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There are three flagpoles outside Boston City Hall. One flies the United States flag. Another flies the Massachusetts state flag. What can and cant fly from the third is an issue being taken up by the Supreme Court.

On Jan. 18, 2022, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Shurtleff v. Boston. The case addresses whether the city violated the First Amendment by denying a request to temporarily raise the Christian flag on a flagpole outside City Hall, where Boston has temporarily displayed many secular organizations flags.

The case raises important questions about free speech at a time when many members of the Supreme Court seem concerned about restrictions on religion. The courts decision will likely clarify one or more free speech doctrines, impacting how courts nationwide interpret the First Amendments guarantees.

Shurtleff v. Boston also highlights disagreements about the nature and scope of freedom of speech, the kind of disputes I study in my work on free speech and the First Amendment.

Boston permits groups to request that a flag temporarily fly alongside the American and Massachusetts flags at City Hall to mark special occasions, replacing the city flag that usually occupies the third post. Past examples include flag requests from the Chinese Progressive Association and the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation.

In 2017, Camp Constitution, a New Hampshire-based organization, requested to fly the Christian flag, which has a cross in the upper left corner and was designed by a Sunday school teacher and a missionary executive in the late 1800s. Today, some Protestant denominations display the flag inside their churches.

Camp Constitution asked to fly the flag as part of a planned event to celebrate the civic contributions of Bostons Christian community. The organization says its mission is to enhance understanding of our Judeo-Christian moral heritage, our American heritage of courage and ingenuity, including the genius of our United States Constitution, and the application of free enterprise.

Boston denied the request. The city cited concerns that raising the Christian flag at Boston City Hall would violate the First Amendments establishment clause, which bars the government from promoting particular religions over others. After making a second request, which Boston also denied, Camp Constitution sued.

A federal district court and the First Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Boston on the grounds that flying a flag on the third flagpole was government speech, not private speech and therefore the city was entitled to refuse to fly the Christian flag on its flagpole.

Camp Constitution appealed to the Supreme Court, which granted review.

The cases outcome will likely hinge on the Supreme Courts determination of whose views are represented by the flagpole outside City Hall: the private organization whose flag is temporarily flying, or the government. In other words, this case is about who is speaking when that flag goes up, and whose free speech rights are protected.

If the court determines that Camp Constitution is speaking, then a framework the court has developed, known as the public forum doctrine, will apply. This would likely result in a ruling favoring Camp Constitution.

If the court determines that the city of Boston is speaking, then the courts government speech doctrine will apply. This would likely result in a ruling favoring Boston.

Federal, state and local governments oversee a wide variety of public spaces, such as parks, universities and courthouses, just to name a few. These areas serve different functions, some of which require more regulation of speech than others.

The Supreme Court has organized government spaces into several categories, each of which permits different types of restrictions on free speech. This set of categories and permitted restrictions is referred to as the public forum doctrine.

Spaces like public parks and sidewalks are considered public forums, the category that permits the fewest restrictions on speech. In a public forum, a government can never restrict speech based on viewpoint specific positions on a topic and is severely limited as to when it can restrict speech based on content a given topic.

Normally, a flagpole outside a city hall would not be considered a public forum. However, the Supreme Court also recognizes a separate category, designated public forums, which are spaces the government converts into public forums. In a designated public forum, free speech regulation is limited in the same way it would be in a public forum.

In Shurtleff v. Boston, both parties agree that the area surrounding the flagpole is a public forum. But they disagree over whether the flagpole itself is a designated public forum. Camp Constitution argues that Boston has turned the flagpole into a designated public forum by allowing other groups to fly their flags there. Meanwhile, Boston argues that it has not, because the city retained control by permitting limited types of groups to raise their flags.

Camp Constitution notes that Boston previously approved 284 requests to raise other flags, and that there is no record of a prior request being denied.

But Boston counters that none of those previous requests were for religious flags. The city argues that only two types of flags have been permitted: flags representing territories, nations and ethnicities, and flags associated with publicly recognized days of observance, such as Veterans Day and LGBTQ Pride Month. Boston argues that such limited categories of approval are not what one would expect in a designated public forum, and that this is evidence that Boston has not turned its flagpole into a designated public forum.

