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'Never seen anything like this': US librarians report book bans hit record high in 2022
March 23, 2023
Librarians from across the United States released a report showing that pro-censorship groups' efforts to ban books with LGBTQ+ themes and stories about people of color have driven an unprecedented rise in the number of book challenges, with right-wing organizers pushing library workers to remove works ranging from the dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale to children's books about foods enjoyed in different cultures.
According to the American Library Association (ALA), a record-breaking 2,571 unique titles were challenged in 2022, a 38% increase from the previous year.
The organization recorded 1,269 demands to censor books from various groups and individuals, compared to 729 challenges counted in 2021.
"Each attempt to ban a book by one of these groups represents a direct attack on every person's constitutionally protected right to freely choose what books to read and what ideas to explore," said Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom. "The choice of what to read must be left to the reader or, in the case of children, to parents. That choice does not belong to self-appointed book police."
The Office for Intellectual Freedom said that starting in 2021, a rising number of challenges began targeting large numbers of titles, suggesting they were coordinated efforts from national groups like Moms for Liberty. Previously, the vast majority of book challenges were focused on a single book to which a parent or group of parents objected.
In 2022, 90% of the books challenged were part of attempts to censor multiple titles, the ALA reported.
"A book challenge is a demand to remove a book from a library's collection so that no one else can read it. Overwhelmingly, we're seeing these challenges come from organized censorship groups that target local library board meetings to demand removal of a long list of books they share on social media," said Caldwell-Stone. "Their aim is to suppress the voices of those traditionally excluded from our nation's conversations, such as people in the LGBTQIA+ community or people of color."
In Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis has led a nationwide effort by conservatives to keep public school students from learning accurate American history and discussing issues regarding the LGBTQ+ community, one county removed from school library shelves 176 books which have been held in storage since January 2022. The books include the children's books Hush! A Thai Lullaby, featuring a Thai mother and child, and Dim Sum for Everyone!, about a family eating in a Chinese restaurant.
"I've never seen anything like this," Caldwell-Stone told the Associated Press. "The last two years have been exhausting, frightening, outrage-inducing."
People for the American Way called the association's data, collected from media reports and library professionals across the country, "shocking but not surprising."
"The far right wants to turn back the clock on the freedom to read, teach, and learn," said the group. "We won't stand for it."
The ALA report comes four months after voters in at least two U.S. towns voted to cut or eliminate funding for their public libraries in the wake of campaigns to ban books with LGBTQ+ themes.
People in Jamestown Township, Michigan voted for a second time against a millage to fund 84% of their library's budget, dooming the facility to a likely closure in 2024. The vote followed a push by a local conservative group to remove the book Gender Queer: A Memoir.
Craighead County Jonesboro Library in Arkansas lost 50% of its funding after "librarians and library workers were labeled pornographers and pedophiles because of the books on their shelves" that dealt with LGBTQ+ themes, as EveryLibrary Institute executive director John Chrastka toldPublishers Weekly in November.
A poll commissioned by the EveryLibrary Institute last year found that 75% of respondents were opposed to efforts to ban books, and across 16 states last fall, a majority of initiatives to pull funding from libraries failed.
"While a vocal minority stokes the flames of controversy around books, the vast majority of people across the nation are using life-changing services that public and school libraries offer," said ALA President Lessa Kanani'opua Pelayo-Lozada on Thursday. "Our nation cannot afford to lose the library workers who lift up their communities and safeguard our First Amendment freedom to read."
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Parents of school shooter Ethan Crumbley can go to trial for involuntary manslaughter: appeals court
March 23, 2023
A state appeals court has ruled the parents of Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley can face trial for involuntary manslaughter, CBS News reported.
The court said that Ethan Crumbley would not have murdered four students if his parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, had not purchased a gun for him or if they had taken him home from Oxford High School on the day of the shooting.
"Whether a jury actually finds that causation has been proven after a full trial, where the record will almost surely be more expansive — including evidence produced by defendants — is an issue separate from what we decide today," the court said.
As CBS News points out, the Crumbleys are accused of failing to secure a gun and ignoring the mental health issues of their son before the shootings took place, which also wounded seven other people. The 16-year-old has pleaded guilty to terrorism and murder and faces life in prison without parole.
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Judge Michael Riordan said that while parents shouldn't be charged for "subpar, odd or eccentric" care of their kids, the Crumbleys' case is more serious.
"The morning of the shooting, EC drew a picture of a body that appeared to have two bullet holes in the torso, apparently with blood streaming out of them, which was near another drawing of a handgun that resembled the gun his parents ... had very recently gifted to him," Riordan said.
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'Is this an insurrection?' Second Amendment hearing goes off the rails as protesters interrupt GOP chair
March 23, 2023
Rep. Pat Fallon (R-TX) became angry on Thursday and gaveled a hearing into recess after protesters repeatedly interrupted him.
At a hearing on the so-called weaponization of government, Pallon was interrupted by a protester as he spoke in defense of the Second Amendment.
"Oh, ma'am, ma'am," Fallon said before asking for the woman to be removed. "Please remove that woman, please. Yes, officer, please. You're removed."
The chairman then read a statement demanding decorum. But he was interrupted again only moments later.
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"See, this is exactly what we have to avoid, which is some minority of folks trying to silence dissent," he complained. "I believe a lot of the time differing, but there's a decorum that should be adhered to."
"Is this an insurrection?" the lawmaker asked. "So will they be held to the same, I don't want another January 6th, do we?"
Moments later, Fallon abruptly decided to call a recess in the hearing.
"Does the Capitol Police not do their jobs? What in the hell's going on?" he remarked.
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