Causes.com
| 12.18.23
BILL: Books Save Lives Act (H.R. 6830)
Tell your reps to support or oppose removing book bans
H.R. 6830 - Books Save Lives Act
Bill Overview
- Title: Books Save Lives Act
- Introduced by: Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.)
- Purpose: To mandate certain libraries to sustain a diverse and inclusive collection of books.
Current Status
- The bill was introduced by Rep. Pressley and referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce.
Key Elements of the Bill
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Trained Library Staff:
- Requires covered schools — meaning schools that are controlled or directed by a local educational agency receiving federal funding — to maintain a staff of trained librarians.
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Library Book Selection:
- Public libraries receiving federal funding must maintain a diverse collection of books, including works by and about members of underrepresented communities.
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Civil Rights Enforcement:
- Establishes that the exclusion of such books in covered schools or libraries is evidence of discrimination and potentially violates various civil rights statutes, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Americans Disabilities Act of 1990.
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Report on Book Ban Campaigns:
- Directs the Comptroller General of the U.S. to report on the impact of recent book ban campaigns in public libraries and schools on underrepresented and marginalized communities.
Supports and Critiques
- Rep. Pressley said on the House floor:
"Rather than honor the brilliance and diversity of our authors, illustrators, and librarians, Republicans are focused on further marginalizing people who already face systemic discrimination in our society – including people of color, the LGBTQ+ community, religious minorities, and people with disabilities – through discriminatory book bans. The Books Save Lives Act pushes back on this dangerous trend and reaffirms the need for representative literature..."
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Support for book bans from Republican lawmakers:
- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has removed roughly 300 books from Florida schools and libraries for "inappropriate" material. These books cover topics such as gender identity, racism, LGBTQ+ families, and more. DeSantis claims that not a single book in Florida has been banned as they are available for purchase in bookstores.
- Opponents of book bans say that despite DeSantis' claims, censorship in libraries is still a social justice issue.
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This bill is important to my family, community, and humanity. As a member of multiple disadvantaged classes with children who are discriminated against daily, books are key to their survival. Literally. My children’s peers need to know all people are welcome and wanted in this world. Please pass this bill.
This bill is vague and unenforceable as written. And who is going to pay for this study, which has already determined its results before even being conducted? If you want to virtue signal, do so on social media. Don't pass meaningless legislation for it.
All books save lives even the Bible, Quran, Torah scrol, Tripitaka and others, but banning any book is stealing my rights to read the free press media, because it might offended you or your child. Protectionism, nationalism and isolationism's, doesn't work, if anything just the opposite work. Education, knowledge understanding, open minded approach, transparency and accountability. People that want the government granny state to control their lives and tell them what to read, how to live and want the dictators and become a slave to authoritarian government. Go to North Korea, China or Russia.
You have state that what federal government money with no accountability as to where it goes, but want accountability on others? Mainly republicans and republicans governors.
Dear Representatives, especially those who come from diverse backgrounds or communities and support the cultural diversity of their constituents:
Please support the Books Save Lives Act or any other bill that opposes book bans and support it most strongly.
As a diverse society, we have an obligation to honor the brilliance and diversity of our authors, illustrators, and librarians. Further, we need to inspire people, particularly children, who constantly encounter obstacles that are, at their core, forms of systemic discrimination – people with disabilities, religious minorities, those in the LGBTQ+ community, as well as people of color. In particular, we can inspire our youth through books.
The Books Save Lives Act is a bill that pushes back on the recent trend by educationally unqualified people motivated by uninformed, even hateful political and religious ideologies to ban books that recognize the challenges of systemic discrimination and provides recognition of and inspiration to overcome these challenges.
Representative, please affirm the need for diversity in the literature in our country's schools. Stop the book bans!
Totally support this bill. The banning of books is a fascist tactic to control the minds of the population so the fascist pigs can assume control and eliminate a person's right to choose what they wish to read. Yes, I agree some sexually explicit material should not be in K-12 libraries, but ut's a whole different matter with public libraries. Public libraries can take approp. steps that such material cannot be accessed by minor children without parental consent. But for people of legal age it should be their choice of what to read or not read. The fucking Republlcans are always spewing forth shit about gov. overreach and needing a smaler gov., well it seems that what the damn Republicans do and say are not in line. They say one thing and then do another-like tyring to legislate personal private concerns. Fucking Republicans need to respect the rights of the citizens of this country.
Let me make this simple:
Books, good!
Assault weapons, bad!
Books open doors for kids to become critical thinking, productive members of society.
Assault weapons kill other people.
If you're going to ban something, for goodness sake's, ban assault weapons!!!
This is NOT hard.
Book bans are fascism, and one of the main ways the Nazis came to power in Germany.
If the extremists on the right in this country intend to be modern Nazis, then they can keep trying to cancel ideas they hate and banning free thought and knowledge.
But we are not going to let them. Books should be freely available to all, and it's up to personal or parental responsibility to opt out of reading books you don't approve of.
While much needed with 3,000+ banned books, this is the 3rd act introduced this year in a Republican controlled house, abd hasn't been assigned a number or committee. In a Republican controlled House all 3 face many obstacles, and this one even more so as the other bills have co-sponsors of whic Rep Pressley is one so wondering why she feels a need to introduce a 3rd bill this year?
"Book bans have been on the rise in recent years. During the 2022-2023 school year, more than 3,000 books were banned — a 33 percent increase from the previous school year, according to the bill."
"educators leaving states where book bans are in place. Others have been threatened with job termination if they provide a banned book to a student. And authors have expressed frustration and disillusionmentover their books being removed from libraries."
"Pressley’s legislation is not the first bill to be introduced in an effort to counter book bans. In April, Rep. Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.) introduced the Right to Read Act. Then, just this month, a coalition of Democrats including Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) unveiled the Fight Book Ban Act, of which Pressley is a co-sponsor."
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4360522-pressley-introduces-legislation-to-fight-book-bans/amp/
Limiting education and experts is a key component of enforcing propaganda. If you don't like a book, don't read it. Don't check it out from the library. Monitor what you kids do. This doesn't need to be someone else's decision by banning books.
One of the first thing dictators do is limit books, aka education. Then they go after experts and learnered types who can see, figure out solutions, and respond to what's being done. This is why for example, the ottomans (to the Armenians) and later the Nazis rounded up the scholars first. So they couldn't set off alarms or counter what was being done. Eliminate the education and the educated first. It's a pattern. It's part of the dictatorship process.