If there’s anything conservatives are mobilizing around right in time for midterm elections, it’s … banning books. Yes, it’s 2022 and we’re fighting an ongoing global pandemic. But still: books written about and by diverse folks? Not on a Republican’s watch, apparently. Daily Kos has covered ongoing efforts by school boards to vilify and demonize books by and about LGBTQ+ folks and people of color, including calls to get books removed from public classrooms and libraries.
At least one teacher in Florida—a state which is an unfortunate hotbed for hate, thanks largely to Gov. Ron DeSantis—is putting in the work to get challenged books into the hands of young readers. Adam Tritt, who teaches Advanced Placement English at a high school in Brevard, Florida, is running a “banned book” drive online to buy copies of books for students to read over the summer, as reported by Florida Today.
The local chapter of the conservative Moms for Liberty group spread the online fundraiser and stirred hysteria right away. On the bright side: Guess how much money Tritt has raised already?
RELATED: One way to keep books by and about LGBTQ people on the shelves? Hide them from the GOP
At the time of writing, Tritt has reportedly raised more than $5,000 to go toward buying challenged books for students. Amazing. And of course, Moms for Liberty has taken to the local Facebook chapter’s page and made time to compare Tritt to a sex offender, a “groomer,” and a stranger providing “pornographic” books, per the outlet. Because one way to keep people voting Republican is to keep people from reading.
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As of now, the group has reportedly challenged more than 40 books available in Brevard libraries with the defense that the books include sexual content not appropriate for children. Mind you, these are books like All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson (you can read our interview with Johnson here as part of our Banned Book Club), This Book is Gay by Juno Dawson, and Genderqueer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe.
If you’re sensing a pattern, you’re right.
Books from the drive will ideally be available starting in the middle of June and Tritt told the outlet money is going toward used book copies, stickers, and pins. He said he’s working with local businesses and churches to distribute the books, which include The Bluest Eye and Beloved by Toni Morrison, The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume, and Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut.
Students have had to attend school (whether in person or remotely) amid a literal global pandemic. They have to live with the knowledge that their peers around the nation face potentially deadly gun violence and that they could someday, too. They’ve watched Republicans dismantle reproductive rights and protections for LGBTQ+ people, and witnessed limits being put on their ability to safely and openly identify at school.
And yet conservatives want to take away their books and hope that’ll get them votes this fall. Lovely.