Category Archives: Transhuman News

The systematic censorship in the US of artists who express sympathy with the plight of the Gazan population and oppose the genocidal policies of Netanyahu-Biden continues.

*The National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has felt obliged to create an Art Censorship Index, primarily reporting the most egregious, official acts of censorship favoring the murderous Israeli military attacks on the Palestinians.

*In an episode that the NCAC has not yet had time to list, Native American artist Danielle SeeWalker recently had an invitation rescinded to be artist in residence in Vail, Colorado, the Rocky Mountain resort town. The artist had done a paintingG is for Genocide, of a woman wearing a keffiyeh, and posted an image of the work on Instagram.

*Meanwhile, chat messages obtained by theWashington Postreveal that a secret cabal of wealthy art collectors and art-world stakeholders, with connections to major museums in New York and elsewhere, discussed plans to put pressure on Mayor Eric Adams to break up the protests by students at Columbia University and other campuses.

The NCAC index provides information on a series of episodes in which institutions have acted on behalf of pro-Israeli forces to clamp down on artists free speech. The WSWS has written about a number of them, including theexclusion of Palestinian artist Jumana Mannafrom a panel at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio; the cancellation of a career retrospective byPalestinian artist Samia Halabyat Indiana University; the shutting down of scheduled showings ofIsraelism, a film critical of Zionist policies, at Hunter College in New York and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia; and the postponement of an appearance by Vietnamese-American Pulitzer Prize-winning writerViet Thanh Nguyen at the 92ndStreet Yin Manhattan.

It notes the cancellation of appearances by author Nathan Thrall, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winningA Day in the Life of Abed Salama, at a number of venues, including the Writers Bloc in Los Angeles and the University of Arkansas.

The Burning Man festival in Nevada, which pledges itself to community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance, removed from its website a pro-Palestinian art work, a proposed 8-by-14-foot fiberglass installation in the shape of a watermelon, a symbol of resistance to Israeli occupation. The title of the work was From the River to the Sea, and various pro-Zionists objected, claiming that the slogan constituted language that advocates for the annihilation of Israel.

The published NCAC list includes the sudden postponing by the Frick Pittsburgh museum of the exhibitionTreasured Ornament: 10 Centuries of Islamic Art, the cancellation of the Boston Palestine Film Festival after venues faced a lot of pressure and backlash from pro-Israeli forces; the removal of an art installation at East Harlems El Museo del Barrio that included a Palestinian flag; and numerous others.

The list is quite narrow, in fact. A far broader range of acts of censorship and repression have been carried out, as the NCAC itself acknowledges. The organization explains that it did not include cases in which artists substantially altered their own work after it had been curated, or cases where curatorial frameworks precluded an artwork from being selected in the first place. Furthermore, the list does not record employee firings, instances in which galleries have terminated their representation of artists, expulsions of student groups from college campuses, or instances in which protests have temporarily interfered with the presentation of work.

As well, the Art Censorship Index does not record examples in which artists have elected to withdraw their work from public presentation in an act of protest, or instances in which artists have self-censored their work or their views for fear of backlash. In short, the NCAC admits that the data represented likely reflect a fraction of arts censorship incidents, and that the current political climates chilling effects on speech reverberate in myriad ways beyond the incidents noted.

The latest episode in Vail has become the norm. SeeWalker, a Hukpapha Lakhota citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Nation based in Denver, was invited to be the towns artist in residence, and then disinvited once she postedG for Genocideon Instagram. As the artist told the Art Newspaper,G for Genocidewas for a different exhibition and had nothing to do with Vail or the residency.

The municipality, in a statement, asserted that while the Town of Vail embraces [SeeWalkers] messaging and artwork surrounding Native Americans, in recent weeks her art and her public messaging has focused on the Israel/Gaza crisis. It then claimed, as has also become the norm, that negotiations with SeeWalker had never been concluded and no contract was signed, etc. However, the Art Newspaperpointed out that its review of materials indicated that SeeWalker received written commitments for housing and supplies. An announcement about her arrival in Vail that had been posted on the municipalitys website has since been taken down.

One of the most sinister and telling incidents is the intervention by super-wealthy art collectors to press the city of New York to crack down on student protesters at Columbia and other universities.

