New report exhibits it’s largely officers and orgs demanding books be banned – not dad and mom | EUROtoday

A brand new report reveals the overwhelming majority of these demanding guide bans are organizations or officers — not particular person dad and mom.

Seventy-two p.c of calls for to censor books in faculties have come from organizations that embody elected officers, board members and directors, in line with the American Library Association.

Parents solely accounted for 16 p.c of guide ban calls for, whereas particular person library customers made up 5 p.c.

“The movement to ban books is not a movement of parents, but a movement of partisans who seek to limit our freedom to read and make different choices about things that matter,” Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the group’s workplace of mental freedom, stated in an announcement.

The American Library Association can “trace many of the challenges to lists of books that have been distributed by Moms for Liberty and other groups,” Caldwell-Stone told ABC News.

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Moms for Liberty is a far-right group considered an extremist organization by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The most common reasons cited for challenges include “false claims of illegal obscenity for minors,” “inclusion of LGBTQIA+ characters or themes,” and “topics of race, racism, equity and social justice,” in line with the American Library Association.

“As the organized attempts to censor materials in libraries persist, we must continue to unite and protect the freedom to read and support our library workers, especially at a time when our nation’s libraries are facing threats to funding and library professionals are facing threats to their livelihood,” American Library Association President Cindy Hohl stated in an announcement.

More than 5,000 books have been challenged within the U.S. final yr, a pointy drop from 2023’s 9,021 books.

However, the American Library Association attributes this drop to underreporting, guidelines prohibiting library staff from buying sure books requiring them to be positioned in a sure space and legislative restrictions.

Several states — together with Florida, Iowa, Texas, and Utah — have handed legal guidelines limiting what college librarians can purchase and supply to college students in recent times.

The most challenged books final yr included All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison.