(HorizonPost.com) – This week is Banned Books Week and organizers and activists are making the most of recent legislation in Republican-led states banning pornography and books featuring gender ideology in schools to fearmonger over the dangers of so-called “book bans.”
To that end, in a report on Monday, The Hill’s Lexi Lonas spoke with professors and activists who argued that this year’s Banned Books Week is especially important now that some schools are taking porn and age-inappropriate material off of library shelves.
University of Southern California education professor Shaun Harper told Lonas that book bans are increasing due to “politicized attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
Deborah Caldwell-Stone, the executive director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom told Lonas that schools banning porn and inappropriate books from school libraries make it a “dangerous time” for “public servants who provide access to reading materials.”
Caldwell-Stone claimed that by removing inappropriate books from library shelves, students “are losing access to critical information” while teachers and librarians are being attacked. She claimed that removing these books is putting politics above the education and “well-being” of students.
Professor Harper claimed that the removal of inappropriate books from school libraries is nothing more than a “political talking point” for presidential candidates and argued that this week’s Banned Book Week is “especially consequential for our democracy.”
An Ipsos/We Believe poll released on Monday found that 64 percent of Democrats would support legislation prohibiting schools from removing certain books from the shelves while only 46 percent of Republican voters such a measure.
The survey also found that 96 percent of Democrats and 87 percent of Republicans believe that school board members, teachers, parents, and students should have a say in deciding if any book is removed from a school.
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