Book Bans Are ‘Castrating’ Children, Maryland's Governor Says
Censorship expanding across many Republican-led states.
Maryland's Democratic governor took a strong swing against right-wing efforts across the country to ban books from schools and libraries.
The 2022-23 school year has been marked to date by an escalation of book bans and censorship in classrooms and school libraries across the United States.
This school year also saw the effects of new state laws that censor ideas and materials in public schools, an extension of the book banning movement initiated in 2021 by local citizens and advocacy groups. Broad efforts to label certain books “harmful” and “explicit” are expanding the type of content suppressed in schools.
Again, and again, the movement to ban books is driven by a vocal minority demanding censorship. A 2022 poll found that more than 70 percent of parents oppose book banning. Yet the bans persist.
For instance, a public library in Idaho banned six books from its collection that it deemed “harmful” to children. Several of the banned books were about LGBTQ+ issues.
As book bans escalate, coupled with the proliferation of legislative efforts to restrict teaching about topics such as race, gender, American history, and LGBTQ+ identities, the freedom to read, learn, and think continues to be undermined for students.
Maryland Gov Wes Moore, the Democrat elected last year, condemned book bans in an on-camera interview Sunday using strong language.
“It’s not about making kids feel uncomfortable. It’s about telling other kids that they shouldn’t understand their own power. It’s castrating them,” Moore said in his appearance on MSNBC host Jen Psaki's program.
That's particularly true for Black students, added Moore, himself the first Black governor elected to lead Maryland.
“Because if you know your history, you know your power,” he said.
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