BANNED: An Asian American Reading List of Banned Books in 2023

Inthe last two years alone, local and legislative efforts to implement book bans in classrooms and libraries have grown exponentially: According to PEN America, a free speech organization, there were <a href="https://pen.org/report/banned-in-the-usa-state-laws-supercharge-book-suppression-in-schools/" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">1,477 individual book ban cases</a> in the fall 2022 semester alone — a 28% increase from the spring 2022 semester — and the bans don’t seem to be stopping any time soon. In 2023, <a href="https://www.everylibrary.org/billtracking2023" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">123 bills that would limit access to certain books</a> have been proposed in state legislatures. Many of the bills targeting K-12 schools have taken advantage of vague language, granting school boards the authority to challenge individual titles as they see fit as well as criminalize educators who fail to remove banned materials from their classrooms and libraries. These attacks not only undermine efforts to engage in proactive dialogues about diversity, equity, and inclusion, but they also pose a threat to our democratic values as a country. Advancing Justice | AAJC firmly supports an education that fosters equity and tells the histories and lived experiences of historically marginalized communities. <a href="https://medium.com/advancing-justice-aajc/banned-an-asian-american-reading-list-of-banned-books-in-2023-e718a7cfcaea">Click Here</a>