The trend of local and state bans on certain books is now drawing the attention of the U.S. Congress. In September 2022, Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) and Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) introduced a bicameral resolution to recognize Banned Books Week, an annual event aimed at bringing attention to books that have been banned or challenged in schools or libraries throughout history.
Banned Books Week started in 1982 and is publicly promoted by the American Library Association and Amnesty International. Raskin, who chairs the House Oversight and Reform Committee’s Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, said in a statement that it was especially important as book bans resurge. According to the American Library Association, the number of bans rose fourfold between 2020 and 2021.
The increase “is a direct attack on First Amendment rights and should alarm every American who believes that freedom of expression is a fundamental pillar of our democracy,” said Raskin. “The efforts to remove books from schools and public libraries simply because they introduce ideas about diversity or challenge students to think beyond their own lived experience is not only antidemocratic but also a hallmark of authoritarian regimes.”
Some of the most commonly banned books in recent years include or discuss themes around LGBTQ+ issues, people of color, race and sexual content, according to PEN America, a nonprofit that promotes free expression through literature.
The organization applauded Raskin and Schatz’s resolution. “Encroachments on open inquiry in the classroom stifle the free exchange of ideas essential to public education and too often exclude the voices of marginalized communities from the conversation, sending a chilling message to educators and students that certain ideas and perspectives are off limits,” the group said in a press release at the time the resolution was introduced. “The rights to free expression enshrined in the First Amendment do not end at the schoolhouse gate.”
Defenders, however, say that they are simply removing objectionable material from vulnerable audiences. In Florida, for example, lawmakers approved the so-called Stop WOKE Act in 2022, which will make it easier for parents to petition schools to ban books. As part of the legislation, books that are not approved by a media specialist trained by the state must be removed from classrooms or libraries, or hidden.
The Florida Department of Education states that in order to be approved, books must be “free of pornography and material prohibited under state statute, suited to student needs and their ability to comprehend the material presented, appropriate for the grade level and age group for which the materials are used and made available.”
When the law went into effect, many Florida educators were encouraged to remove or cover up classroom libraries to avoid running afoul of the new law. One of the most vocal groups that supports book bans is Moms for Liberty, which was founded in 2021 in Florida and now has chapters in more than 35 states.
The group advocates for parental choice on what content children are exposed to. “It goes back to parental authority, parental autonomy – whose children are they,” Pam Macek, a Moms for Liberty member, said in an interview on the Tamron Hall Show. “We’re not telling other parents how to raise their children. … We respect the sanctity of the family.”
A report by PEN America identified at least 50 different groups, many of which began organizing in 2021, that are involved in efforts to ban books in schools and libraries throughout the U.S. A significant issue of contention among many of these groups is the descriptions and representations of sexuality, especially in LGBTQ+- themed books, that they often equate with pornography.
“The LGBT issues, this is not necessarily a healthy behavior for libraries to be promoting on kids. And, and all of them, every one that I see involves sexuality,” Brian Camenker, executive director of the social conservative group MassResistance, told Education Week. “The question isn’t really, who would want to ban these books, but the question is, who would want them?”
Raskin and Schatz’s resolution did not pass last year and has not been introduced in 2023. However, Democrats are keeping up the pressure on the right. In the opening hearing of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, ranking member Bobby Scott (DVa.) accused Republicans of making “classrooms into the epicenter of their culture wars” and vowed to use his perch to stop future book bans.
For more background, see the September 2021 issue of Supreme Court Debates on “Student Free Speech.”
