Book Banning

[raison de arizona]

Indiana's empty shelves.

Teen shelves half empty at Hamilton East as library conducts $300K board-pushed book review

The shelves of the “Teen Zone,” the young adult section of the Hamilton East Public Library, are mostly empty. Manga, Japanese graphic novels, are missing. Racks of comic books sit half empty.

It’s a jarring scene for a library, where shelves typically offer seemingly endless reading materials from which to choose.

But at the Hamilton East Public Library in Noblesville, almost vacant shelves greet borrowers in the Teen Zone due to an extensive review process ordered by the library’s Board of Trustees. Last year the board saw four seats turn over, including one now occupied by Micah Beckwith, a conservative pastor and former Republican candidate for a U.S. Congressional seat.

The review, which is currently underway, requires librarians and staff to examine thousands of books over the course of the next few months and is expected to cost the library system serving Fishers and Noblesville upwards of $300,000.

Other librarians may soon be conducting similar reviews.Earlier this week state lawmakers passed a bill that would classify books "harmful to minors" in public school libraries in the same category as obscene materials. School librarians deemed non-compliant could face felony charges. The measure now heads to Gov. Eric Holcomb's desk.

https://www.indystar.com/story/news/loc ... 154413007/

[AndyinPA]

[Kriselda Gray]

[raison de arizona]

Turnabout is fair play, right?

Illinois closes the book on book bans
Schools and libraries could lose money for pulling books off the shelves under a bill the governor is expected to sign.

Illinois is poised to become the first state to punish public institutions that ban books.

Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker has said he supports a House bill that would withhold state funding from any of the state’s 1,600 public or school libraries that remove books from their shelves. It passed in the Illinois Senate on Wednesday, and Pritzker is expected to sign the legislation.

“In Illinois, we don’t hide from the truth, we embrace it and lead with it,” the governor said when the bill was first presented. “Banning books is a devastating attempt to erase our history and the authentic stories of many.”

The final version of House Bill 2789 passed the state Senate 39 to 19 after it was approved in March by the House on a 66 to 39 vote.

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/0 ... s-00095151

[AndyinPA]

[RTH10260]

At least one state that reigns in the counties, municipalities and schoolboards that are going haywire.

[raison de arizona]

A Tennessee teacher planned a Mother’s Day class. Then came the MAGA rage.

By now it’s well understood that the right’s efforts to restrict classroom discussion are all about marginalizing LGBTQ people under the guise of protecting children. But they also harbor a less obvious aim: to persuade parents that kids are under threat in the first place. That mild-mannered teacher over there? She just might be scheming to pervert, indoctrinate and snatch away childhood innocence.

Caroline Mickey, the librarian at Alpine Crest Elementary School outside Chattanooga, just learned this the hard way, when her idea for a Mother’s Day-themed lesson came under sudden and heavy fire from parents in the area. The vitriol of the attack, and the school district superintendent’s rapid decision to cancel her lesson in response, caught her off guard.

“It was overwhelming,” Mickey told me. “I didn’t realize it was going to be quite this intense.”

► Show Spoiler

Hidden Content

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... lture-war/

[AndyinPA]

https://www.rawstory.com/florida-book-ban-2660538687/

The poem that was read by poet Amanda Gorman at President Joe Biden's inauguration has been banned from elementary schools in Miami-Dade County, Florida after the objections of just one parent.

The Miami Herald reports that the poem, which is titled "The Hills We Climb," was removed from the K-5 curriculum in the county after local parent Daily Salinas challenged it as inappropriate for students.

In addition Gorman's poem, Salinas also challenged four other books: The ABCs of Black History, Cuban Kids, Countries in the News Cuba, and Love to Langston for what she claimed were filled with "indirect hate messages" inspired by critical race theory.

Salinas tells the Miami Herald that she's not in favor of censorship but she instead wants students to "know the truth" about Cuba with accurate reading materials.

[Phoenix520]

I kept wondering why so many conservatives made a pilgrimage to Hungary. I don’t wonder any more.

[AndyinPA]

Oh, yeah, they have a real, genuine fascist running the country. It's what the republicans strive for.

[raison de arizona]

https://www.rawstory.com/florida-book-ban-2660538687/

The poem that was read by poet Amanda Gorman at President Joe Biden's inauguration has been banned from elementary schools in Miami-Dade County, Florida after the objections of just one parent.

