271 - Cultural Views: A Conversation on Book Bans with Be the Bridge Team Members Jefferson and Elizabeth
Be the Bridge Podcast with Latasha Morrison
Be the Bridge
4.9 • 774 Ratings
🗓️ 11 July 2023
⏱️ 79 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This episode of the Be the Bridge Podcast is part of our Cultural Views conversations where we do a deeper dive into societal and cultural issues with the intent of exposing our listeners to opportunities for the reassessment of their own values and perspectives. Other episodes of our Cultural Views conversations include gun violence on episode 250 and white Christian nationalism in a two part episode on episode 268.
Be the Bridge team members Jefferson Jones and Elizabeth Behrens join Latasha Morrison to discuss book bans. They provide the history of book bans and worldwide examples where bans have taken place. And they share why having this conversation is critically linked to bridge building.
Latasha, Jefferson, and Elizabeth’s words will help prompt conversations in your homes, Be the Bridge groups, and communities. There are action steps for white families and is encouragement for BIPOC families. You’ll be reminded that you don’t have to have all the answers but a willingness and openness to have conversations.
Join in the conversation on our social media pages on Facebook and Instagram and LinkedIn to let us know your thoughts on this episode!
Host & Executive Producer - Latasha Morrison
Senior Producer - Lauren C. Brown
Producer, Editor, & Music - Travon Potts with Integrated Entertainment Studios
Assistant Producer & Transcriber - Sarah Connatser
Quotes:
“We have to work through the tensions of a democracy.” -Latasha Morrison
“Exposure to that information is not where harm is done. Harm is done when a child is exposed to information or harmful concepts, having no way to contextualize them, having no background information or way to make sense of it, and no comfort level asking questions.” -Elizabeth Behrens
“Trying to keep them away from things, that's only going to have them form opinions and worldviews that are not being shaped by you.” -Latasha Morrison
“Book banning is a building of borders around the imagination of people. Because many want the imagination of their children to be a offspring of what they know and not a development of what God is shaping in them or what's developing in them naturally because of the way that they are wired.” -Jefferson Jones
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Resources Mentioned:
Cultural Views White Christian Nationalism
Cultural Views Gun Violence
Ruby Bridges
The Color of Law book
Video of 100 year old Florida widow of a WWII veteran talking about book bans
The Hill We Climb book by Amanda Gorman
Stop Book Bans Toolkit from the Author’s Guild
Tell Me Who You Are book
Be the Bridge Foundations Course
Connect with Be the Bridge:
Our Website
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Twitter
Connect with Latasha Morrison:
Facebook
Instagram
Twitter
Not all views expressed in this interview reflect the values and beliefs of Latasha Morrison or the Be the Bridge organization.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, everyone. I am Lauren C. Brown, senior producer of the Be the Bridge podcast. Today's |
| 0:11.3 | episode topic is BookBands. In a couple of minutes, you'll hear a discussion on this topic between |
| 0:17.9 | our founder and podcast host, Latasha Morrison, and some of our members from |
| 0:22.9 | our Be the Bridge team. Before we get started, we'd like to share with you the words from Grace Lynn. |
| 0:29.9 | At the point of this recording, Grace Lynn was 100 years old. What makes what she shared so significant, |
| 0:41.7 | Grace is the widow of a World War II veteran. |
| 0:48.2 | Without further ado, let's take a couple of minutes to hear wisdom from Grace. Stick around to hear Latasha and the Be the Bridge team unpack the unfortunate hot topic of book banning. |
| 0:56.0 | Now let's take it to the bridge. |
| 1:07.5 | I am a hundred years young. I'm here to protest our school's district book banning policy. |
| 1:19.8 | My husband, Robert Nicol, was killed in action in World War II. At a very young age, he was only 26, defending our democracy, constitution, and freedoms. One of the freedoms that the Nazi Constitution and Freedoms. |
| 1:28.3 | One of the freedoms that the Nazis crushed was the freedom to read the books they banned. |
| 1:36.3 | They stopped the free press, banned and burned books. |
| 1:43.3 | The freedom to read, which is protected by the First Amendment, |
| 1:51.0 | is our essential right and duty of our democracy. |
| 1:57.0 | Even so, it is continually under attack by both the public and private groups who think they hold the truth. |
| 2:06.6 | In response to the book banning throughout our country and Martin County, |
| 2:15.6 | last year, during the time I was 99 I have created this quilt to remind all of us that |
| 2:26.9 | these few of so many more books that are banned or targeted need to be proudly displayed and protected. |
| 2:38.1 | And read if you choose to. |
| 2:42.1 | The quilt was shown on national TV as part of Ali Valshese Band Book Club segment. |
| 2:51.6 | Band books and burning books are the same. |
| 2:55.6 | Both are done for the same reason. |
... |
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