Photo: JRE.
Now almost 12 and 15, these two are good readers.
I recently learned about a group called Grandparents for Truth, organized in reaction to other groups pushing book bans in schools and threatening librarians.
I am not a member, but I think reading is important and I understand enough history to know what happens to countries that start with book bans, so I thought I would share the information.
Huda Hassan wrote at MSN.com in late 2024, “Last August, a retired special-education teacher named Holly Hall joined a rally of grandparents warring against book censorship in Temecula, a small Southern California town. Locals had gathered to oppose a school-board decision to ban a social-studies reader, Social Studies Alive!, for citing Harvey Milk — the first openly gay politician elected in the state. ‘The Harvey Milk reference was in the supplemental materials,’ 72-year-old Hall says, ‘which meant that it wouldn’t have even been mentioned in some classes.’
“The world of literature is currently ablaze with rapidly escalating book bans targeting narratives and histories about gender and sexual identity, race, class, and just about anyone deemed ‘other.’
“[In 2024] alone, 1,128 books have been challenged, according to the American Library Association, which documents ongoing censorship attempts across the nation. Florida is the state with the most banned books (3,135 bans, according to PEN America), and in the 2022–23 school year, there were book bans in 153 districts across 33 states, including Texas, Missouri, Utah, and Pennsylvania.
“Earlier this year, schools in Escambia County, Florida, removed 1,600 books on gender and race from school libraries and, through this process, even banned multiple dictionaries. In August, New College of Florida, a public liberal-arts college, disposed of hundreds of library books, emptying the school’s Gender and Diversity Center. Then, this fall, major publishers — including Simon & Schuster, Penguin Random House, and HarperCollins Publishers — filed a lawsuit against book-removal provisions in Florida (through HB 1069, a law introduced in 2023).
“When Hall, who taught in California for 40 years, spoke out at that rally in Temecula, she gave an impassioned speech about censorship in her state. ‘I addressed the dangers of banning books,’ she says. ‘It’s not 1933 Germany.’ Opponents attended the Temecula rally too, such as Moms for Liberty, a Florida-based parenting group formed in 2021 that’s pushing for banning books on race and what it calls ‘gender ideology.’ A few months prior, the same three school-board trustees Hall spoke against had voted to ban the school’s study of critical race theory the day they were sworn into office. This preemptive act confused many, as no courses on critical race theory had been offered at the school. …
“As parents across the country and groups like Moms for Liberty have joined the attacks on literature, grandparents like Hall are mobilizing in response, and they are afraid. ‘I am so concerned about my country, our freedom, and the world,’ Hall says.
“But she felt encouraged to speak in front of her peers and opponents last year because she knew she was not alone. She was invited to the rally by Grandparents for Truth, a national organization formed in the summer of 2023 to fight for the right to read. ‘A neighbor walked by and told me about the group. He had a sign in his yard,’ says Hall. …
“In Philadelphia, Ruth Littner, one of the earliest members to join Grandparents for Truth last summer, discovered the collective through her daughter, Alana Byrd, the national field director of People for the American Way. Like Hall, the pair are committed to countering book banning despite heckling or pushback from the police. ‘I am the daughter of two Holocaust survivors,’ Littner says on the phone from her home. ‘When Alana told me she had an initiative to fight this kind of authoritarianism, I jumped right on that. I was the first one to get the Grandparents for Truth T-shirt.’
More at MSN, here. No paywall.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
US civil rights politics are pedaling backwards. US politics are more busy with whom can use what bathroom then with issues that really touch an average person’s worries. Especially the Democrats have lost the feeling with their base as Bernie Sanders once openly asked: Where are the blue collar workers in Congress? Instead you have a bunch of lawyers who’re covertly corporate stooges. This whole gender and first amendment discussion is deflecting the attention of the discussions around the second amendment to curb the gun proliferation and the need for an inclusive and well functioning public health care, which are in my opinion of a bigger concerns for the US population.
I couldn’t agree more!
Banning books makes us think of the Catholic Index. It no longer exists but the banning of books continues. To protect people? On what grounds? And who decided that people need this kind of protection? Especially nowadays when the internet and social media are overloaded with misinformation. Better to educate people and teach them to be critical.
Beautifully said.
Sounds like a great organization. I’m not a grandparent yet and if this country keeps heading down the far right path, I may never be. My kids may not want to risk bringing new humans into the world. It’s shocking to see the nation’s views on civil and women’s rights moving backwards. We increasingly see people in power that care little about the gargantuan wealth gap and we’re voting for people who push initiatives that will hasten, rather than slow, climate change. Bring back the basic tenets of Dr. Seuss!
Such an important issue; to ban books is to take the first step on a road that leads ultimately to disaster and dictatorship. Well done to you and the other Grandparents for taking a stand.
Well, I don’t deserve the credit. I just wanted people to know there’s an organization like that.