Kids Right to Read Project Protests Tucson Book Censorship

Dozens of national organizations have condemned the banning of books used for the Mexican-American Studies program in Tucson Unified School District by joining a statement issued Monday by the Kids' Right to Read Project, a joint initiative of the American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression (ABFFE) and the National Coalition Against Censorship (NCAC). School authorities have removed at least seven books that they consider to be prejudiced against whites.

"This is censorship at its most brazen," said NCAC Executive Director Joan Bertin. "Officials at the state and local level are responsible for this unacceptable restriction on the educational opportunities of students and their ability to have discussion in school about historical and contemporary events touching on race and ethnicity. We call on them to restore the books and topics for discussion in the district's classrooms."

School officials acknowledge removing books including Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paolo Freire, Message to Aztlan by Rodolfo Corky Gonzales, and Rethinking Columbus: The Next 500 Years by Bill Bigelow. The TUSD board ordered the books removed after State Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal threatened to withhold state funding pursuant to a recently-enacted Arizona law that prohibits any class or program that promotes "resentment toward a race or class of people." Huppenthal, who sponsored the law when he was a state legislator, claims that the books used in the Mexican-American Studies Program "repeatedly reference white people as being 'oppressors,'" and therefore violate the law. That law is being challenged in court.

"We do not think the students of Tucson should have to wait for a federal court order to get the education they deserve," said ABFFE President Chris Finan. "Regardless of the outcome of legal proceedings, this is harming students, whose education should be the primary concern of elected officials. Instead, they are putting politics and ideology ahead of the well-being of young people."

Three Arizona bookstores -- Antigone Books (Tucson), Changing Hands Bookstore (Tempe), and Atalanta Music and Books (Bisbee) -- joined the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Association in signing the statement. It may be viewed here.

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Kids Right to Read Project Protests Tucson Book Censorship