2023-06-03 16:08:00
That was once. Today, the young poet has been sucked into an inquisition that is systematically having books removed from school libraries and curricula at the urging of right-wing conservative organizations and cues. General suspicion: too left. In Florida, a single mother untruthfully equated Gorman’s writing with “hate speech.” And to ensure that they are no longer available to elementary school students.
Not an isolated case. According to the authors’ association PEN America and the American Library Association (ALA), censorship and book bans in the USA have reached their highest level in 20 years. In 2022, more than 2,500 titles were objected to, 40 percent more than in 2021. Under the pretext of having to prevent the “left-wing indoctrination” of children with topics such as racism, sexuality and gender diversity, the spokesmen of the movement claim that that alone they have to decide what serves the moral integrity of their offspring and what does not.
This is how books should be banned
The censors act strategically and relentlessly. Supported by lobby groups closely linked to the Republicans such as “Moms for Liberty”, which is active in more than 35 states, or the right-wing organization “No Left Turn in Education” (No Left Turn in Education). Individual activists often submit dozens of applications for book bans at once to county school boards.
The reason given on form sheets is “to protect children”. The respective work contains “inappropriate content” that “damages the souls of the students,” it says. There is no evidence that the incriminated book was actually read, let alone understood.
In Clay County, Florida, for example, a certain Bruce Friedman used this scam to have more than 100 books removed from the school district libraries within a few months on his own initiative. And that in a country that values freedom of thought so much.
These books are the focus
But Friedman is just warming up. The ex-New Yorker has publicly stated that he has compiled a list of 3,600 books that offer “content of concern”. It mostly deals with sexuality, homosexuality, the LGBTQ community and all facets of the transgender topic.
Among the most banned works in several states is Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer,” in which the award-winning comic book-style author chronicles her youth as a nonbinary person. Almost 60 school districts have indexed it.
Jonathan Evison’s “Lawn Boy” is about a young man of Mexican origin who is confronted with racism and social poverty. George M. Johnson’s All Boys Aren’t Blue is about the growing up of a queer black man.
Sexuality becomes taboo
In addition to these books, however, award-winning works by world authors such as Toni Morrison (Beloved) and Kahled Hosseini (The Kite Runner) have also caught the radar of the guardians of virtue. They see this culture war, which Donald Trump’s former can wrench Steve Bannon proclaimed, as a lever to mobilize voters.
The library purges are being spearheaded by Republican-controlled states like Texas and Florida. Here are by far the most applications for a ban. Also because the legislator has done the preparatory work.
In Florida, where the ideologically rigid governor Ron DeSantis wants to be in the White House, the HB 1467 law recently came into force. It sets vague criteria for school libraries: no pornography. Only age-appropriate content that students can understand and that meets their needs. Girls and boys kissing each other who feel attracted to boys, as can be found in some works, are therefore fundamentally objectionable for parents.
Culture war since Trump’s presidency
Because Florida librarians can be prosecuted for stocking indexed books, a kind of “scissors in the mind” is already happening there, according to professional organizations. Books with potentially contestable content are no longer ordered, says school librarian Julie Miller.
President Joe Biden and the Democrats see radicalization as a threat to open society – and a microcosm of the culture war that has picked up speed since Donald Trump’s presidency (2017 to 2021). They point out that in national polls, over 70 percent of parents oppose the zealous book selection in schools.
The 2024 presidential election will also be an election about what America’s students can and can’t read.
1685812080
#Republicans #Seek #Ideological #Supremacy #Schools