Dear MoveOn member,

A Florida school district has ordered librarians to remove all books with
LGBTQ+ characters or themes from school and classroom libraries.^1

An Advanced Placement English teacher in South Carolina was reported to
the school board and formally reprimanded for teaching Ta-Nehisi Coates'
"Between the World and Me," an award-winning, seminal book about what it
means to be Black in America.^2

Across the country, Republican politicians are banning books and censoring
what young people can learn, but at the very same time, they are desperate
to downplay these extreme policies in public, because they know that the
overwhelming majority of Americans disagree with them and that if voters
knew the truth, they wouldn't cast a ballot for them.

Consider that 95% of Democrats, 80% of Independents, and 53% of
Republicans are against book bans and say they will consider book bans
when they vote.^3

That's why our Banned Bookmobile—which is getting back on the road this
weekend—is so important. We're traveling to battleground states, holding
high-profile events with local leaders and authors, and giving away banned
books in order to promote literacy and fight extremist censorship.

It's the type of highly visible tactic that the media love to cover, and
the more we can get the word out and educate voters about the Republican
politicians behind the tsunami of book bans sweeping the country, the
fewer places they can hide from the consequences of their own actions.



But as a grassroots organization, we need your help to make it happen,
John. Will you chip in $5 a month to help us keep
the Banned Bookmobile on the road and cover everything from gas to
security, buy as many copies of banned books as we can, so we can give
them away for free, and hammer Republicans with bad press?

[ [link removed] ]Yes, I'll chip in monthly.

[ [link removed] ]No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.



A new study shows that book bans continue to intensify in public K-12
schools. In the 2022–23 school year, school book bans increased by 33%
compared to the year before.^4 Republicans continue to target books that
are about race or racism or are written by and/or feature characters of
color or LGBTQ+ characters.

Our Banned Bookmobile tour was wildly successful and made a huge impact
when we launched it in July, but we need your support to get it back out
on the road and to keep it there.



Will you donate $5 a month to support the Banned
Bookmobile? Your donation will help us cover the costs of books,
insurance, gas, security, staff, as well as our work to defeat the
Republican politicians behind these bans.

[ [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.

–Mana, Corinne, Chrissy, Evelyn, and the rest of the team

Sources:

1. "Florida school district orders librarians to purge all books with
LGBTQ characters," Popular Information, September 26, 2023
[link removed]

2. "Her students reported her for a lesson on race. Can she trust them
again?" The Washington Post, September 18, 2023
[link removed]

3. "Voter Perceptions of Book Bans in the United States," Every Library
Institute, accessed September 27, 2023
[link removed]

4. "Banned in the USA: The Mounting Pressure to Censor," PEN America,
accessed September 27, 2023
[link removed]

Contributions are used for MoveOn’s general purposes.



Want to support MoveOn's work? Book bans have skyrocketed thanks to
right-wing state laws which have forced teachers to remove books from
their classrooms. In response, MoveOn is launching a "Banned Bookmobile,"
filling it with books that the far right has banned, and driving it around
to hand out those books, for free, in highly trafficked areas that will
attract media attention. To keep the Banned Bookmobile up and running into
2024, we need your help.

Will you start a monthly gift 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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