Extreme, pro-censorship authoritarians are ringing in July 4 by calling for book bans.
By
The
books had been seized from the city’s Institut für Sexualwissenschaft.
The nonprofit institute was the first in the world to focus on the science of
gender and sexuality. It was supportive of LGBTQ studies and provided
gender-affirming health care.
Before
the raid, the organization had a number of transgender employees and hosted an
extensive library of materials on LGBTQ health. Tragically, at least one
transgender woman is believed to have died in the violent attack that preceded
the book burning.
As
Nazi atrocities go, this was an early and foreboding event.
The
attack on scholarship and on a vulnerable community heralded an eventual
descent into unimaginable violence. Book burning and banning, while not
invented by the Nazis, became closely associated with them — and with
authoritarian repression more generally.
It’s
stunning now, after so many years and lessons learned, to watch the meteoric
rise of the right-wing, pro-censorship group Moms for Liberty.
The
group embraces book-banning as a centerpiece of its activism. Its favored
targets are materials relating to Black, brown, and LGBTQ communities. For its
national convention the weekend before the Fourth of July, it chose to bring
its supporters to Philadelphia, a city with a rich civil rights history and
ties to our nation’s independence.
That
sends an unmistakable message about the central role the group sees for itself
in American culture and politics. So does the attendance of the half-dozen
presidential candidates, including Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis.
This
is especially disorienting for a younger generation that grew up with
incremental but seemingly irreversible progress toward freedom and inclusivity.
We
saw the rise of diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at work and school
and the legalization of same-sex marriage. We saw the election of our first
Black president. We took it for granted that we would always have the right to
reproductive freedom. Until we didn’t.
We’re
witnessing the wholesale forgetting of the authoritarian forces behind
book-banning and censorship. And the worst thing we could do would be to
look away.
The Southern
Poverty Law Center is not looking away — it named
Moms for Liberty as an extremist group in its
annual Year in Hate and Extremism report.
Some
media outlets have been vigilant about debunking
Moms for Liberty’s claims to be a low-budget, grassroots
group. Ditto any claims that it is peaceful: there are numerous reports that
local Moms for Liberty operatives have turned threatening
and aggressive.
The
organization was even forced to apologize after a
local chapter approvingly quoted Hitler in its newsletter.
But this
criticism hasn’t really dented Moms for Liberty’s ability to attract money or
the attention of presidential candidates. It will take more than that to
protect the freedom to learn.
We need a
multiracial, multigenerational, cross-cultural response that clearly affirms
American values.
We
need to assert the right of parents to decide if their kids are mature enough
to read a book, but not to make that decision for everybody else’s kids.
We
need to stand up for accurate and honest school curricula in which our nation’s
full history is taught and the stories of all Americans are included. That
fosters respect, understanding, and empathy — and prepares kids for meaningful
civic engagement.
The last big
right-wing group to promote book-banning and censorship — the
Moral Majority — collapsed
under the weight of its own financial and sexual
scandals, but not before it did serious harm to marginalized communities in
this country. We can’t wait around for this movement to burn itself out as
well.
Fighting
censorship is as American as you can get, and that’s what this year’s
celebration of our country’s birthday should be about.
Svante Myrick is President of People
For the American Way. Previously, his campaigns focused on transforming public
safety, racial equity, voting rights, and empowering young elected officials.
This op-ed was distributed by OtherWords.org.