The Miami Herald reports that the poem, which is titled "The Hills We Climb," was removed from the K-5 curriculum in the county after local parent Daily Salinas challenged it as inappropriate for students.

Florida makes me cry. Taking a moment to remember what has been lost to the children there.

► Show Spoiler

[WHISTLES]

[CHEERING]

[APPLAUSE]

AMANDA GORMAN: Mr. President, Dr. Biden, Madam Vice President, Mr. Emhoff, Americans, and the world. When day comes, we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade?

The loss we carry, a sea we must wade. We braved the belly of the beast. We've learned that quiet isn't always peace, and the norms and notions of what just is isn't always justice.

And yet the dawn is hours before we knew it. Somehow, we do it. Somehow, we weathered and witnessed a nation that isn't broken, but simply unfinished. We, the successors of a country and a time where a skinny Black girl descended from slaves and raised by a single mother can dream of becoming president, only to find herself reciting for one.

And yes, we are far from polished, far from pristine. But that doesn't mean we are striving to form a union that is perfect. We are striving to forge our union with purpose, to compose a country committed to all cultures, colors, characters, and conditions of man.

And so we lift our gazes not what stands between us, but what stands before us. We close the divide because we know to put our future first, we must first put our differences aside. We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another. We seek harm to none and harmony for all.

Let the globe, if nothing else, say this is true-- that even as we grieved, we grew. That even as we hurt, we hoped. That even as we tired, we tried. That we'll forever be tied together, victorious, not because we will never again know defeat, but because we will never again sow division.

Scripture tells us to envision that everyone shall sit under their own vine and fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid. If we're to live up to our own time, then victory won't lie in the blade, but in all the bridges we've made. That is the promised glade, the hill we climb if only we dare it.

Because being American is more than a pride we inherit. It's the past we step into and how we repair it. We've seen a force that would shatter our nation rather than share it, would destroy our country if it meant delaying democracy, and this effort very nearly succeeded.

But while democracy can be periodically delayed, it can never be permanently defeated. In this truth, in this faith we trust for a while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us. This is the era of just redemption. We feared at-- in its deception, we did not feel prepared to be the heirs of such a terrifying hour.

But within it, we found the power to author a new chapter, to offer hope and laughter to ourselves. So while once we asked, how could we possibly prevail over catastrophe? Now we assert, how could catastrophe possibly prevail over us?

We will not march back to what was, but move to what shall be, a country that is bruised but whole, benevolent but bold, fierce and free. We will not be turned around or interrupted by intimidation because we know our inaction and inertia will be the inheritance of the next generation.

Our blunders become their burdens. But one thing is certain. If we merge mercy with might and might with right, then love becomes our legacy and change our children's birthright. So let us leave behind a country better than the one we were left. With every breath of my bronze pounded chest, we will raise this wounded world into a wondrous one.

We will rise from the gold-rimmed hills of the West. We will rise from the windswept Northeast where our forefathers first realized revolution. We will rise from the lake-rimmed cities of the Midwestern states. We will rise from the sun-baked South. We will rebuild, reconcile, and recover.

In every known nook of our nation and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful will emerge battered and beautiful. When day comes, we step out of the shade of flame. And unafraid, the new dawn blooms as we free it. For there is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.

[CHEERING]

[APPLAUSE]

Bears repeating:

In every known nook of our nation and every corner called our country, our people diverse and beautiful will emerge battered and beautiful. When day comes, we step out of the shade of flame. And unafraid, the new dawn blooms as we free it. For there is always light if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it.

[raison de arizona]

Gorman responds:

The complaint:

► Show Spoiler

Gorman's fundraiser to fight book bans: https://www.instagram.com/linking/fundr ... 1527416160

[AndyinPA]

https://wapo.st/3OEFZyX

Books about LGBTQ people are fast becoming the main target of a historic wave of school book challenges — and a large percentage of the complaints come from a minuscule number of hyperactive adults, a first-of-its-kind Washington Post analysis found.

A stated wish to shield children from sexual content is the main factor animating attempts to remove LGBTQ books, The Post found. The second-most common reason cited for pulling LGBTQ texts was an explicit desire to prevent children from reading about lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary and queer lives.

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.

The Post analyzed the complaints to determine who was challenging the books, what kinds of books drew objections and why. Nearly half of filings — 43 percent — targeted titles with LGBTQ characters or themes, while 36 percent targeted titles featuring characters of color or dealing with issues of race and racism. The top reason people challenged books was “sexual” content; 61 percent of challenges referenced this concern.

