Dear MoveOn member,
A Florida school has banned "The Hill We Climb," the moving poem that
Amanda Gorman recited at President Joe Biden's inauguration, saying it
would now be off-limits to young readers after one parent claimed the poem
was "indoctrinating" students.^1
The school, which claimed the poem is "not educational," at the same time
also banned "The ABCs of Black History," a book intended for readers ages
5 and older.^2
In response, Gorman, the first national youth poet laureate, described
feeling "gutted," explained that she had written the poem "so that all
young people could see themselves in a historical moment," and said, "We
must fight back."^3
John, we have just the way to fight back: With Florida Governor
Ron DeSantis officially in the race for president, MoveOn is launching a
"Banned Bookmobile," filling it with books that DeSantis has banned from
schools in Florida, and driving it around the state to hand out those
books, for free, in highly trafficked areas that will attract media
attention. We're able to green light the Banned Bookmobile thanks to the
generosity of MoveOn members. That's the power of collective action!
If we can raise enough funds, we'll take the Banned Bookmobile on tour
around the country for months, following DeSantis to his campaign stops
across the country, giving out banned books, hosting events with authors
and advocates, and making sure the press covers it as much as possible.
But we need your help to do it, John. We have enough funds to
get started, but if we want to keep the Banned Bookmobile up and running
into 2024, we will need consistent resources from MoveOn members. Will you
start a $5 monthly gift today to help us keep buying as many
copies of DeSantis's banned books as we can, giving them away for free,
and hammering DeSantis and the GOP with bad press for as long as it takes?
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in monthly.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
Book bans have increased by more than 1,000% since 2020, thanks to
right-wing state laws like the one DeSantis championed in Florida, which
has forced teachers to remove books from their classrooms, or wrap their
bookshelves in paper so that students can't access them, in order to avoid
being charged with a felony—punishable by up to five years in prison and a
$5,000 fine—leaving bookshelves "entirely barren of books."^4,5
And most book bans are targeting books written by people of color or those
who are LGBTQ+.^6 As Amanda Gorman explained, these books are by authors
"who have struggled for generations to get on the bookshelves."^7
That's where our Banned Bookmobile comes in.
Without further ado, here are the first 10 books we are adding to the
Banned Bookmobile! All of these books are banned in Florida, and five were
among the top 10 most banned books nationwide in 2022:
1. "The 1619 Project: Born on the Water" - Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renée
Watson
2. "All Boys Aren't Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto" - George M. Johnson
3. "And Tango Makes Three" - Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
4. "The Bluest Eye" - Toni Morrison
5. "Gender Queer: A Memoir" - Maia Kobabe
6. "The Hill We Climb" - Amanda Gorman
7. "I Am Jazz" - Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings
8. "Looking for Alaska" - John Green
9. "Maus" - Art Spiegelman
10. "Out of Darkness" - Ashley Hope Pérez
"Gender Queer: A Memoir," a graphic novel about nonbinary author Maia
Kobabe's journey toward self-discovery, was the most banned book across
the United States in 2022 and has received the most challenges of any book
in 2023 as well.^8,9
We want to make sure that as many people as possible—especially young
people—have the chance to read these books, and that we spread the word
far and wide that DeSantis and the Republican Party are supporting book
bans and censorship, on top of their other dangerous and extreme policies
including abortion bans, voter suppression laws, attacks on the poor, and
more.
Will you help out by starting a $5 monthly donation today?
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in monthly.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
Thanks for all you do.
–David, Elsie, Oscar, Nakia, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "1 complaint led a Florida school to restrict access to Amanda Gorman's
famous poem," NPR, May 25, 2023
[link removed]
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. "Censorship by the Numbers," American Library Association, accessed May
25, 2023,
[link removed]
5. "Hide your books to avoid felony charges, Fla. schools tell teachers,"
The Washington Post, January 31, 2023
[link removed]
6. "Top 13 Most Challenged Books of 2022," American Library Association,
April 21, 2023
[link removed]
7. "1 complaint led a Florida school to restrict access to Amanda Gorman's
famous poem," NPR, May 25, 2023
[link removed]
8. "Top 13 Most Challenged Books of 2022," American Library Association,
April 21, 2023
[link removed]
9. "Banned in the USA: State Laws Supercharge Book Suppression in
Schools," PEN America, April 20, 2023
[link removed]
Want to support MoveOn's work? Voters just defied history and stopped a
MAGA wave of extremism at the polls. But there is more work to do to end
the filibuster, codify abortion rights into law, and defend our freedoms,
our families, and our futures. We can accomplish all this and more, but
only if we work together.
Will you chip in monthly to power our critical work?
[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in $5 a month.
[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
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