AsHyperallergicreports, the messages urging NYPD intervention

were sent in a private WhatsApp group whose members reportedly included collector Len Blavatnik, a majorbenefactorof institutions including Londons Victoria and Albert Museum and Tate Modern; tech tycoon Michael Dell, who helpedestablishthe Magnum Photos collection at the University of Texas at Austin; Daniel Loeb, art collector and former Los AngelesMuseum of Contemporary Arttrustee; former Starbucks CEO and momentary presidential hopeful Howard Schultz, a topSeattle art collector; and Joseph Sitt, the real-estate investorbehind BrooklynsSephardic Heritage Museumand theConey Art Wallsmural initiative.

The article goes on to report that on April 27, according to theWashington Post,

Sitt, Blavatnik, Loeb, and others attended a Zoom call with New York City Mayor Eric Adams in the wake ofmass student arrests at Columbia and as anew encampment emergedon campus. Sitt wrote that Adams was open to any ideas we have to address the campus protests, including hiring private investigators to then have his police force intel team work with them.

The article continues:

Ill be grateful when the perpetrators are dragged off campus, Loeb reportedly wrote in the chat that day. Minutes of the Zoom call shared in the chat noted potential tactics to get police back on campus, including donating to Adamss reelection campaign and using the group members leverage to influence Columbia University President Nemat Minouche Shafik.

Days later, the NYPD violently removed and arrested students occupying Columbias Hamilton Hall, renamed Hinds Hall, in honor of Hind Rajab, the six-year-old child murdered by Israeli forces in Gaza in January 2024.

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Pro-Palestinian artists face ongoing censorship in the US, while rich art collectors demand student protesters be ... - WSWS

Few corners of the art world have not experienced a censorship scandal since the Hamas terror attacks of 7 October 2023 and the ensuing invasion of Gaza by Israeli forces. Artists and curators who are vocal supporters of both Israel and Palestine have seen events cancelled, residency and exhibition offers rescinded, sales and commissions revoked, and morenot to mention harassment online and in person. To track the wars chilling effect on freedom of expression, the New York-based non-profit National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC) has created a portal tracking US incidents of artistic censorship stemming from the war.

Currently the toolwhich features a list of incidents as well as a map of where they occurredchronicles 22 such instances of artistic censorship, ranging from the Nevada-based Burning Man festival removing a pro-Palestine artwork from its website earlier this month, the Frick Pittsburgh museum postponing an exhibition of Islamic art last autumn and the Eskenazi Museum of Art cancelling American Palestinian artist Samia Halaby's retrospective, to venues in Arizona and New Mexico cancelling concerts by the staunchly pro-Israel singer Matisyahu.

"Our cultural sphere is at its richest when artists and cultural institutions are able to reflect upon challenging social and political issues of our time, Elizabeth Larison, the director of NCACs arts and culture advocacy programme, said in a statement. By documenting these instances of art censorship, we hope to inspire greater accountability and dialogue within the artistic community and beyond.

The portal provides a link to a form where the public can report relevant incidents of censorship. A spokesperson for NCAC says that for each submission, the organisation looks for at least two validating independent news reports from reliable sources or else validating documents and testimony from credible sources close to the case.

Per NCACs national focus, the portal exclusively catalogues incidents in the US, though censorious episodes have occurred throughout Canada, the UK, Europe and beyond.

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New tool tracks incidents of artistic censorship related to Israel-Hamas war - Art Newspaper

As more and more artists claim they have been censored after speaking out on Palestine and Israel, a new online toolcalled the Art Censorship Index, and released earlier this weekaims to track and map such incidents since October 7.

The initiative was spearheaded by the National Coalition Against Censorship, a New Yorkbased nonprofit composed of more than 50 organizations. Its mission, per its website, is to help defend the right to free expression for creators of all forms of art and cultural production.

Our cultural sphere is at its richest when artists and cultural institutions are able to reflect upon challenging social and political issues of our time, Elizabeth Larison, director of NCACs Arts and Culture Advocacy Program, said in a statement. By documenting these instances of art censorship, we hope to inspire greater accountability and dialogue within the artistic community and beyond.

The art world has grown increasingly polarized in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent aerial bombardment and ground invasion of the Gaza Strip by the Israeli military. (As of publication, more than 35,000 Palestinian in Gaza have been killed, according to the local health ministry.) Accusations of censorship at art institutions and college campuses worldwide spiked dramatically in the ensuing months.