Gifted link.

[raison de arizona]

Librarians: The new public enemy number one.

[RTH10260]

Illinois set to become first state to end book bans
Governor JB Pritzker expected to sign bill that would block state funding for public libraries and schools that ban books

Coral Murphy Marcos
Tue 30 May 2023 11.00 BST

Governor JB Pritzker is expected to sign a bill that would make Illinois the first state to legislate to end book bans – by punishing publicly-funded institutions that attempt to censor in that way.

A bill is on Pritzker’s desk after passing the state legislature that would block essential state funding for public libraries and public schools in Illinois that ban books.

Only libraries in the state that adhere to the American Library Association’s Library Bill of Rights, which states that reading materials should not be removed or restricted because of partisan or personal disapproval, or develop a written statement prohibiting the practice of banning books within a library system will continue to get its state funding.

The Illinois senate passed HB 2789 earlier this month and the bill was sent to Democratic governor Pritzker last week, who is now poised to sign it. Once enacted, it takes effect on January 1 next year.



https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... es-schools

[Slim Cognito]

That made me smile.

[raison de arizona]

IMG_5121.jpeg (125.38 KiB) Viewed 3721 times

[Dave from down under]

[AndyinPA]

[RVInit]

I love it. This information needs to be spread far and wide, especially to school age kids in Florida.

Speaking of - the teacher that showed the Disney movie that had a gay character either has resigned already or has announced her intention to resign. Teachers all across Florida are resigning in light of the Gestapo environment that DeSantis has created for them. I am concerned about the status and future of public education in Florida. And I don't even have kids or grandkids to worry about. I haven't always thought it was great I wasn't able to have kids, but at this point I am pretty much grateful for it.

[Greatgrey]

[raison de arizona]

[raison de arizona]

https://twitter.com/donmoyn/status/1668 ... 68930?s=20

South Carolina teacher blocked from discussing Ta-Nehisi Coates and systemic racism after students complained it was against the law. This was for an AP class, where students are supposed to wrestle with complex and difficult ideas.

How ironic.

[raison de arizona]

North Carolina teacher’s civil rights suit alleges he was fired over teaching of novel about racial profiling during Black History Month

A Black North Carolina teacher has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against a Charlotte charter school, alleging he was fired after some White parents opposed his teaching of a novel about a Black teen struggling with “racial injustice” during Black History Month.

Charlotte Secondary School hired Markayle Gray on a contract basis to teach seventh and eighth grade English last October, according to the lawsuit filed in US District Court on Monday.

The school terminated his contract in February over what the lawsuit described as “racially inspired backlash” over Gray’s teaching of the novel “Dear Martin” to his seventh grade honors students along with “other aspects” of the class content connected to “racial equality.”

“Dear Martin” is a New York Times bestseller about a Black teenager who falls victim to racial profiling by law enforcement.

Some White parents complained to school administrators that the novel’s content “was divisive and injected what they regarded as unwelcome views on systemic racial inequality into their childrens’ classroom,” according to the lawsuit.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/14/us/charl ... index.html

[raison de arizona]

Georgia divisive concepts law allegedly why Cobb put teacher on leave

A Cobb County teacher may be the first casualty of laws passed last year amid a conservative backlash against “woke” classrooms.

Katie Rinderle, who taught gifted students at Due West Elementary School, was placed on administrative leave after she read her fifth graders a book of rhymes with a message that challenges gender norms.

“She made the book part of a lesson about diversity, inclusion, acceptance, understanding and all the positive things that we want to have out of our public school students,” said her lawyer, Craig Goodmark.

Goodmark said a student told a parent, who quickly complained to school administrators. Rinderle was then summoned by the principal and placed on paid leave before the school year ended, he said. A termination tribunal is scheduled for Aug. 3. Goodmark said she otherwise has a “stellar” personnel file.

Goodmark said his client was told she had violated Georgia’s “divisive concepts” law passed in 2022. It was focused mainly on classroom discussions about race but included a passage about transgender athletes.

He said the law, and two others associated with parental rights and school materials, were so vague as to sow confusion, adding that his client was not told specifically how she had violated the law.

She acquired the book, “My Shadow is Purple,” at a school book fair, and said her students voted to have her read it to them.

https://www.ajc.com/education/georgias- ... GLBXJE37Y/

They should find out which students voted to have the book read and suspend them as well!