As we all know - and history has taught us - when you start banning books things are on a slippery slope. It seems like the State of Arizona is still in the business of banning books, as this report from CommonDreams clearly shows.
"Arizona's racist move to ban ethnic studies programs - aka - real history including that of brown-skinned people - and a long list of "objectionable" books pertaining to same - aka any books they don't like, ranging from the seminal Rethinking Columbus to award-winning novels - may have backfired. Along with a legal fight to reinstate them, there are a host of other actions: Activist teachers have launched a month-long initiative - "They say shut it down. We say spread it around." - students are holding teach-ins and workshops, lists of the books are circulating, the American Library Association has blasted the move - "WHEREAS, 'The freedom to read is essential to our democracy... No society of free people can flourish that draws up lists of writers to whom it will not listen, whatever they may have to say.' - and commentators are declaring themselves understandably weary of "enduring fools."
Perhaps not coincidentally, another manifestation of racism still being alive and well in the USA emerges from this piece, also on CommonDreams:
"The surreal saga of Scott Henson, a journalist, political consultant and blogger - Grits for Breakfast and Huevos Rancheros - on the criminal justice system in Texas who was stopped by Austin police in nine patrol cars with flashing lights, handcuffed and questioned at length for walking his five-year-old granddaughter home from a roller-skating rink. Henson is white; his granddaughter is black. It's not the first time he has been stopped with her. Evidently, we - and most notably the police - have a long way to go before achieving a post-racial, un-paranoid, non-authoritarian America."
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