[3 media outlets, 1 religion newsletter. Get stories from The Conversation, AP and RNS.]

Over 30 years ago, in Rust v. Sullivan, the Supreme Court recognized that the government itself is a speaker with First Amendment rights an idea known as the government speech doctrine. Government speech is not subject to the public forum doctrine. Instead, the government has much greater discretion in deciding which messages it endorses.

Boston argues that raising a flag on the third flagpole at City Hall is government speech and therefore the city has the right to determine what views it wants to express on its flagpole. Camp Constitution disagrees, maintaining that the flagpole is a designated public forum and therefore few restraints on private groups free speech are allowed on the flagpole.

Both parties arguments rely on competing interpretations of the government speech doctrine put forward by the Supreme Court in two cases, Pleasant Grove v. Summum and Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans.

In 2009, the Supreme Court held in Pleasant Grove v. Summum that the permanent monuments in a park owned and operated by the town were government speech. The Supreme Courts unanimous decision allowed the town to deny a request from a small religious group, Summum, to install a permanent monument expressing its beliefs, even though the park had previously accepted a monument of the Ten Commandments.

In 2015, the Supreme Court held in Walker v. Texas Division, Sons of Confederate Veterans that license plates were government speech. This permitted Texas to deny a request for a specialty license plate featuring the Confederate flag, even though Texas offered a wide range of other specialty plates. Unlike Pleasant Grove v. Summum, this case was decided by a slim 5-4 majority.

Shurtleff v. Boston will likely require the court to further clarify the government speech doctrine. The central issue is this: When another flag temporarily replaces Bostons own, who is speaking?

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Can a Christian flag fly at city hall? The Supreme Court will have to decide - The Conversation Africa

On the one-year anniversary of the events of Jan. 6, 2021, local and state politicians reflected on the aftermath and what it means for America going forward.

U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., said in a statement that Trumps claims of a stolen election are to blame for the riot at the Capitol.

Trumps Big Lie about the 2020 election incited a violent insurrection and attack on our democracy, Baldwin said. We must never forget this dark day in our nations history.

Baldwin also defended the congressional investigation into the Jan. 6 riot and accused Wisconsin Republicans of using taxpayer money to promote Trumps big lie about the election and to attack voting rights.

The bipartisan House Select Committee is right to shine a light on the truth, so that there is accountability and that it never happens again in this country, Baldwin said.

Baldwins successor in the House, U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Madison, and a Kenosha native, left no doubt where he thinks responsibility lies.

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The broken glass has been replaced and physical injuries have largely healed, but the events that unfolded last year during the insurrection at the Capitol left scars that will last a lifetime, Pocan said. January 6th was one of the darkest days in our nations history, and yet, many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle deny that their cult leader was responsible. I fully support the January 6 committees efforts to see that each and every person who participated in that days events be held accountable, and that something like this can never happen again.

Defending 1st Amendment

In a previous statement at Gateways Racine Campus, U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Janesville, compared Jan. 6 to the riots in Kenosha following the Jacob Blake shooting on Aug. 23, 2020, and said that he would defend peoples First Amendment right if youre engaged in a First Amendment activity.

The moment you cross from First Amendment activity to criminal behavior, you should be held accountable, said Steil, who represents Kenosha and Racine counties in Congress.

A request Wednesday to Steil for fresh comments had not been answered by press time.

Lori Hawkins, chair of the Kenosha County Democratic Party, saw the riot as an attempt to overturn the election, not just by the rioters, but by local, state and national officials who spread misinformation about the validity of the 2020 election.

Those who are responsible for that attempt to deny what our democracy is built on with violence, they should be held responsible, Hawkins said.

Hawkins also praised the ongoing congressional investigation, saying it would help bring clarity and transparency to the events leading up to Jan. 6.

Theres too much at stake, Hawkins said. We saw it with our own eyes.

Believes election was stolen

On the other hand, Ken Brown, vice-chairman of the Racine County Republican Party, repeated claims held by many Republicans about the election having been stolen.

