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Reading While Incarcerated Saved Me. So Why Are Prisons Banning Books?

In Texas, books by Alice Walker, Pablo Neruda and even the former senator Bob Dole have been banned. Throughout the country, prison officials have rejected or tried to ban books about biology (too much nudity in the anatomical drawings), the Holocaust (some of the victims were pictured nude), sketching, dragons and even the moon (it could “present risks of escape,” according to one New York prison). At one point, Colorado prison officials blocked a prisoner from reading two of President Barack Obama’s memoirs because they were “potentially detrimental to national security,” although they later reversed that decision. Read more

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Pennsylvania students are protesting their school district’s ban on books by authors of color

Last October, the Central York school board unanimously banned a list of resources written by authors of color and featuring main characters of color. The banned resources range from I Am Not Your Negro, an Oscar-nominated PBS documentary about James Baldwin; to a statement on racism from the Pennsylvania Association of School Administrators; to a children’s coloring book featuring African Adrinkra symbols; to an African-themed cookbook. Read more

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