Published September 29, 2023

You read that correctly. The American Library Association celebrates Banned Book Week next week — but it’s been banned in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools and could face challenges across North Carolina.

You can read about it in a story by WFAE in Charlotte.

Meanwhile, where I live, things are different. Right after I learned about the goings-on in Charlotte, I got an email from my local library district touting Banned Books Week.

I love that Banned Books Week organizers are calling for people to take action.

The American Library Association is heavily involved and invested in Banned Books Week, as you may have guessed.

Amid all of this and the pressure in certain areas to defund or eliminate libraries, keep in mind that the ultimate goal is far sinister than it may appear. As one librarian in New England said this week, “The attack on libraries will not end with any consensus standard for what counts as prurient or pornographic, because the attack isn’t about that. It’s about eliminating the library as a public space where a child can find the smallest measure of freedom from parental domination.”

Also, it’s about destroying the public’s ability to fight fascism, as someone pointed out by way of a reply to the librarian.

“I’ll even go further and say that they want to eliminate the library for adults as well. They want to eliminate public spaces and freedom. Because freedom gives way to independence and questioning authority.”

I repeat: Now they want to ban Banned Book Week.

Top image of library books via Silo Creativo’s Jennifer Theme.