An introduction to the index explains that it intentionally limited its data collection to incidents in which institutions expressly canceled, withdrew, or abandoned a program or work after plans to present it had been communicated, and where the reason for the withdrawal was related to the perceived political content of the work, the personal politics of the artist, or the national or cultural associations tied up in the content of the work.

It will not include cases in which artists significantly altered their own work after it had been curated, or cases where the existing curatorial frameworks precluded an artwork from being selected in the first place. Additionally, the map does not record employee firings, incidents of galleries severing representation of artists, or the expulsion of student groups from campuses.

Incidents indexed in the United States include the cancellation of a talk byPulitzer Prizewinning novelist Viet Thanh Nguyen about his memoir A Man of Two Faces that was originally hosted by 92NY last October. According to the database, Nguyen had signed an open letter in the London Review of Books that was critical of Israel. The event was pulled from programming just hours before it was scheduled to start. For each entry, the index includes links to reporting on the cancellation.

Also mapped was the cancellation of a panel that included Berlin-based Palestinian artist Jumana Manna as part of a Directors Dialogue on Art and Social Change at Ohio Universitys Wexner Center for the Arts on November 14. Per the Art Censorship Index, the event was canceled in late October following after scrutiny was placed on Mannas video Foragers, which focuses on the Israeli governments criminalization of the Palestinian practice of foraging wild plants.

Through this initiative, NCAC aims to raise awareness of this most recent trend of art censorship, advocate for the protection of artistic freedom, and empower individuals and organizations to identify and resist censorship efforts, the NCAC said, adding that any suspected incidents of censorship can be submitted directly to the organization.

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A New Index is Mapping Incidents of Censorship - ARTnews

The ceremony took place at the Cullen Family Plaza Fountain which members of SJP called the reclaimed Yaffa Fountain.| Raphael Fernandez/The Cougar

On Wednesday, Students for Justice in Palestine HTX organized a graduation ceremony in response to the University removing parts of the official UH graduation livestream where students called for divestment.

The ceremony took place at the Cullen Family Plaza Fountain, which members of SJP called the reclaimed Yaffa Fountain, according to an Instagram post.

Unfortunately, UH decided to cut the livestream off, obviously disrespecting the memory and forever withholding that memory from them, said biology senior and SJP member Maryam Mohammad. Its a very ugly move and all because the graduates decided to make a moral statement on a war that this university is complicit in.

Another motive of the ceremony revolved around creating a safe space for students, graduates and alumni to come together and celebrate each other, something which the University failed to do, said SJP members.

The celebration began with a moment of silence and a welcome note by industrial design junior and SJP member Amna A.

The graduation censorship that explicitly targeted Palestinian identity is proof to us that UH does not care about its students, Amna said. It shows us that UH only cares about diversity and representation whenever it suits its own image of perfect obedient students.

Each graduates name was called by the SJP organizers and they were given a red flower along with a space to get their graduation pictures clicked. | Raphael Fernandez/The Cougar

According to SJP members and graduates, the attendees felt unsafe with the presence of police at the SJP graduation ceremony as they were not doing anything against the University policy and even complained about being followed.

The graduates, especially the ones who were censored during the livestream, felt very thankful for this initiative taken by SJP.

I actually didnt realize I was cut out of the livestream until I got home later that day and found out I was edited out, said ecology and sociology graduate Noor Battla. It was very spineless of them but I didnt feel sad, instead I feel that this is an honor for them to be scared of me, my message and every single person who shares the same sentiment.

Students were disappointed by UH because other gestures made by students, like dancing on stage or showcasing other nationalities, were kept in the livestream unlike the Palestinian and divestment centered censorship.

During the ceremony, the graduates pledged to withhold all the donations to UH until the university divests from Israeli arms manufacturers.

The censorship made me feel very bittersweet about graduating from this university and coming back, said management and information system and marketing graduate Samiha Zaman. Im very hesitant to show support at all for this university and wont do the things I thought I might have done, because I realized that UH doesnt care about its own students.

Each graduates name was called by the SJP organizers and they were given a red flower along with a space to get their graduation pictures taken.

