Open Eyes: Banned Books, Kids, and the War on Reading
In state after state, local community members, school boards and elected lawmakers are challenging the rights of children and young adults to read books like Gender Queer and The 1619 Project. Even a children’s biography of Rosa Parks has made a list of banned books. This growing national tension between young people’s rights to read what they want and adults restricting access based on views of ‘suitability’ is playing out right now in courtrooms and communities nationwide.
Join Joshua Block (National ACLU’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & HIV Projects); Linda Johnson, president and CEO of Brooklyn Public Library; Jeffrey Blair, co-owner of a Missouri African American-themed children’s bookstore providing free copies of banned books to state residents; and Melissa Jacobs, Director of Library Services for the NYC Department of Education, to explore this urgent topic. Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson, moderates.