Ariana Grande / Photo: Archive
More than 175 American artists, musicians, entertainers, writers and film directors, including the singer Ariana Grande, director Guillermo del Toro, actor Mark Ruffalo and poet and activist Amanda Gorman signed an open letter asking Hollywood use your influence to oppose the banning of books, a trend that increased last year, in libraries and schools in that country.
The letter, led by Reading Rainbow host LeVar Burton and published through the political advocacy organization MoveOn Political Action, denounces the banning of books in American schools as a “restrictive behavior” that is “antithetical to freedom of expression” and warns of the “chilling effect” that bans, often implemented at a local level, can have “on the broader creative field”.
“We cannot emphasize enough that these censorship efforts will not end with book bans,” states the letter, published by the British newspaper The Guardian.
In libraries and schools in the United States, The ban on books increased in 2022, especially titles related to the LGBTQI+ community and people of African descent, including classics like Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye” and Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and more recent works like Juno Dawson’s “This Book is Gay” and Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer.”
The poet and activist Amanda Gorman / Photo: Archive.
If in 2021, the books questioned reached 1,858, last year the number rose to 2,571 titles, 40% more. The increase is due to the complaints raised by parents, activists, school board officials and legislators questioning children’s access to certain booksaccording to the American Library Association (AEB).
This situation is facilitated by laws that allow it and by the actions of conservative groups in Tennessee, Utah and Florida, one of the states where the conflict escalated the most and led to accusations against librarians for considering that they promote obscenity and even pedophilia, many of whom received threats for refusing to remove texts.
“It is only a matter of time before regressive and repressive ideologues shift their focus to other forms of art and entertainment, to further their attacks and efforts to scapegoat marginalized communities, particularly BIPOC and LGBTIQ+ people.”adds the letter, whose publication coincides with National Banned Book Month.
“We refuse to remain silent while a creative field is subject to oppressive bans,” the letter continues. “As artists, we must come together, because a threat to one art form is a threat to all of us.”
The letter urges signatories to “join us in fight these book banssupport free and open creative industries – regardless of personal or ideological disagreements – and use your voice at the local level to stop these bans in your school districts.”
The banning of books in bookstores and schools in the US, a growing trend / Photo: Archive.
“Artistic freedom has power and we refuse to allow draconian politicians to take it away from us,” conclude the signatories, who also include Idina Menzel, Gabrielle Union, Abigail Disney, Andy Cohen, Judd Apatow, Margaret Atwood, Padma Lakshmi and Sharon Stone .
“It’s shameful that we are banning books in this country., in this culture, in this time. And it’s dangerous for a handful of people to decide that any book about black and queer people is divisive,” Burton told the Hollywood Reporter, which first reported on the letter. “We call on everyone to join us in speaking out. voice to defend artistic freedom, embrace multicultural history, and end book bans once and for all.
The research organization Pen America has recorded more than 4,000 book challenges and bans in school districts since June 2021. In Texas, there were 1,269 documented censorship attempts to restrict 2,571 unique titles in 2022, the highest number ever recorded by the AEB.
The letter is related to the mobile library Banned Bookmobile de MoveOn, which launched a multi-city tour this summer to distribute banned books for free in Florida, which has seen an increase in content restrictions. The library will resume its tour in several more states, including South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia, in October.
2023-09-20 16:09:52
#Open #letter #celebrities #book #ban
