Banning, criminalizing, maybe even burning books is back for public schools in Texas, Virginia, elsewhere


Virginia's Spotsylvania County School Board voted 6-0 earlier this week to order public school libraries to remove and catalog all "sexually explicit" books from their libraries, after a parent at one high school complained about "LGBTQIA" fiction prominently displayed in the school's digital library app, The Free Lance-Star reports.
Two of the board members wanted to go farther, the Free Lance-Star reports. "I think we should throw those books in a fire," said one member, Rabih Abuismail. He said one young adult book about homeless teenagers trying to escape troubled pasts, 33 Snowfish by Adam Rapp, proved public schools "would rather have our kids reading gay pornography than about Christ." Fellow board member Kirk Twigg said he'd like to "see the books before we burn them so we can identify within our community that we are eradicating this bad stuff."
"It's easy to caricature a particular movement with some of its most extreme promoters," Aaron Blake writes at The Washington Post, but the Virginia case isn't unique, and advocates say the coordinated effort to cancel certain types of books is unusually strident. "Particularly when taken in concert with the legislative attempts to control school curricula, this feels like a more overarching attempt to purge schools of materials that people disagree with," the National Coalition Against Censorship's Nora Pelizzari told the Post.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Many of the books being challenged and removed from shelves (sometimes temporarily) — in Kansas, Pennsylvania, and especially Texas — have to do with racism. Texas state Rep. Michael Krause (R) launched a review last month targeting books that "might make students feel discomfort, guilt, anguish, or any other form of psychological distress" due to their "race or sex."
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) on Wednesday instructed the Texas Education Agency to investigate potential crimes related to "the availability of pornography" in public schools and refer any such instances "for prosecution to the fullest extent of the law." The TEA, The Texas Tribune notes, "does not employ law enforcement officers." Two days earlier, Abbott had asked the TEA and other state agencies to develop statewide standards preventing "obscene content in Texas public schools."
Pornography is one thing, but "there is clearly an audience in the conservative movement for more broadly excluding subjects involving the history of racism and how it might impact modern life," Blake concludes. And the big question is "how wide a net is cast."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
ICE agents take down Lady Justice | June 21 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Saturday’s political cartoons include ICE, Donald Trump as a lion tamer, and ordering from the Bible
-
5 editorial cartoons about ICE raids
Cartoons Political cartoonists take on ICE raids, harvesting Big Macs for Donald Trump, and what to do when Stephen Miller shows up at the front door
-
Grilled radicchio with caper and anchovy sauce recipe
The Week Recommends Smoky twist on classic Italian flavours is perfect to grill, drizzle and devour
-
Trump's LA deployment in limbo after court rulings
Speed Read Judge Breyer ruled that Trump's National Guard deployment to Los Angeles was an 'illegal' overreach. But a federal appellate court halted the ruling.
-
Marines, National Guard in LA can detain Americans
speed read The troops have been authorized to detain anyone who interferes with immigration raids
-
Trump vows 'very big force' against parade protesters
Speed Read The parade, which will shut down much of the capital, will celebrate the US Army's 250th anniversary and Trump's 79th birthday
-
Smithsonian asserts its autonomy from Trump
speed read The DC institution defied Trump's firing of National Portrait Gallery Director Kim Sajet
-
Trump sends Marines to LA, backs Newsom arrest
speed read California Gov. Gavin Newsom is filing lawsuits in response to Trump's escalation of the federal response to ICE protests
-
Trump foists National Guard on unwilling California
speed read Protests erupted over ICE immigration raids in LA county
-
Supreme Court lowers bar in discrimination cases
speed read The court ruled in favor of a white woman who claimed she lost two deserved promotions to gay employees
-
Trump-Musk relationship implodes in taunts, threats
speed read Musk said Trump's multitrillion bill would cause a recession and accused the president of involvement with Jeffrey Epstein