CHARLESTON, W.Va. – As a new pro-censorship movement asserts itself across the nation and in West Virginia, it has never been more important to celebrate everyone’s right to read, think, and say whatever they want. That’s why the American Civil Liberties Union of West Virginia (ACLU-WV) has worked with the Kanawha County Public Library to organize a week of events centered on reading and free speech as part of national Banned Books Week.
Events include family story times, film screenings, virtual read-alongs, and a panel discussion on the 1974 Kanawha Textbook Wars with the Rev. Ron English, attorney Thornton Cooper, and author Denise Giardina. ACLU-WV investigative reporter Kyle Vass will moderate the panel.
“It’s important we ask ourselves just how far have we really come since those turbulent, violent days in the 1970s,” said Eli Baumwell, ACLU-WV interim director. “Nearly 50 years later, we have yet another pro-censorship movement labeling everything they disagree with as ‘pornography’ and demanding the state control what students can and cannot read.
“This movement is trying to roll back the progress society has made toward justice for marginalized communities,” Baumwell continued. “Polls show that very few Americans support banning books over so-called ‘divisive topics.’ What we don’t need is a silent majority. Talk to your legislators, your library board members, and school board members. Tell them that banning or restricting access to books is censorship, plain and simple.”