policy, it’s virtually unheard of in the relatively sleepy world of book publishing. Rosalie Stewart, however, has just been hired as Penguin Random House’s senior public policy manager, a new position that will fight the recent explosion in book-banning campaigns at schools and public libraries. At present, for example, officials in Texas and Iowa have attempted to argue that the book collections held by schools and libraries constitute “government speech” and are therefore not protected by the First Amendment. This bid to redefine the nature of public libraries was rejected by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Iowa, but for Texas, the matter is being weighed by the notorious extremists on the “rogue” 5th Circuit. I spoke with Stewart recently about the battle before her. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity....

There have been two book-banning reports recently from the ALA and PEN America. The first said that book challenges are slowing down, and the second said that banning attempts have ramped up. Could you explain why there would be that difference?

My colleagues—my former colleagues, I should say—at ALA are very good at what they do, and they’re very smart. As a professional association, they just have a different focus in terms of what they’re counting. They’re focused on a very specific definition of a “book ban.” They only count book removals. But we know that this censorship is playing itself out in different ways. Not only are books being challenged, removed, and then put back on the shelf, but there is soft censorship. There’s a chilling effect in terms of the books that people are buying and teaching. I think that PEN America’s definition is a little more expansive and draws on a wider variety of sources. Censorship is not going down. Book banning is not fading away. That’s not what we’re hearing from people out there. That’s a major challenge: How do we fight back against this on such a diffuse battlefield? It’s happening at the state legislatures; it’s happening at the school boards; and it’s happening at the agency level."

Folks Are Uniting Against Book Bans; Word In Black via Michigan Chronicle, October 7, 2024

Word In Black via Michigan Chronicle, Aziah Siid; Folks Are Uniting Against Book Bans

"Mychal Threets, a Black librarian and literary activist with a social media following rivaling that of any influencer, has a message for readers struggling to find themselves on shelves due to conservative-led book bans in public schools and libraries: You have the power to fight back.

“You belong in books, in libraries, in the world, just as you are. You have the freedom to read, to be in books, to see yourselves,” Threets says in a recent Instagram post about why he’s supporting the Freedom to Read Community Day of Action on October 19.

Threets created the post to announce his partnership with the New York Public Library on the Freedom to Read Community Day of Action campaign, an effort to encourage collective action and civic pushback against banning or restricting access to books written by, for, or about people from diverse communities.

The day is a national initiative from the American Library Association and its Unite Against Book Bans campaign, in partnership with Brooklyn, Queens and New York Public Libraries, and the Association for Rural and Small Libraries. The joint effort was started “in response to the wave of book banning and censorship that started gathering momentum in 2020,” according to a press release from the ALA...

Host Your Own Day of Action, But Be Careful

A free event guide and promotion kit walks folks who cares about the issue through how to host their own local Freedom to Read Community Day of Action on Oct. 19. It suggests everything from being ready to answer common questions about book banning to “inviting local community leaders, authors, librarians, or educators who want to share personal stories,” about what books mean to them.

However, given the vitriol against books by Black and other racially or ethnically diverse authors — and against books about Black history — it’s also suggested that folks take some safety precautions ahead of any scheduled events.

Precautions include monitoring social media and emails for threats or protests and inspecting areas around event venues for suspicious people or items. Restricting access to only those authorized to attend or celebrate the event is also recommended.

But if Mychal the Librarian can get the courage to show up to the day of action at the New York Public Library, the rest of us can, too. As Threets says in his Instagram video, “It is all about the freedom to read.”"

‘We Have to Work Together’: Action Beyond Banned Books Week; American Libraries, October 2, 2024

 Paula Mauro, American Libraries; ‘We Have to Work Together’: Action Beyond Banned Books Week

"While Banned Books Week ended on September 28, writer, director, producer—and Banned Books Week honorary chair—Ava DuVernay stresses the importance of continuing the work of amplifying marginalized voices...

“This banned book effort is an agenda by people who want to make some of us less free, to silence the voices of some of us,” DuVernay tells American Libraries. “We can overcome this, but we have to work together.”

DuVernay recorded a video conversation with Banned Books Week Youth Honorary Chair Julia Garnett, a student activist who fought book bans in her home state of Tennessee and now attends Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. In the video, the two discuss DuVernay’s approach to championing diverse viewpoints as a filmmaker and ways the rest of us can join and stay in the fight.

The video is available here, as well as on the Banned Books Week YouTube channel. Highlights from the video are also excerpted below...

How student activists can cope with feeling lonely in their anticensorship fights—often as the youngest person in the room:

First of all, I commend you. I take my hat off to you. I bow to all activists who are doing that hard work. I think the one thing to remember is, it’s lonely because that’s what leadership is. There’s someone who’s leading, and that is who we’re following. And it’s lonely at the front. It’s about building coalition and making sure that the folks around you are aware, are educated, are interested, and are leaning in.

People have different levels of engagement, and that’s okay. But even one person can have an impact…. And if I feel that kind of loneliness—that, “Gosh, I’m the only one out here doing it, and everyone else is doing this”—if you feel it and you still want to do it, you’re on the right track. And there’s nothing better than feeling like you’re on the right track. So, not easy. But glorious, you know?"