The ceremony was also live streamed on the SJP Instagram account and was concluded with a closing note by Amna.

The point of this event was to uncensor what UH did and offer our graduates an opportunity to celebrate with people who respect them and their humanity, Amna said. When there is a crisis and a genocide, you do not turn your face away.

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SJP hosts graduation ceremony in response to UH's divestment censorship - The Cougar - The Daily Cougar

The attempts to censor sitting Council Members Suzanne Brown and Clint Holland and their agenda items went even further as top city staff imposed bizarre interpretations of the revised ordinance 1218 (C), none of which are actually in the ordinance. What the heck?

You will recall that Peachtree City Mayor Kim Learnard pushed to create serious constraints on the ability of anyone she opposes to place items on a council meeting agenda. Her plan had several significant flaws that were called out in a previous column (see: https://thecitizen.com/2024/04/01/warning-subversion-of-public-access-to-the-agenda-for-the-peachtree-city-council-is-coming/).

Council Member Laura Johnson came to Learnards rescue, scrubbing some of the proposed changes to the mayors proposal on ordinance 1218 (C), creating her own version of chaos and confusion, calling it a compromise.

Learnard referred to Johnsons revised proposal as masterful. Well, it was anything but masterful. Johnsons defense of her actions for changing the ordinance was a confusing spectacle with Johnson offering many conflicting statements (see: https://thecitizen.com/2024/04/09/what-3-council-members-ripped-away-from-citizens-last-week/).

Now, the city staff and council members are debating how the poorly written censorship rule in ordinance form actually works. Even the city attorney has offered two different opinions.

The City Manager Justin Strickland and City Clerk Yasmin Julio were literally making up procedures and agenda subsections out of thin air, none of which were present in Johnsons version of the ordinance 1218 (C) changes.

The two staff members were issuing orders to Brown and Holland on how to present their agenda items, citing a procedure that did not exist. Its not a stretch to wonder if they were acting at the behest of Learnard who originally proposed the censorship measure.

I asked Johnson about the damaging outcome of her ordinance change following the May 2 city council meeting in an email interview, and she appears to dodge those questions (read the interview here: https://thecitizen.com/2024/05/16/laura-johnson-explains-her-city-council-votes/).

Council Member Brown was furious. In a pointed email to Strickland, Brown said, Obviously, the Ordinance 1218 Agenda Item from Mayor Learnard at the April 4 meeting created a great deal of confusion and multiple contradictory statements concerning Council Member Johnsons compromise that was adopted.

Referring to the imposition of the sudden, punitive procedures created by Strickland and Julio, never approved by the city council, Brown challenged, I need you to cite the specific language that you call procedure [in ordinance 1218 (C)] that: 1. Demands that the [Browns] item is a discussion item, 2. That I cannot provide the name and description of my own agenda item that was approved using the opaque language approved on April 4, and 3. Why am I not able to determine the meeting date for my own agenda item (over the citys history, many items have been postponed to a later meeting date, this is nothing new in terms of making such a request.)

Riled at the latest attempt at censorship, Brown asserted, Following Ordinance 1218, I submitted a request for an agenda item for a Resolution on a specific topic for a future council meeting and received the required approval. She continued, Staff determining how my agenda item will be processed based on council comments veering in multiple directions is nowhere to be found in Ordinance 1218. I made the request, I cited the agenda item requested, and it was approved.

Council member Holland and I voted against this confusing and tangled ordinance change, and it now appears that you are making it even more confusing, said Brown. Justin, the only time you are mentioned in the ordinance itself, is with accepting agenda items from city staff. Your statement that we need to have another approval following a previous approval during Council Staff Topics makes no sense, Brown said.

Council Member Brown is entirely correct.

Certainly, we all know why politicians employ such extreme measures to avoid freedom of speech and expression, eradicating opposition. Government deceit is nothing new. The methodology for citizens and council members to place an item of concern on a council meeting agenda in Peachtree City has worked for five decades, and all of a sudden, its totally unmanageable. Seriously?

What the mayor and Johnson are doing is similar to when Nancy Pelosi publicly stated to the American public, We will have to pass the [ObamaCare] bill so that you can find out what is in it.

If it looks like dishonesty and acts like dishonesty, it must be dishonesty.

