Democrats in both houses of Congress are preparing to unveil parallel resolutions that will condemn efforts to ban far-left books from public schools, including ones that contain pornographic material and incite racial hatred.
As reported by Politico, the symbolic effort by congressional Democrats has already been endorsed by the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) and the National Education Association (NEA). In recent years, remote learning as a result of the coronavirus has greatly increased parents’ awareness of overtly political materials that children are being taught in public schools.
As a result, multiple grassroots efforts by parental rights organizations have campaigned, mostly with success, to ban books that promote such concepts as transgenderism or Critical Race Theory (CRT). Some of the books include graphic novels that depict full, uncensored sexual intercourse between men in order to encourage children to consider becoming homosexual or transgender. Books focused on CRT actively teach White children to be ashamed of their skin color, and to apologize for past racial transgressions in which they had no part.
With pressure from teachers’ unions and far-left activists, Democrats in Congress are now trying to put pressure on local school boards to keep such books publicly available.
Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), a sponsor of the House resolution, issued a statement declaring that “the wave of book bans that has swept across our country in recent years is a direct attack on First Amendment rights and should alarm every American who believes that freedom of expression is a fundamental pillar of our democracy.”
“Efforts to remove books from schools and public libraries simply because they introduce ideas about diversity or challenge students to think beyond their own lived experience is not only anti-democratic but also a hallmark of authoritarian regimes,” Raskin continued.
The Senate resolution is being sponsored by Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii).
The first draft of the House resolution “expresses concern about the spreading problem of book banning and proliferating threats to freedom of expression in the United States,” and “reaffirms the United States’ commitment to supporting writers’ freedom of expression, and the freedom of all Americans to read books without government censorship.”
Multiple studies have been conducted that prove the effectiveness of the campaigns to ban such books and other sources of political indoctrination. The American Library Association reported that at least 1,651 different books have been targeted by such campaigns, the vast majority of which dealt with the subjects of sexuality, gender identity, and race. PEN America similarly reported that such efforts had taken place in 138 school districts across 32 different states.
Democrats have increasingly expressed fear at the political effectiveness of these campaigns, which have led to conservative candidates sweeping school board elections across the country. Most recently, conservatives flipped five major school boards in the state of Florida, including the heavily Democratic Miami-Dade County. Last year, the core issue of education and parental rights ultimately saw Republicans flip all three statewide offices in Virginia, as well as retake the Virginia House of Delegates.