There was definitely some shenanigans and improper procedures in the election, Brown said.

Brown said he believes that FBI plants were to blame for the violence at the Capitol, claiming the gathered crowd was otherwise completely unarmed and peaceful. He criticized the congressional investigation, arguing that since the Republicans on the committee had been selected by Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the board had no authority.

Its completely illegal, Brown said. It is a witch hunt, it is not a proper investigation.

Varying perspectives

Professors and activists, meanwhile, shared their varying perspectives on the eventful day.

Kenneth Mayer, a professor of political science at UW-Madison, described the riots as a violent insurrection, meant to overthrow the election. Mayer warned that the dangers that led to that moment are still here.

You have office-holders up and down Wisconsin who are lying about what happened, Mayer said, making cartoonish accusations about the election.

Mayer said he was waiting to see what would happen with the congressional hearing.

It was and remains a perilous moment for American democracy, Mayer said.

Arthur Cyr, a Carthage College professor of political economy and world business, had a less dire assessment when looking back on Jan. 6

Lots of Americans should be assured that the system is working, Cyr said. We should be grateful things werent worse. Our institutions persevered.

Cyr called the congressional hearing a political exercise and pointed to the many hundreds of people charged so far by the Justice Department for their involvement with the riots as evidence that the system had worked.

The most important activity to pay attention to is the Justice Department, Cyr said. Thats more important than the political circus going on in Congress.

Cyr also said he didnt consider the riot an armed insurrection, which he acknowledged is a view not shared by many in the media and academia, who he felt had blown it out of proportion.

I think it was a very violent riot, Cyr said. Important lessons were learned.

But David Goldenberg, Midwest regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, warned that the acceptance of extremism by individuals and institutions was creating a dangerous political environment in America.

Were at a moment, Goldenberg said. Are we going to reject the extremism that led to what occurred on Jan. 6, or are we going to continue to normalize it?

Looking ahead

As for the future, Hawkins said that it was critical to solve such political divides that led to Jan. 6.

I think that we as the adults and leaders in our communities must make sure that we are moving forward, Hawkins said. We cant do that until we settle whats dividing us right now.

But Brown warned Democrats that the power balance would be shifting soon.

I would advise the Democratic Party and Democrats across the country to look closely inward, because theyre about to lose power for the next decade, Brown said.

Baldwin, meanwhile, pushed the importance of voting rights, advocating for the passing of the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act and the Freedom to Vote Act.

We cannot allow Senate Republicans to obstruct action on strengthening our democracy, protecting voting rights and putting power in the hands of the people at the ballot box, Baldwin said.

Post-Dispatch columnists Aisha Sultan and Tony Messenger discuss the year anniversary of the Jan. 6 attacks at the U.S. Capitol.

In 1838, Samuel Morse and Alfred Vail gave the first successful public demonstration of their telegraph in Morristown, New Jersey.

In 1919, the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, died in Oyster Bay, New York, at age 60.

In 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in his State of the Union address, outlined a goal of Four Freedoms: Freedom of speech and expression; the freedom of people to worship God in their own way; freedom from want; freedom from fear.

In 1982, truck driver William G. Bonin was convicted in Los Angeles of 10 of the Freeway Killer slayings of young men and boys. (Bonin was later convicted of four other killings; he was executed in 1996.)

In 1994, figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the leg by an assailant at Detroits Cobo Arena; four men, including the ex-husband of Kerrigans rival, Tonya Harding, went to prison for their roles in the attack. (Harding pleaded guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution, but denied any advance knowledge about the assault.)

In 2005, former Ku Klux Klan leader Edgar Ray Killen was arrested on murder charges 41 years after three civil rights workers were slain in Mississippi. (Killen was later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 60 years in prison; he died in prison in 2018.)

In 2006, velvet-voiced singer Lou Rawls died in Los Angeles at age 72.

Five years ago: An arriving airline passenger pulled a gun from his luggage and opened fire in the baggage claim area at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport in Florida, killing five people and wounding eight. (An Alaska man, Esteban Santiago, admitted to the shooting and was sentenced to life in prison.)

