According to the American Library Association (ALA), several states and school districts banned books from their library shelves in 2023. The bans targeted some books because of their LGBTQ content and others because of related issues concerning race and sexuality.
While some supported the book bans, others vehemently criticized and opposed it. One such person is a Hanover County high school student, Kate Lindley. Lindley is a Girl Scouts member who recently received a Gold Award for her project.
Amid the controversial book bans, which many tagged an infringement, Lindley stood her ground. Earlier this year, the high school student installed “Banned Book Nooks” in two business areas. Furthermore, she created a free website that connects people to banned books online.
Notably, Lindley’s efforts were in response to her school banning several “offensive” books in 2023. When speaking about the free website, she noted that she did it to expose the community members to those books in hopes of ending their “demonization.”
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While many consider Lindley’s efforts brave, the Hanover school board thinks otherwise. Besides Lindley, other girls received a Gold Award. When the board read each girl’s accomplishment, they censored Lindley’s achievement description.
They altered the description and removed everything about her efforts against book bans. The Gold Award, the highest given to Girl Scouts, was given to the high school student to celebrate her fight against book banning in her community.
The incident sparked outrage in the community, and in a community comment session, many supported the teenager. “It’s a sad day when the leaders of our county censor a teenager,” said one speaker.
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Furthermore, another speaker expressed their displeasure at the censorship, which stemmed from a teenager fighting against censorship. The speaker spoke about how the Girl Scouts have changed over decades, breeding confident girls like Lindley.
However, the speaker noted that Hanover County doesn’t want to embrace the change, thereby censoring a teenager who was bold enough to. Afterward, Lindley spoke out during the public comment session. She called out the school board for censoring her Gold Award project.
“You have shown the world that you are afraid to call something what it is,” she said. “Be that a banned book or a ‘de-selected’ one.” Like Lindley, activists also condemned the book bans, which went into effect in states like Florida. Emily Dabrinsky, President of the ALA, also condemned the bans, calling them an attack on people’s freedom to read.
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Similarly, activists argued that the book bans did not support diversity as they targeted the LGBTQ community and people of color. Despite the community’s backlash, Michael Herzberg, the Cold Harbor District Supervisor, doubled down on his stance.
For context, Herzberg, like most conservatives, supported the book bans. He also supported the motion to remove the book-banning achievement from Lindley’s achievement. While speaking at the public comment session, he maintained that he had the right to support whatever he wanted.
As earlier stated, book banning became widespread in the US amid conservative efforts to restrict what students are exposed to. However, opponents have argued that the book bans targeted minority groups. Teenagers like Lindley are also fighting hard against academic restrictions.
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