Read for Your Rights: Banned Books Readout, October 7

This is an event held each year, unfortunately because many books continue to be banned Nationwide. The flyer for the event proclaimed "Censorship is so 1984." It was held at the Albany Public Library Washington Ave. Branch, presented in partnership NYCLU (Capital Region Office), League of Women Voters of Albany County, Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood, & Albany Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. Opening remarks were by Andrea Nicolay (APL), Sharon Cates-Williams (Delta Sigma Theta Sorority), & Joanna Palladino (NYCLU) who served as the host & MC. 

Joanna Palladino

According to the website of the American Library Association, there were "... attempts to remove 2,452 unique titles in 2024." See below for more from the ALA.

At the APL this night there were 11 folks from the community who read brief excepts from 11 books. The readers & the books that they read from were;

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury 

read by Q. Sales.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood 

read by Laura Graver

The Hunger Games Trilogy by Suzanne Collins 

read by Gary Hoffmann

A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn 

read by Josephine Tracy

Monet Thompson-Young

Crank by Ellen Hopkins 

read by Monet Thompson-Young

Pink is for Boys by Robb Pearlman

read by Kathleen Carey

Howl by Allen Ginsberg

read by Dan Wilcox

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

read by Dona Bulluck

Bob Resnick

Me, and Earl, and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

read by Bob Resnick

The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

read by Dr. Jacquline Kane

Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck

Read by Gary Maggio

This is an excerpt from the website of the American Library Association:

“The 2024 data reported to ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) shows that the majority of book censorship attempts are now originating from organized movements. Pressure groups and government entities that include elected officials, board members and administrators initiated 72% of demands to censor books in school and public libraries. Parents only accounted for 16% of demands to censor books, while 5% of challenges were brought by individual library users. The 120 titles most frequently targeted for censorship during 2024 are all identified on partisan book rating sites which provide tools for activists to demand the censorship of library books.

The most common justifications for censorship provided by complainants were false claims of illegal obscenity for minors; inclusion of LGBTQIA+ characters or themes; and covering topics of race, racism, equity, and social justice.

Since 2021, ALA has tracked a sharp spike in censorship attempts in libraries. In 2024, ALA recorded the third highest number of book challenges since tracking began in 1990: ALA documented 821 attempts to censor library books and other materials in 2024 across all library types, a decrease from 2023, when a record high 1,247 attempts were reported. ALA recorded attempts to remove 2,452 unique titles in 2024, which significantly exceeds the average of 273 unique titles that were challenged annually during 2001–2020.”