Five years ago: Congress certified Donald Trumps presidential victory over the objections of a handful of House Democrats, with Vice President Joe Biden pronouncing, It is over.

One year ago: As final votes were counted in the preceding days Senate runoffs in Georgia, Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock emerged as the winners over Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, giving Democrats control of the Senate.

One year ago: Supporters of President Donald Trump, fueled by his false claims of a stolen election, assaulted police and smashed their way into the Capitol to interrupt the certification of Democrat Joe Bidens victory, forcing lawmakers into hiding; most of the rioters had come from a nearby rally where Trump urged them to fight like hell. A Trump supporter, Ashli Babbitt, was shot and killed by a police officer as she tried to breach a barricaded doorway inside the Capitol. Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, injured while confronting the rioters, suffered a stroke the next day and died from natural causes, the Washington, D.C., medical examiners office said. (In the weeks that followed, four of the officers who responded to the riot took their own lives.) Congress reconvened hours later to finish certifying the election result.

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Local and state leaders reflect on one-year anniversary of Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol riots - Kenosha News

Big Tech CEOs grilled on misinformation, violence

A House panel grilled the CEOs of social media giants Facebook, Twitter and Google on their efforts to prevent their platforms from spreading misinformation, bias and inciting violence. (March 25)

AP

A year after Donald Trumps supporters stormed the Capitol to overturn his election defeat, New Jerseys new homeland security chief says her biggest concern about political violence isnt another physical attack but a widening campaign of online recruitment and cyberattacks by extremist groups.

Ahead of congressional midterm elections that could include key contests in New Jersey this fall, Laurie Doran said theres no indication whatsoever of any credible threats of political violence.

But extremistpropaganda andrecruitment efforts continue to rise online in an effort tostiranti-government sentiment,said Doran, who took over last June as acting director of the state Office of Homeland Security and Preparedness.

In an interview this week, Doran said her agency is focused on fighting cyber threatsas well as helping elections systems down to the local level guard against online sabotage.

More and more people are moving online, and bad actors use everything from misinformation and disinformation campaignsto malware and ransomware to disrupt regular business but also to try and disrupt elections, Doran said.

Capitol riot arrests: See who's been charged in New Jersey and across U.S.

False reports about voter fraud and election integrity led some Americans to questionnot just Trump's loss to Joe Biden inthe last presidential election, but also the trustworthiness of American democratic systems in general.

On Jan. 6, 2021, thousands attendedthe Stop the Steal rally at the U.S. Capitol that had been organized and promoted on social media and messaging platforms. Online, participants had openly discussed storming the Capitol and attackingpolice officersand federal employees while demanding a recount.

Rallygoers overwhelmed police officers as they stormed into the federal building where certification of the presidential election was underway.

The public may have been surprised by the events that day, but in New Jersey, the Office of Homeland Security had warned about the potential for violence in a report two months earlier.

Domestic extremists and foreign groups were busy spreadingfalse reportsof election fraud, hoping to incite fear and civil unrest, the agency warned at the time.

In the past year, extremist activity and recruitment has expanded further into the virtual world, Doran said this week. Law enforcement agencies can't curb free speech, she said, but they follow up in specific cases of violent incidents or threats.

We recognize that while not all of us agree with some of the rhetoric going around, people have that First Amendment right to say what they want, Doran said. Its when they cross that line [into violence] is when we have to focus on it.

Doran serves as Gov. Phil Murphy's homeland security adviser and is responsible for coordinating counterterrorism, cybersecurityand emergency preparedness efforts in the state. She worked for 32 years with the Central Intelligence Agency, serving overseas for the majority of her career, before joining the state office in 2018.

This is insane.: Lawmakers relive Jan. 6 horror alongside fresh trauma of effort to rewrite history

Mike Kelly: A Jersey guy became a domestic terrorist at the Capitol. Now he's paying for it

The Jan. 6 attack left140 police officersinjured and five people dead, including Capitol Officer Brian Sicknick, a New Brunswick native who had two strokes hours after a pair of rioters -- also from New Jersey -- targeted him with a chemical spray.

Over the past year, 26 New Jersey residents have been arrested for their involvement on Jan. 6, including four former members of the U.S. military. Morethan 725 were arrested across the country.