Learnard readily admits in public, like Pelosi, that she prefers to do the business of the people in the back channels and have agenda item discussions with her colleagues outside the public forum.

Learnard admitted in a council meeting to polling all the council members behind the scenes on her own agenda item saying, I made sure to discuss this [ordinance 1218 (C) change] item with each and every one of us before I would even consider putting it on a council meeting agenda. Please tell me how that does not violate the Georgia Open Meetings Act.

In my interview with Johnson, I asked why she did not support a resolution on the record stating that Peachtree City tax dollars would not be used to house or maintain illegal immigrants. She cited the time that our assistant police chief devoted to sitting down with us [council members] to discuss this matter and followed his recommendation.

Why did Johnson think the taxpaying citizens would not want to be privy to hearing the details of those private sit-down discussions concerning an urgent national issue and our tax dollars? Why wasnt his full recommendation presented in the city council meeting? Is Johnson in favor of using our tax dollars to provide upkeep for illegal immigrants?

At the May 2, 2024, city council meeting, the changes made to ordinance 1218 (C) imploded on city staff and the council members. Browns points were all valid, and the new ordinance lacks clarity and real procedural structure. However, that should not be an invitation for city staff to make stuff up and promote censorship.

The poor city attorney has been trying to pick up the pieces.

Originally, it was stipulated that agenda items could only be added or denied by a majority consensus, not a formal vote. On May 2, it was concluded that agenda items could only be added by a motion, second, and majority vote, not a consensus. The flip-flop has become the official footwear of the city council. The rules keep changing to hold city council members back and prevent new agenda items.

The ordinance revisions author, Johnson, originally stated she did not support motions being made for the placement of an agenda item during the Council/Staff Topic portion of the meeting. She now supports what she formerly opposed. You cannot make this stuff up.

Obviously, it would be better for Learnard and Johnson to stop censoring their council colleagues and the citizens who would like to place an item on the councils scant agendas. Their pride prevents them from returning to the old ordinance that no one complained about until Laura Johnson was elected.

In the email interview, Johnson doubled down on supporting her controversial and poorly written ordinance revision even though it has huge holes in how to process adding agenda items.

In one of the email interview questions, I asked Johnson for her rationale on why she voted against returning to having an invocation before the city council meetings. Johnson replied, I did not vote against having an invocation before city council meetings; the motion was whether or not to put it on the agenda. Ouch! Seriously?

This double-speak would be humorous if we did not support her with our tax dollars. Unmistakably, in that answer, Johnson gave the readers her rationale for preventing items of concern from being placed on an agenda. She and Learnard will use the psychological crutch to claim they never voted against anything the people wanted, they just voted never to allow it on an agenda to be voted on.

We have seen Learnard demonstrate the same lack of character, saying her critics are spouting misinformation and claiming official government actions never happened (see: https://thecitizen.com/2024/05/06/welcome-to-the-taxpayer-supported-mayor-kim-learnard-channel-all-kim-all-the-time/). The mayors propaganda video was a real eye-opener for many viewers. Regardless of what Learnard claims, the governments actions are documented on the official record.

I dare say that most of us could respect someone with a different point of view that they could defend. However, this weaseling out of allowing any person with an opposing view to ever present a position in the public forum is sheer cowardice.

Kudos to Council Member Suzanne Brown for standing up to the dishonesty.

Wake up people. If you dont fight the tyranny, you get even more tyranny.

[Brown is a former mayor of Peachtree City and served two terms on the Fayette County Board of Commissioners. You can read all his columns by clicking on his photo below.]

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Now city staff impose their own censorship over what council members can add to council agendas - The Citizen.com

The greatest of all human delusions is that there is a tangible goal, and not just direction towards an ideal aim. The idea that a goal can be attained perpetually frustrates human beings, who are disappointed at never getting there, never being able to stop.

Stephen Spender, poet and co-founder of Index on Censorship

Sometimes it is wise to follow the advice of a great. I have spent my life striving for tangible, if all too regularly unachievable, goals and sometimes you do just need to stopif only to reflect. For the last four years I have led Index on Censorship as we strived to protect and promote freedom of expression in an increasingly polarised world. However it is now my turn to stopat least at Index.

This is my last weekly blog. As of today my brilliant successor Jemimah Steinfeld will be taking over the reins as CEO (which means were looking for a new editor).

