The Battle Over Book Bans Takes a Toll on Librarians and Comes at a Financial cost
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 β’ 6.2K Ratings
ποΈ 11 August 2023
β±οΈ 16 minutes
ποΈ Recording | iTunes | RSS
π§ΎοΈ Download transcript
Summary
Many librarians are speaking up about fearing for their jobs and safety.
Yet some conservative activists see the current fight playing out as necessary to protect children.
NPR's Tovia Smith traveled to Louisiana where tensions have been flaring up β pitting librarians against book ban advocates in the local community.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Okay, you've heard the titles, The Bluest Eye, written by Tony Morrison, stamped by |
| 0:12.5 | Ibram X Candy and Jason Reynolds. |
| 0:15.3 | All boys aren't blue, George Johnson's memoir. |
| 0:19.3 | These are just a few of the many books that have been banned from various libraries and |
| 0:24.2 | schools all around the US. |
| 0:26.4 | These books tend to revolve around race and racism, sexuality and sexual identity, or the |
| 0:32.7 | experiences of LGBTQ people. |
| 0:35.7 | Do we go back to the wholesome library or are we going to have these libraries that are |
| 0:39.5 | pushing agendas? |
| 0:41.4 | Michael Lunsford is executive director of the group, Citizens for a new Louisiana. |
| 0:46.9 | And conservative activists like him say the goal behind banning these books is to protect |
| 0:52.6 | kids from what he sees as smut in the library. |
| 0:56.8 | If they're going to use our tax dollars to put these sexually erotic books up and encourage |
| 1:02.1 | kids to pick them up, I don't think that's reflective of community standards. |
| 1:06.4 | But as some people push to limit books and cities around the country, what's at stake |
| 1:11.7 | is far more than just access for children to these individual books at issue. |
| 1:16.1 | It's been this battle for the soul of our library and for the principles that it represents. |
| 1:24.4 | Lynette Mahia is co-founder of the group, Louisiana Citizens Against Censorship. |
| 1:30.4 | She says the current uproar over certain books is pushing librarians to a breaking point. |
| 1:35.5 | I mean, we've lost so many good librarians. |
| 1:39.6 | It's heartbreaking how many have left and continue to leave. |
| 1:44.3 | The pressures on librarians have become so intense, the American Library Association |
... |
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