First of all, kudos to the Post for doing this dive into who’s pushing book bans. Second, knowing the ways of right wing extremists, it’s not at all surprising that Karens For Censorship –excuse me, Moms for Liberty — was behind most of it. Via the Washington Post:
The Post requested copies of all book challenges filed in the 2021-2022 school year with the 153 school districts that Tasslyn Magnusson, a researcher employed by free expression advocacy group PEN America, tracked as receiving formal requests to remove books last school year. In total, officials in more than 100 of those school systems, which are spread across 37 states, provided 1,065 complaints totaling 2,506 pages.
The Post analyzed the complaints to determine who was challenging the books, what kinds of books drew objections and why. Nearly half of filings — 43 percent — targeted titles with LGBTQ characters or themes, while 36 percent targeted titles featuring characters of color or dealing with issues of race and racism. The top reason people challenged books was “sexual” content; 61 percent of challenges referenced this concern.
[…] A small number of people were responsible for most of the book challenges, The Post found. Individuals who filed 10 or more complaints were responsible for two-thirds of all challenges. In some cases, these serial filers relied on a network of volunteers gathered together under the aegis of conservative parents’ groups such as Moms for Liberty.
Here’s the chilling part:
The majority of the 1,000-plus book challenges analyzed by The Post were filed by just 11 people.
Eleven people, making these decisions for everyone else. Voters, are you okay with this?
