A Florida lawsuit seeks to counter the growing trend of censorship at school libraries.

As reported by The New York Times, a Florida lawsuit brought on against the Escambia County School District and Escambia County School Board hopes to have the county's restrictions on school libraries declared unconstitutional for targeting certain viewpoints and for infringing on students’ right to receive information. The group behind the lawsuit includes publishing giant Penguin Random House, human rights organization PEN America as well as private citizens. With the number of book bans increasing in several states, the outcome of the lawsuit is considered to have implications beyond Escambia County.

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Vicki Baggett, a high school English teacher in Escambia, started a campaign to have the coming-of-age novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower removed from school libraries over what she perceived as "extreme sexual content descriptions" in May 2022. With her campaign initially being unsuccessful, Baggett expanded the rooster of books she wanted to be removed to a list of 116, including classics like Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut and the children's book Draw Me a Star by Eric Carle (who also wrote The Very Hungry Caterpillar), which contains rough depictions of nudity.

Lindsay Durtschi, a member of the P.T.A. in Escambia County who is one of the parents behind the lawsuit against the bans, doesn't put the blame on Baggett. “The person that is to blame for this is Ron DeSantis,” she said, referring to Florida's Governor, who has been vocal about combating what he calls "woke indoctrination." Durtschi further said, "I don’t want my business to suffer. I don’t want my kids to be bullied. But if that’s what ends up happening, then I’ll tell everybody about it. I’m not one to keep my mouth shut."

A Record Number of Book Bans Were Filed in 2022

The Florida lawsuit comes after a record year for book bans in school libraries. In 2022, the American Library Association (ALA) received 1,269 demands to censor library books, in contrast to 729 challenges in 2021. Among these bans were many comics books, including titles featuring Batman and the X-Men, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Holocaust tale Maus by Art Spiegelman, which was removed from Tennessee curriculums over concerns including profanity, violence and nudity. The case made worldwide news and helped the 30-year-old graphic novel re-enter several national and international bestseller charts.

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The onslaught of book bans has already been picked up as a topic in pop culture. The phenomenon has been satirized by The Simpsons in a 2023 episode titled "Hostile Kirk Place," and South Park took on the Maus ban specifically one year earlier. Bestselling writer also Dave Eggers promised to provide free copies of banned books to high school seniors in Rapid City, South Dakota, in May 2022, and actor LeVar Burton encouraged audiences to "read banned books" on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah in Feb. 2022, among other examples.

Source: The New York Times