Celebrate Banned Books Week 9/26-10/2/2010 by reading a Banned Book!

Banned Books Week actually celebrates the Freedom to Read and the First Amendment, which states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."
Book bannings and challenges did not stop with the Nazi book burnings; the Harry Potter series, the
Twilight series, and even the Captain Underpants series have come under attack.
People usually challenge books out of an attempt to protect readers, often children, from perceived harmful or disturbing material. The motivating factors, according to the ALA, are family values, religion, political views, and minority rights. (www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/)
But in the words of Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas ("The One Un-American Act." Nieman Reports , vol. 7, no. 1, Jan. 1953, p. 20):

Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions.

It is the one un-American act that could most easily defeat us.
(www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/)

Therefore: Take a stand for Intellectual Freedom and READ A BANNED BOOK!!
Posted by:

Michael Gmelin

Kauai CC Library/Reference