(no subject)
CONGRESS SHALL MAKE NO LAW RESPECTING AN ESTABLISHMENT OF RELIGION, OR PROHIBITING THE FREE EXERCISE THEREOF; OR ABRIDGING THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH, OR OF THE PRESS; OR THE RIGHT OF THE PEOPLE PEACEABLY TO ASSEMBLE, AND TO PETITION THE GOVERNMENT FOR A REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES.
The Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution, ratified December 15, 1791
This week marks the 25th anniversary, not of the Bill of Rights, but of Banned Books Week. Every year, all over our country, controversial books are banned in public libraries, schools, and other places. People in positions of power or people who seek to bend the majority towards their particular moral ground try to tell the American public what we can and cannot read.
The fight against censorship in this country is a neverending one, beginning with elementary school librarians and echoing into the halls of Congress with the Patriot Act. But you can participate in some small act of protest and celebration this week. Join IFAN, the Intellectual Freedom Action Network. Write a letter to your representative. Read your favorite banned book! I'll be cuddled up with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
For more info and lists of great books, look here:
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bannedbooksweek.htm#booksandauthors
“The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One’s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.” - Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943)
The Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution, ratified December 15, 1791
This week marks the 25th anniversary, not of the Bill of Rights, but of Banned Books Week. Every year, all over our country, controversial books are banned in public libraries, schools, and other places. People in positions of power or people who seek to bend the majority towards their particular moral ground try to tell the American public what we can and cannot read.
The fight against censorship in this country is a neverending one, beginning with elementary school librarians and echoing into the halls of Congress with the Patriot Act. But you can participate in some small act of protest and celebration this week. Join IFAN, the Intellectual Freedom Action Network. Write a letter to your representative. Read your favorite banned book! I'll be cuddled up with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
For more info and lists of great books, look here:
http://www.ala.org/ala/oif/bannedbooksweek/bannedbooksweek.htm#booksandauthors
“The very purpose of a Bill of Rights was to withdraw certain subjects from the vicissitudes of political controversy, to place them beyond the reach of majorities and officials and to establish them as legal principles to be applied by the courts. One’s right to life, liberty, and property, to free speech, a free press, freedom of worship and assembly, and other fundamental rights may not be submitted to vote; they depend on the outcome of no elections.” - Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943)