Those charged included Scott Fairlamb of Sussex County, who admitted to assaulting an officer during the attack on the Capitol. He was sentenced in November to 41 months, once of the harshest punishments yet given for the siege in Washington.

Other cases are still pending.George Tanios and Julian Khater, who grew up in Middlesex County, face charges including assault on an officer with a dangerous weapon, conspiracy to injure an officer and civil disorder. The pair allegedly targeted Sicknick and other Capitol cops with bear spray.

Authorities are still seeking and arresting other suspects. Just last month, two people fromSouth Jersey Michael Gianos and Marine reservist Marcos Panayiotou were arrestedfor their role in storming the building.

In the wake of the attack, callshave grown for technology companies like Facebook and Twitterto do more to monitor and remove online disinformation and threats. While the platforms have removed some offending pages and suspended problematic social media accounts,content pushing false reports and encouraging extremist violenceremains online.

Authoritiesare also focusing on promoting fact-checking and counter-messages. Federal and state agencies, including the state Homeland Security office, have webpages dedicated to dispelling false information and rumors.

Groups such as the Anti-Defamation Leaguehave also promoted the use of videos, webpages and adsto reach individuals who searched for violent extremist content online and training for parents to understand and act on early signs of radicalization.

Doran also urgedNew Jerseyansto be more cautious about what they read or listen to online and to get information from reliable sources across the political spectrum.

"We are just looking at open-source information," she said. "Regardless of what side of the aisle you consider yourself to be on, there is a lot of information out there on the internet that is crap. Its not true."

HannanAdelyis a diversity reporter covering Arab and Muslim communities for NorthJersey.com, where she focuses onsocial issues, politics, bias and civil rights.To get unlimited access to the latest news,please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email:adely@northjersey.com

Twitter:@adelyreporter

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Year after Capitol riot, NJ Homeland Security chief concerned over rising online recruitment - NorthJersey.com

Ben Frazier argues that he has a right to peacefully assemble in a public building and ask Gov. DeSantis questions. The governor's office says he was trespassing.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. A Jacksonville community activist, who was escorted out in handcuffs ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' scheduled news conference, tells First Coast News wanted to "hold the governor accountable."

In an interview following the incident, Northside Coalition Founder Ben Frazier said that the governor should be willing to have an open conversation with members of the community.

"I think it's absolutely appalling," said Frazier. 'The governor should be willing to sit down and talk with people who have differing points of view. He should not attempt to stifle people from expressing themselves..."

Prior to the start of the press conference, an aide to the governor asked anyone who is not the media to leave the area. Frazier argued that he had a right to peacefully assemble in a public building and ask DeSantis questions.

After some back and forth with staffers, Frazier was placed in handcuffs.

Frazier says he was held in the back of a JSO cruiser outside the Florida Department of Health in Duval County for 45 minutes and given a citation for trespassing after a warning. He has to appear before a judge within 10 days.

According to First Amendment Attorney Jennifer Mansfield, though the Department of Health is a public building, it is not a traditional public forum, where free speech is protected.

"Just because a piece of properties owned by the government does not necessarily make it a traditional public forum," Mansfield said. "So things like parks and streets are traditional public forum because they are the type of locations that historically have been used in which to express your views to the government. Whereas an office building where the government conducts work at, you know, it is acknowledged that people wouldn't be able to do their work if they constantly had people there, like chanting and protesting and holding up signs and stuff.

The governor's office sent First Coast News the following statement in response to Frazier's detainment and citation:

"The purpose of an official press conference is for credentialed media to cover information from the governors office and state leaders that is important for the public to hear. Press conferences are not 'private events,' because members of the press can RSVP and attend, and they broadcast the press conference to the public.

The protester detained by Jacksonville police for trespassing this morning is not a member of the press. Mr. Frazier is an activist who has disrupted official proceedings several times before, including a State Board of Education meeting and a City Council meeting that was forced to adjourn early due to his disruptive behavior.

Every citizen has the right to protest in public places but not to trespass in a secured facility in order to disrupt a press briefing and prevent information from being conveyed to the public.

