Thread by @jonfreadom

POP Quiz: How many people does it take to ban a book in Florida?

A: Increasingly... only one.

For @MiamiHerald I discuss why and how this is happening & why it's a threat to democracy. @PENamerica @FLFreedomRead #FreeTheBooks /1
miamiherald.com/opinion/op-ed/…

Dig into almost any school book ban in FL, and you find 1 person--or a small group-- filing objections to books en masse, demanding removals. The restrictions on books this vocal minority have gotten are astonishing, precisely b/c they're often enacted without any process /2

Ofc, parents should be able to engage with schools about books & curricula. But schools also have to balance the demands of a few people with the objectives of public education, and the interests of ALL parents. Too often, that isn't happening. /3

These aren't one-off concerns of parents for their specific kids either. These lone book banners usually lead organizations that want public schools to match their ideogical worldview. Mostly, it's not about any specific book; it's about control, censorship, and erasure. /4

Clay County: @JuddLegum reported that 1 person, who leads the FL chapter of 'No Left Turn in Education' wants to ban 3,600 titles. The district pulls books when challenged & now over 200 books have been pulled: Some permanently; some may prove temporary /5 popular.info/p/how-to-ban-3…

In Escambia, 1 teacher has challenged over 100 books. The district puts most books in backrooms when challenged, and students need permission from parents to see them. All before seemingly anyone vets the challenges for reasonableness or accuracy? /6 northescambia.com/2022/11/challe…

Last year a handful of ppl got 156 books pulled from shelves for a few months in Indian River. Another group got 16 books pulled in Polk. Most (not all) of these bans ended up being temporary. But for a few months, students couldn't read them, even if parents wanted them to. /7

To reiterate: most of this is happening before serious review of the books takes place or any other stakeholders have input. How is that fair? Rather than trust teachers or librarians, the bounds around literature in schools are being set by an ideologically-motivated minority /8

Why? How? A lot of this is treading on a mix of fear, hate, misinformation. Book banners have flooded schools with claims that LGBTQ+ characters make a book “sexual,” and that books with any sexual content make a book “pornographic” or “obscene.” /9

The book banners also frequently claim that books that even touch on racism can be harmful and require restriction. Even when a book contains accurate facts or historical observations quoted verbatim, they seek bans /10

Now: new education laws threaten to supercharge these trends. FL media specialists have been instructed to "err on the side of caution" when reviewing books, and parents are being given new powers to challenge any & every book they don't like /11 pen.org/florida-book-b…

Even 1 wrong book on the shelf can get a FL teacher in trouble, threaten their professional teaching license or possibly result in a felony. The conditions for greater censorship are ripe. How can teachers & schools stand against these self-appointed censors in this context? /12

This is where we are with book bans, shifting from a single parent's or citizen's ire, to laws that directly pressure districts to remove books 📚 with the threat of government enforcement. All largely to appease this vocal minority. /13

And if you think parents ALL want these restrictions, think again.

When districts have invited parents to restrict students' library access, a tiny % have done so. In Clay, only 3 of over 30,000 students were opted into these restrictions in the fall /14

Schools across FL are under pressure to privilege the ideological preferences of a select few, over the rights of all. That’s a sad prospect for the future of public education... and it’s a devastating indictment of the state of our democracy. /15 aol.com/now-only-takes…

And all signs point to this trend spreading. FL is just one of the states with new laws on the books, or being considered, that make book banning easier & empower these lone banners further. And the suspension of books at the behest of 1 person is happening in many places. /16

Concerned about this? Want to stay informed? Sign up for our education censorship newsletter. Support our work @PENamerica. Go to a school board meeting. Bring a friend. #FreeTheBooks pen.org/issue/educatio…