Free speech organizations denounce Education Department for calling book bans a ‘hoax’
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NEW YORK — Organizations that track the removal of books from schools and libraries are denouncing a Department of Education announcement that called bans a “hoax” and dismissed 11 complaints that had been filed during the Biden administration. A conservative group praised the department’s actions as “welcome news.”
Over the last few years, PEN America and the American Library Assn. have reported thousands of bans around the country, with targeted books often containing LGBTQ+ or racial themes, from Maia Kobabe’s graphic memoir, “Gender Queer,” to Angie Thomas’ novel “The Hate U Give.”
Many of the removals were organized by Moms for Liberty and other conservative organizations that advocate for more parental input over what books are available to students. Legislatures in Iowa and Florida among other states passed laws that restrict the contents of library books and give parents and other local residents more power to challenge books.
Book bans are tanking sales of children’s books. Schools and libraries aren’t buying books about LGBTQ+ issues and race as they brace for culture war pushback.
The Biden administration had criticized the removals and appointed a coordinator to handle complaints about them. But the Trump administration last week reversed those policies, eliminating the coordinator’s position and ruling the complaints were without merit.
“The department is beginning the process of restoring the fundamental rights of parents to direct their children’s education,” the department’s acting assistant secretary for civil rights, Craig Trainor, said in a statement. The Education Department’s announcement is headlined: “U.S. Department of Education Ends Biden’s Book Ban Hoax.”
Such language is “alarming and dismissive of the students, educators, librarians, and authors who have firsthand experiences of censorship happening within school libraries and classrooms,” said Kasey Meehan, who directs PEN America’s Freedom to Read program.
The library association called the department’s announcement part of a “cruel and headlong effort to terminate protections from discrimination for LGBTQIA+ students and students of color.”
Book bans have increased by nearly 200% in American schools. Will Trump’s reelection inspire a new round of right-wing attacks on books about race and gender? Some conservatives feel emboldened.
“Book bans are real,” the association’s statement reads in part. “Ask students who cannot access literary classics required for college or parents whose children can’t check out a book about gay penguins (‘And Tango Makes Three’) at their school library. Ask school librarians who have lost their jobs for protecting the freedom to read. While a parent has the right to guide their own children’s reading, their beliefs and prejudices should not dictate what another parent chooses for their own children.”
Nicole Neily, president of Parents Defending Education, said the department’s ending investigations into “so-called ‘book-banners’” was “welcome news.”
“For years, parents have said they deserve to know if sexually explicit materials were available to young children, and they were maligned by the media and the Biden administration for it,” she added.
Italie writes for the Associated Press.
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