The White House is also a government building, so it is public property. If Mr. Frazier had attempted to enter a White House press briefing to 'protest peaceably' in front of President Biden, Mr. Frazier would likewise have been removed and detained. The only difference would be the liberal medias reaction, or lack thereof."

Excerpt from:
'It's absolutely appalling:' Jacksonville activist speaks out after being handcuffed ahead of Gov. DeSantis news conference - FirstCoastNews.com...

Any librarian can tell you book banning never goes completely out of vogue. Even in quiet years they field occasional gripes about ribald DVDs or the more comprehensive guides on sex education in the young readers section.

This past year, however, was far from quiet. Book banning, in both public schools and public libraries, is having a moment. Uproar over Nobel laureate Toni Morrisons masterpiece Beloved was arguably a deciding issue in the 2021 Virginia governors race. Texas conservatives are in hot pursuit of pornography and other obscene content in school libraries, with plans to criminally prosecute whoever put it there.

Here in Arkansas, members of groups like Moms for Liberty in Northwest Arkansas, Safe Library Books for Kids in Jonesboro and Back to Basics in Conway are emailing, organizing and showing up to library and school board meetings to make their case for excising books about gender, sexuality, puberty and racism from any shelves children or teens could happen upon.

Consider the position of the Arkansas-based book banning group Safe Library Books for Kids with empathy, and youll find some genuine anguish at the root of their campaign. Afraid that children who read about sex, gender nonconformity and drugs will have sex, gender bend and use drugs, these parents and grandparents are trying to lock it all down.

If they are reading the inappropriate books being supplied by librarians in schools and public libraries, how can we expect them to then be good. They wont be, and that creates a shift toward evil for society, one of the groups four moderators lamented on their Facebook page, which has attracted more than a thousand followers since it started up in September of 2021. The page chirps and burbles throughout the day with gotcha-style alerts about books to look out for and notices about upcoming library board meetings. (Group moderator Deanne Copeland politely declined to be interviewed for this story, and other group leaders didnt respond to messages.)

One of the complaints that poured into the Craighead County library system about a Pride Month display in the childrens section.

Their arguments dont land for parents who would rather their kids learn about sex and drugs from books than from some guy behind a gas station. And when accusations of pedophilia enter the chat, as they inevitably do, its easy to roll your eyes and tune out.

And arguments from groups like Conways secretive Back to Basics that keeping books on racism in school libraries is the gateway to revolution and the downfall of the American way seem pretty far-fetched.

But this new wave of book banners in Arkansas and across the country is both loud and legion, with deep-pocketed backers, organizational know-how and the discipline to cause real headaches for defenders of First Amendment freedoms. In December 2021, the National Coalition Against Censorship put out a statement against the barrage of attempts to pull books from classrooms and school libraries. The list of co-signers, which includes authors, publishers, the American Civil Liberties Union and many others, is longer than the statement itself.

The law clearly prohibits the kind of activities we are seeing today: censoring school libraries, removing books and entire reading lists based on disagreement with viewpoint and without any review of their educational or literary merit. Some would-be censors have gone even farther, threatening teachers, school librarians, authors and school board members with criminal charges and even violence for allowing students access to books, they said.

Those censors are turning up the heat in community libraries, as well. The American Library Associations Office for Intellectual Freedom reports demands to scrub content from library shelves in 2021 eclipsed any other year in decades.

Anyone in Craighead County with a library card wont be at all surprised at the soaring uptick. A 2021 Pride Month display in the Jonesboro Librarys childrens section, with its seemingly anodyne books about two penguin dads and a bear who felt more like a bunny, set off a months-long battle over what content the library should offer, and where they should keep it. Tempers flared, lines were drawn, opposing Facebook groups sprung up. A political tug-of-war erupted over an open seat on the Craighead County library board, a vacancy that in normal times wouldnt draw much notice. The nascent Citizens Defending the Craighead County Library mobilized to defeat a proposal to give the library board the chore of micromanaging what books and displays the library offers. So far no books have been pulled out of circulation, although some got shuffled to new spots. And library Director David Eckert, wrung out from standing firm against the onslaught, announced in November he was skipping town to take a job in Waterloo, Iowa.

