The concept of banning books has become a rapidly growing debate in the U-S political sphere.
With more debate comes more challenges — which are now breaking records in quantity.
According to a report released by the American Library Association Thursday — there were attempts to ban more than 25-hundred books from schools and public libraries in 2022.
The record total was up from over 18-hundred in 2021 — and just 566 the year before that.
40 percent of the books challenged last year were part of cases where 100 or more books were being challenged at once.
In a statement — the director of the association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom said the overwhelming share of attempted book bans came from “organized censorship groups that target local library board meetings to demand removal of a long list of books they share on social media.”
Quote — “Each attempt to ban a book by one of these groups represents a direct attack on every person’s constitutionally protected right to freely choose what books to read and what ideas to explore. The choice of what to read must be left to the reader or, in the case of children, to parents.”
This story is considered a Media Miss, as it’s underreported by right-leaning outlets.
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In its report — the association noted the vast majority of challenged books were written by or about people of color and members of the L-G-B-T-Q community.
They also added that bipartisan research firms in 2022 found voters across the political spectrum oppose efforts to remove books.
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