My time at Index started during the pandemic when authoritarian regimes used the pretext of Covid-19 as an excuse to restrict access to a free media. Weve seen Putin invade Ukraine, the people of Afghanistan abandoned to the Taliban, the increased repression in Hong Kong and the continuing rise of populist politics around the world. All of this as technology is changing faster than any of us can really comprehend and we are only now starting to appreciate how it can be used as a tool for dissent as well as repression.

At times the world has felt far, far too bleak. Our ability to directly help dissidents has always been limited to paying them for their work but when you are publishing their fears and realities every day it can be beyond disheartening. Yet my amazing team have worked to support people in Egypt, Iran, Hong Kong, Afghanistan, Belarus and a dozen other countries. Its been a privilege to lead them, as they sought to protect others.

The joy of Index is that our supporterswell youoften rightly claim ownership of our work. Challenging us to do more. Before I leave I think its important for my successor that I explain why we do what we do. Our remit is promoting the work of dissidents; that means we touch on areas of media or academic or artistic freedom but when we do it should always be through the prism of censorship and repression. In the UK, the EU and the US we also engage on issues which we think undermine our ability to promote freedom of expression in countries where repression is the normwe cannot forgo the moral high ground. And our rights are as important as anyone elses.

This means that sometimes we wont cover issues in the same depth that others do because were a small team. Index undoubtedly punches above its weight but there are less than a dozen of us, so we cant cover everything. We also might not cover an issue because as important or as valid as it is, it might not be a matter of freedom of expression but rather underpinned by an alternative human right.

There is also the fact that some of the team travel to the very places that we write about. So sometimes we dont publish until they come home. So occasionally you may need to indulge us.

Even with all of these constraints Index does exceptional work. I am so proud of the work weve done on SLAPPs, on digital rights and of course the work we do with dissidents. So thank you for your support in making it happen.

And while I am doing thank-yous, it would be remiss of me not to thank my amazing Chair, Trevor Philips, and our brilliant board of Trustees. With me, they have helped Index rebrand, relaunch and celebrate our 50th birthday. They have rebuilt the organisation into the force I believe it to be. Their commitment to Index has been unwavering and without them Index wouldnt be here today. Simply put they are exceptional people and I am grateful to them.

Going forward Index has a huge work programme freedom of expression will be challenged by AI, deepfakes, transnational repression and a shifting world order with nation states whose actions can mean it is no longer always clear who are goodies. This is all compounded by a public space that no longer encourages debate but rather seeks to silence the alternative view. Issues quickly become toxic and ideological purity is seemingly a prerequisite for engagement in any controversial debate. This is at odds with the very basic tenets of freedom of expression debate and engagement leads to change and enables societies to thrive and grow. We should always be prepared to protect the boundaries of our public space to protect speech not hate speech but genuine thought and considered debate. After all that is the basis for any strong democracy.

So as the UK heads towards a general election, my focus will be on the best bit of our democracy the election campaign.

So thank you for your support, your views and most importantly your commitment to freedom of expression.

Heres hoping that as a third of the world heads to the polls this year freedom of expression will end up as the protected and cherished human right that we all need it to be.

PS Make sure you use your vote if you have one!

PPS Be kind to Jemimah, she is going to be brilliant.

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On never being able to stop - Index on Censorship

ST. PAUL, Minn. | As a queer and out youth, Shae Ross was alarmed when she heard that conservative groups were organizing in her community to ban books dealing with sexuality, gender and race. So she and her friends got organized themselves, and helped persuade their school board to make it much harder to remove books and other materials from their libraries and classrooms.

Ross, an 18-year-old senior in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, is glad to see that her governor and leaders in several other states are fighting the trend playing out in more conservative states where book challenges and bans have soared to their highest levels in decades.

For a lot of teenagers, LGBT teenagers and teenagers who maybe just dont feel like they have a ton of friends, or a ton of popularity in middle or high school literature becomes sort of an escape. Ross said. Especially when I was like sixth, seventh grade, Id say reading books, especially books with gay characters was a way that I could feel seen and represented.

Minnesota is one of several Democratic-leaning states where lawmakers are now pursuing bans on book bans. The Washington and Maryland legislatures have already passed them this year, while Illinois did so last year. It was a major flashpoint of Oregons short session, where legislation passed the Senate but died without a House vote.

