FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 23, 2023 

Contact: press@campaignsharedfuture.org

 

The Campaign for Our Shared Future Calls on Families to Fight Against Record Number of Attempted Book Bans

 

Washington, D.C. - Today, the Campaign for Our Shared Future (COSF) Executive Director, Heather Harding, Ed.D., released the following statement in response to an American Library Association (ALA) report that found a record number of attempts to ban books in 2022:

 

“From classrooms to school libraries, students across the country are facing empty bookshelves. Extremist groups continue to appoint themselves judge and jury on what’s appropriate for everyone else’s children and are willing to send educators to jail who defy them. Unfortunately, today’s report from the American Library Association demonstrates how quickly this problem is spreading.

 

“These attempted bans stir up controversy and distract from the very real issues our students face. Instead of tackling learning loss or mental health issues, our educators and school boards must combat misinformation and political posturing to protect our students' ability to read about heroes like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. 

 

“What’s especially disturbing about today’s report is that these are attempted book bans that are reported by the media or library professionals, which means the total number of bans is likely much higher than any organization has captured so far.

 

“We must not let these censorship efforts take away our children's chance to read about our history and how we can achieve America’s greatness. Parents and students need to work with school officials to push back on these attempted bans and keep this political theater out of our classrooms and libraries.”

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The Campaign for Our Shared Future (COSF) is a non-partisan effort to support high quality K-12 education and preserve access, inclusion, and meaningful content in our schools so that every student has an opportunity to succeed and thrive. COSF is a common ground effort committed to fighting the attack on education across the country.