What happened in Craighead County is simply a new chapter to an old book. Works that drove defenders of morality to red-faced fits in the past warrant nary a rise anymore, a reflection of changing times. Holden Caulfields suicidal tendencies and juvenile raunch kept The Catcher in the Rye on banned book lists through the 80s and 90s, but cause few headaches for librarians today. Kate Chopins The Awakening met immediate scorn upon release in 1899, and the attacks didnt let up for decades. But now? Adultery is a yawner after the Trump era, and anyway, who cares if a fallen woman flings herself into the sea?

Book banners have always drawn down on content that reflected societys anxiety flashpoints at the time. Judy Blume sat in the hot seat in the 80s, when her books about the lived experiences and sexual curiosity of pubescent girls made parents squirm. J.K. Rowling came along in the 90s to rile parents who feared their ensorceled children would turn their backs on the church. Today, though, Blumes and Rowlings largely white, heterosexual, economically secure book characters who never scrape with police get a free pass, even as theyre getting their periods or practicing witchcraft.

Patty Hector, now the director of Saline County Libraries, weathered a few waves of censorship over her three decades in the library business in California and Arkansas. She notes a couple of key differences today. The furor over books about gender and homosexuality is a new development, largely because those books didnt exist a decade ago. The same goes for books by and about the hardships and systemic racism people of color experience in the 21st century.

There were very, very few (if any) books on LGBTQ or race issues for most of my career, she said.

The boogeymen have changed, and so has the strategy, Hector said.

People who challenged books werent organized until Focus on the Family came along. That has changed greatly. Now, Hector said, she and other librarians are seeing a lot of form emails and cut-and-paste talking points from groups mobilizing to bury schools and libraries under mounds of complaints.

I respect anyone who has an issue with a book theyve read, and I will read it and talk to them about it. But if an organization tells you that this list of books is bad youre going to have to read it yourself and tell me what it is thats wrong with it before I can consider your challenge. It should be personal, not the opinion of some politician in another state, she said.

Theres no question people from outside of Arkansas are influencing the censorship debate in The Natural State. In Conway, people who came out in October for a meeting of the Back to Basics group reportedly watched a video by a Heritage Foundation fellow and conservative darling whom The New Yorker accused of inventing the controversy over critical race theory. In it, foreboding music plays as Chris Rufo argues that schools are fomenting both racial tension and Marxist revolution by indoctrinating children.

Critical race theory has become a buzzword among conservatives like Chris Rufo, who want to gloss over the countrys racist foundations.

Tiffany Justice, a former Florida school board member and founder of the new group Moms for Liberty, echoed Rufos call for schools to focus on the basics and leave the rest up to parents. Arkansas had only one chapter of Moms for Liberty at the beginning of December, but Justice said three more were coming on line before the end of 2021, with the goal of advocating for parental rights. In Arkansas, school boards set policy on what students have access to. Justice said members of Moms for Liberty will play the long game, building relationships with their board members, rather than just showing up for occasional meetings.

A member of the new group Moms for Liberty speaks at a school board meeting in Fayetteville.

The group will push schools to home in on reading, writing and math, and ditch what Justice calls social-emotional learning, which she explained as both education as therapy and a vehicle for manipulating childrens identities. Public institutions are pushing parents aside and giving minors access to content on pedophilia, bestiality and incest without parents knowledge, she said.

Im shocked at the things being found in youth books, she said, instances of rape and incest and really pedophilia.

Its at this point where we veer over the line into QAnon conspiracy territory, or perhaps its where we drill down to the meat of the matter, depending on your point of view. This is not normal literature. Somethings going on here, Justice said. Theres a concerted effort to sexualize our children at a very young age, and parents are very concerned about that.

Turn off this spigot of information and young people are more likely to be chaste, she argues. If we dont want 12-year-olds having sex all the time, we should stop talking to 12-year-olds about sex all the time.