According to the American Library Association, over 4,200 works in school and public libraries were targeted in 2023, a jump from the old record of nearly 2,600 books in 2022. Many challenged books 47% in 2023 had LGBTQ+ and racial themes.

Restrictions in some states have increased so much that librarians and administrators fear crippling lawsuits, hefty fines, and even imprisonment if they provide books that others regard as inappropriate. Already this year, lawmakers in more than 15 states have introduced bills to impose harsh penalties on libraries or librarians.

Conservative parents and activists argue that the books are too sexually explicit or otherwise controversial, and are inappropriate, especially for younger readers. National groups such as Moms for Liberty say parents are entitled to more control over books available to their children.

But pushback is emerging. According to EveryLibrary, a political action committee for libraries, several states are considering varying degrees of prohibitions on book bans. A sampling includes California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Kansas, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont, though some in conservative states appear unlikely to pass. One has also died in New Mexico this year.

One such bill is awaiting Democratic Gov. Wes Moores signature in Maryland. Washington Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill last month that sets a high bar for removing challenged materials, especially those dealing with race, sexual orientation and gender identity. A version pending in New Jersey would protect librarians from civil or criminal liability.

Some proposals are labeled Freedom to Read acts.

Thats whats so critical here. The voluntary nature of reading, said Martha Hickson, a librarian at North Hunterdon High School in New Jersey. Students can choose to read, not read, or totally ignore everything in this library. No one is asking them to read a damn thing.

Hickson recalled how parents first suggested her book collections contained pedophilia and pornography during a school board meeting in 2021. She watched the livestream in horror as they objected that the novel Lawn Boy and illustrated memoir Gender Queer were available to students and suggested she could be criminally liable.

Tears welled up, shaking Hickson said. But once my body got done with that, my normal attitude, the fight side kicked in, and I picked up my cell phone while the meeting was still going on and started reaching out.

Book bans have been a sore point for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a former high school teacher. The Minnesota Senate passed his proposal this month. It would prohibit book bans in public and school libraries based on content or ideological objections, and require that the key decisions about what books will or wont be offered be made by library professionals.

The state House is considering an approach with more teeth, including penalties and allowing private citizens to sue to enforce it.

Im working with stakeholders, with the Department of Education, librarians, school districts and their representatives, said Democratic Rep. Cedrick Frazier, of New Hope. Were working to tighten up the language, to make sure we can come to a consensus, and just kind of make sure that everybodys on the same page.

Because of her activism, Ross, a student at Jefferson High School in Bloomington, was invited when Walz went to Como Park Senior High School in St. Paul last month to view a display of books banned elsewhere. The governor called book bans the antithesis of everything we believe and denounced what he depicted as a growing effort to bully school boards.

At a House hearing last month, speakers said books by LGBTQ+ and authors of color are among those most frequently banned. Karlton Laster, director of policy and organizing for OutFront Minnesota, who identifies as Black and queer, said reading their works helped him communicate my hard feelings and truths to my family and friends, and helped him come out to his family.

Kendra Redmond, a Bloomington mother with three children in public schools, testified about efforts to push back against a petition drive by conservatives to pull about 28 titles from the citys school libraries.

Pushback from Ross, Redmond and others succeeded. The Bloomington School Board last month made it much harder to seek removals. Parents can still restrict access by their own children to material they deem objectionable.

Many challenges in the district came from the Bloomington Parents Alliance. One of its leaders, Alan Redding, recalled how his sons 9th grade class was discussing a book a few years ago when graphic passages about date rape were read aloud in class. He said his son and other kids were unprepared for something so explicit.

They were clearly bothered by this and disgusted, Redding said. My son absolutely shut down for the semester.

Minnesota Republican lawmakers have argued that instead of worrying about book bans, they should be focusing instead on performance in a state where just under half of public school students can read at grade level.

Every book is banned for a child that doesnt know how to read, said GOP Rep. Patricia Mueller, a teacher from Austin.

Catalini reported from Trenton, New Jersey. Associated Press reporters Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, and Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland, contributed to this story.

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Minnesota and other Democratic-led states lead pushback on censorship. They're banning the book ban - Sentinel ... - Sentinel Colorado