Thank you for forwarding this trailer. It is indeed troubling to see librarians attacked so viciously. I recommend that everyone read Suzanne Williams and Steven Kellogg's tribute to librarians in this classic riff on the tall tale,* Library Lil, t*o lift your spirits.
I watched the trailer, and noticed that all the book banners were people from the right -- Moms for Liberty, a man wearing an American flag headcovering, and the like. But book banning and cancellation of authors is not exclusively a right-wing activity. One organization for which I have great respect is FAIR, the balanced, centrist, and principled defender of showing multiple perspectives on the issues that are polarizing America (and Canada, where I live). I offer for everyone's reading their page of links to articles on book banning set up for Freedom to Read Week. Here's <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://www.fairforall.org/banned-books-week-resources/__;!!KGKeukY!21ZMRfu5EPYsYt5Z-nVI7KEfqLryeSlAU_VJSW6cFb7MGTeBYMiA1BUylSRIni_TwCTMFJ-SxuyYF2Wwqbei48cCiaY$ > the link: One of the quotes in the article "The Book Banners of the Left" is from children's book author Jonah Winter, whose biography of Roberto Clemente was canceled by the right in Florida because it mentioned the anti-Hispanic racism Clemente encountered -- a ban from the right. But here [in blue font] is what he has to say about the book banning tactics from the left of the spectrum: Book-banning, the “cancel culture” of the right, doesn’t hurt a book or an author. [MG note: He means because it is often a boost to sales, as happened following the Florida ban.] What hurts a book or an author is the *far more effective cancel culture of the left*, by which I mean the small but vocal subsection of illiberal ideologues who’ve commandeered both liberalism in general and the publishing world specifically, often using their power to attack well-meaning authors in the form of social media pile-ons <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://archive.is/o/Xu3RG/https:/www.nytimes.com/2019/02/06/books/amelie-wen-zhao-blood-heir-keira-drake-continent-jonah-winter-secret-project.html__;!!KGKeukY!21ZMRfu5EPYsYt5Z-nVI7KEfqLryeSlAU_VJSW6cFb7MGTeBYMiA1BUylSRIni_TwCTMFJ-SxuyYF2Wwqbei834bjZA$ > and the resulting cancellations, both of which I’ve experienced. I’ve had two book contracts canceled because of my identity in relation to the subject matter. I am a white man. The irony of the big to-do being made over the banning of my Clemente book by conservative activists is that, were I to try and publish that exact same book today, I would not be able to get it published because of progressive activists. In today’s world of children’s books, governed by the ideological mantra of “own voices,” I am not allowed to tell the story of anyone who’s not white or male. So, these banners may not be storming into libraries like Moms for Liberty, but they're censoring nonetheless. I'd like to add that in Ontario, where I live, a school board (PDSB -- Peel District) did come after school libraries back in 2023. They ordered -- I KID YOU NOT! -- all books on school library shelves published before 2010 to be weeded out because they might not adhere to DEI principles. This would mean, for example, *Little Women*! I wrote an article on this for C2C Journal, titled "Empty Shelves: The Noxious Politics Behind a School Board's Massive Book Purge. <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://c2cjournal.ca/2023/12/empty-shelves-the-noxious-politics-behind-a-canadian-school-boards-massive-book-purge/__;!!KGKeukY!21ZMRfu5EPYsYt5Z-nVI7KEfqLryeSlAU_VJSW6cFb7MGTeBYMiA1BUylSRIni_TwCTMFJ-SxuyYF2Wwqbeieol3zWc$ >" Even though this happened in Canada, not the US, I think you'll agree that intolerance is not the private preserve of people from the right, once you read what happened in my country. The shelves of those school libraries were denuded, and that's a tragedy. Marjorie Gann On Sun, Nov 23, 2025 at 9:47 PM Joyce Levine via Hasafran < [email protected]> wrote: > https: //youtube. com/watch?v=Ykll4MWltsQ&si=Gc7VCbgIFzPBEf_m > > > > > > https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ykll4MWltsQ&si=Gc7VCbgIFzPBEf_m__;!!KGKeukY!21ZMRfu5EPYsYt5Z-nVI7KEfqLryeSlAU_VJSW6cFb7MGTeBYMiA1BUylSRIni_TwCTMFJ-SxuyYF2WwqbeiE3h9LuY$ > > <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ykll4MWltsQ&si=Gc7VCbgIFzPBEf_m__;!!KGKeukY!2AiCllWMCqIfujvRhM4bzRD2acgQWsrbEC8wuA3jceyGcsZ33Rae3XdQ-PsZIsY1AnayVtdcQTroz1x0IgPepSV2Wq4$> > > __ > Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual > author > and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries > (AJL) > ================================== > Submissions for Ha-Safran, send to: > [email protected] > To join Ha-Safran, update or change your subscription, etc. - click here: > https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran > Questions, problems, complaints, compliments send to: [email protected] > Ha-Safran Archives: > Current: > https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran*40lists.osu.edu/maillist.html__;JQ!!KGKeukY!21ZMRfu5EPYsYt5Z-nVI7KEfqLryeSlAU_VJSW6cFb7MGTeBYMiA1BUylSRIni_TwCTMFJ-SxuyYF2WwqbeiOUbMXcg$ > > Earlier Listserver: > https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.mail-archive.com/hasafran*40lists.osu.edu/maillist.html__;JQ!!KGKeukY!21ZMRfu5EPYsYt5Z-nVI7KEfqLryeSlAU_VJSW6cFb7MGTeBYMiA1BUylSRIni_TwCTMFJ-SxuyYF2WwqbeiOUbMXcg$ > > AJL HomePage > https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.JewishLibraries.org__;!!KGKeukY!21ZMRfu5EPYsYt5Z-nVI7KEfqLryeSlAU_VJSW6cFb7MGTeBYMiA1BUylSRIni_TwCTMFJ-SxuyYF2WwqbeiOAJ_hSc$ > > -- > Hasafran mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/hasafran > -- "Anti-Semitism is always a means rather than an end; it is a measure of the contradictions yet to be resolved. It is a mirror for the failings of individuals, social structures and State systems. Tell me what you accuse the Jews of -- I'll tell you what you're guilty of." Vasily Grossman, *Life and Fate*
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