Claims that books in schools and libraries are the gateway to pedophilia or communist revolution dont fly with the likes of John McGraw, director of the Faulkner County Library System. A soldier in a quiet army of First Amendment defenders, McGraw said libraries serve the community by offering content for everyone. He cites Mark Twains quote: Censorship is telling a man he cant have a steak just because a baby cant chew it. And McGraw promises that if you look hard enough through the shelves, theres something for everybody to get pissed about.

The goal isnt to irritate, but to make sure the needs and interests of every person in the community are represented and addressed, he explained. Were not buying books just because it would be amusing to us for our enemies to be gnashing their teeth.

If the debate is really just about kids reading books their parents dont like, the solution is simple, he said. Parents can monitor what their children check out. If you dont like it, dont read it. Nobodys putting a gun to your head and making you read Fifty Shades of Grey.

If youre placing bets on who will win this fight over what belongs on library shelves, Id go with the librarians. Theyre well-informed, experienced in fending off the book banners, and fierce when it comes to protecting access to information.

Its bad enough that we have to self-censor because we cant buy everything published, but to only buy what appeals to a small segment of the community? And all other opinions are not represented? Have a library filled with stuff thats safe and offends no one? Saline County Library Director Hector said, incredulous. The recent dust-up over LGBTQ and racism content might be a little different from censorship attempts shes weathered in the past, but libraries hardly ever remove books from shelves, and she doesnt expect that to change. Its censorship, far more than any books and curriculum about systemic racism, that threatens the health of the nation. Fighting about it, though, is good, all-American fun.

Its not too grandiose to say that libraries are the last great bastion of democracy, is it? Hector mused. And that a democracy without dissent is not a democracy.

Long gone are the days when parents targeted Judy Blume books over chaste anecdotes about menstruation and breast development. And the ebbing of a satanic panic that gripped the country at the turn of the century means even sorcery and witchcraft get a pass. Materials by and about LGBTQ, Black and brown people are whats clogging up those banned books lists these days, although sex education, that old chestnut, continues to set Southern mamas hands to wringing.

Here are some of the titles Arkansass would-be book banners are fretting about.

Its Perfectly Normal by Robie H. Harris and Michael Emberley

Among the best sex education books out there for families pushing beyond heteronormativity, Its Perfectly Normal is public enemy No. 1 for the group Safe Libraries for Kids. The cartoon drawings of naked people and the frank information about oral and anal sex, masturbation and homosexuality have some people shook.

Wait, What? A Comic Book Guide to Relationships, Bodies, and Growing Up by Heather Corinna, Isabella Rotman, Luke Howard

This illustrated book works hard to reassure anxious young minds that masturbation is fine and normal, and that everyones genitals look pretty weird.

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out

Real stories about young people coming to terms with their identity and sexuality. Sometimes fairly young kids have sexual experiences, and a few anecdotes are included herein.

George by Alex Gino

A fictional childrens book about a transgender girl struggling to establish her identity with family and friends, this book has ruffled feathers since its 2015 release.

The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas

Black people suffer systemic racism in the form of police brutality. Banners object to the anti-police sentiment.

How to be an Anti-racist by Ibram X. Kendi

Schoolchildren will not read this or any other books about systemic racism in the United States if the Conway-based group Back to Basics or Arkansass four chapters of Moms for Liberty have anything to say about it. They classify such works as indoctrination.

Jacobs New Dress

This childrens book about a boy who likes to wear dresses drew complaints this year from Arkansas parents uncomfortable with gender nonconformity.

And Tango Makes Three by Peter Parnell and Justin Richardson

Gay penguins in New York City (of course) attack the institution of family by hatching an egg and raising their daughter together. This was one of the books included in the Jonesboro Public Librarys 2021 Pride Month display.

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe

The memoir of a nonbinary, asexual writer with nonconforming pronouns.

Whats Happening to Me? by Alex Frith and Susan Meredith

Run-of-the-mill book on puberty, or a pornographic masturbation fest? Clearly the latter, one Arkansas grandfather said. The attack on our children is relentless and we MUST STAND AGAINST THE EVIL FORCES THAT TRY TO DESTROY OUR YOUTH!!

Read more here:
Book banning is back: Arkansans try to nix content on sex, gender and race - Arkansas Times