Massachusetts considers banning book bans in response to rise in challenges

A bill making its way through the Massachusetts legislature would block efforts to ban books from school and public libraries.

Lawmakers of the Joint Committee on Education heard testimony from advocates and opponents of “An Act regarding free expression,” which would prevent the removal of books from school libraries except after review by a “committee of school personnel and the superintendent.” The book could then be removed only if the committee finds that “the material is devoid of any educational, literary, artistic or social value or is not age appropriate for any children who attend the school.”

The effort to effectively ban book banning in Bay State schools comes as several states grapple with efforts by parents and activists to control which literary materials are available at school libraries and in classrooms. According to the American Library Association, thousands of complaints against hundreds of different titles were lodged in 2023.

Those working to stop books from being removed from library shelves say the majority of challenged books are those written by or concerning particular segments of the population, demonstrating a clear political motive behind the challenges.

“I wish we didn’t need this legislation, but as you’ve heard, Massachusetts is facing more attempts than ever to restrict access to books in schools and public libraries,” Gavi Wolfe, speaking on behalf of the ACLU, told the committee. “What have we come to? Let’s be clear, these are politically motivated targeted attacks. The books that are challenged are almost universally by and about LGBTQ people and people of color.”

Those in favor of allowing challenges to the reading material available to children say they are simply working to protect them from exposure to pornographic literature and images, and that it’s the right of parents to control what their children read and see.

Sam Whiting, a staff attorney for the Massachusetts Family Institute, said parents and local school districts should have the discretion to challenge and keep “age inappropriate, vulgar, and sexually explicit books out of their school libraries.”

“We seem to have lost sight of a very basic truth: that kids are different than adults, that kids can’t process sex, violence, and vulgarity in the same way that we can,” he said. “Some books, movies, and other media are not made for minors.”

James Edgerly, of Burlington, told the committee the bill would exacerbate a problem of parents abandoning the state’s public school systems due to an “atmosphere of hostility to parental authority and pro-family values within the school system.”

The bill is “hostile towards parents,” Edgerly said, because it is “hostile toward the authority of school committees that represent them.”

Cindy Rowe, President & CEO of the Jewish Alliance for Law & Social Action, said she is “horrified, that in 2024, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, I have to testify in defense of the rights of people to read books” and that efforts to remove books from school libraries “evoke memories of the notorious Nazi book burning campaigns in May 1933.”

Lawmakers did not take action on the bill at Wednesday’s hearing.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/kb38hnT