"The Battle Over Books:" Nationwide trend of book censorship … – ABC 57 News
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Are political action committees turning public schools into political battlegrounds?
There's growing support from some local school board members with ties to these national committees to suspend, and in some cases, ban books with sexual or violent scenes and regulate what's taught in classrooms.
This is happening most notably in Berrien County, where a group called "We The Parents" is helping elect school board members that enforce what they call "traditional American values of faith, family, and freedom."
The group has been most successful in the Brandywine school district in Niles where last year, four candidates were elected to a seven-member board.
The growing movement to censor books in schools is a nationwide issue and is directly linked to political pressure. School districts are removing books from libraries at a record pace, according to Pen America. During the 2021-22 school year, 138 school districts in 32 states banned more than 2,500 books.
Jen Unger, a Brandywine Parent, is concerned about what the trend means for her young children.
"I want my children to be able to go into those libraries and look at any books that they want, Unger said."
Unger is a parent of three first-grade students at Merritt Elementary in Niles.
She's struggling with the idea that her kids won't be able to access books that she believes are important to their educational development in the future.
In February, Brandywine school board voted to suspend the addition of any sexually explicit or violent books from entering the middle and high school libraries. They also moved to create an 'Explicit Material Book Review Committee' to evaluate the books already in the school library.
Tiffany: "So, do you think the school board is acting in the best interest of the community?"
Jen: "I do not. I think they're acting in their best interest and not on what's going to be the best for the students and then the staff at the schools that they're supposed to be serving."
This is all part of a bigger picture issue, with school board races across the country becoming more political and more parents wanting a say in their children's education.
The 20-22 school board elections at Brandywine Community Schools brought four new faces to serve the district, all of whom are supported by We The Parents, a parental rights group financially backed by the 1776 Project, a conservative political action committee or PAC.
The committee formed back in 2021 to push back against the New York Times' 1619 Project, which provides free lesson plans that center U.S. history around slavery and its lasting impacts.
The super PAC received $3,00,000 in donations in 2022, according to Open Secrets, a nonpartisan, independent and nonprofit research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy.
In Michigan alone, Transparency USA, a group tracking money in state politics, shows over $56,000 in contributions went to "We The Parents last year.
The group supported almost 30 school board candidates across 10 different schools in Berrien County but they were most successful in Brandywine.
"It seems that they have a more political agenda than focusing on the needs of the students of our district," Unger said about the recently elected We The Parents backed school board members.
On November 9th, 2022, after Board President Thomas Payne, Secretary Angela Seastrom, and Trustees Michelanne Mccombs and Elaine Mckee won their elections, The 1776 Project PAC tweeted, "We just flipped the Brandywine school board from liberal to conservative."
Unger voted for all four We The Parents backed school board members and it's something she says she now regrets.
"I just didn't do my part as a parent and as a taxpayer to make sure I knew what I was voting for," Unger said.
The We The Parents group touts a mission of recruiting, equipping and retaining a new generation of school board candidates that are grounded in the traditional American values of faith, family, and freedom.
At face value, Unger says it sounded like a good option but after taking a closer look at the group's push to "remove all forms of sexual, racial, political and gender indoctrination" from schools, she's realizing she disagrees with them.
"If you recognize the name, and you're not necessarily even doing some homework or have children in the district, I think you're just voting for by popular knowing their name, versus what they're running for," Unger said.
The big question is why are books that have been in school libraries for centuries getting challenged now?
Interview requests sent to We The Parents and the 1776 Project PAC went unanswered.
ABC57 also did not get a response for an interview request from Brandywine School Board President Thomas Payne, until showing up in person.
When requesting an interview with Payne at the March 27 board meeting he said, "Not tonight. But I will email you back and I'll my put phone number on there and then we can potentially set up a time. I'm really not doing interviews but let me think about it."
Payne did send an email the next day, but ABC57 was unable to set up an interview. A final email asking for at least a statement, went unanswered.
Former Brandywine School Board President Dennis Hinsey did agree to an interview request. He served on the school board for 16-years, until Payne was voted into the role last year.
I held every position from trustee to Secretary Treasurer, Vice President and most recently President up to December 31," Hinsey said.
Hinsey isn't surprised that the incumbents on the Brandywine school board were voted out in 2022.
With PACs pouring money into school board races, its fairly easy to flip control of who governs a school and for much less than it would cost to elect someone to the house or senate.
The 1776 Project PACs website shows theyve endorsed candidates all over the country, even impacting bigger school board races like in Miami-Dade County in Florida where over 300,000 students are enrolled.
Being a part of a political action committee is there's money funneled in all over the country to help advertise," Hinsey said. "And knowing that there were mailers going to homes, there was text messages, there was sponsored social media post, that all costs a lot of money, that the average person just trying to help his school or her school, they just won't do it. So, they had, you know, huge signs. It was basically name recognition.
Winning local school board races can impact education on a national scale as were seeing now with the push to censor books in schools with several states passing new laws.
In Indiana, lawmakers passed a bill in February to ban books harmful to minors in school libraries.
In Michigan, House Bill 4136 was also introduced in February. Called the library privacy act," it doesnt ban specific books, but calls for books with obscenities to be kept in age-restricted areas of a library.
Pen America, a left-leaning organization dedicated to promoting free speech and journalism, says 40% of book bans in the last year have been connected to political pressure or legislation designed to restrict and reshape teaching.
Hinsey thinks the push to ban books has become a talking point for politicians and it's not a real issue.
I went back and there was some push back last fall when I was President and we double checked, and I double checked, that in the last almost 20 years, there has never been a challenge from a parent for a challenge from anywhere about a book in the library [at Brandywine]," Hinsey said. We're not talking about kindergarteners, what do you consider sexually explicit? A National Geographic? You know, I mean, that's such a broad line. And we want kids, students to be able to maybe see something that they could be uncomfortable with, and ask, and because if we don't let them, they're going to find it. They're going to they're gonna learn about it one way or the other.
In the Brandywine school district, Hinsey explains that parents have always had the right to be involved in their childs education. He sees it as creating problems that dont exist.
The director of the American Library Associations Office for Intellectual Freedom, Deborah Caldwell-Stone, echoes that sentiment.
I can't think of a single public library for example that doesn't have a reconsideration policy in place that allows someone to raise a concern and talk about it with a librarian," Caldwell-Stone said.
The American Library Association is the oldest and largest non-partisan organization dedicated to library services in the world. Censorship challenges in school libraries are something Caldwell-Stone says can be detrimental to a childs educational success.
"When young people are allowed to read freely, they gain something from that and they're better citizens, they are better prepared to enter College, be effective parts of the military force, or join the workforce. And so, when we narrow their opportunity to learn, when we treat education as indoctrination rather than an opportunity to expand horizons, we can see the real impact on young lives," Caldwell-Stone said.
Caldwell-stone believes that book banning is the most widespread form of censorship in the united states and, arguably, the most dangerous form too.
She says banning books can have major impacts on children, and society as a whole, by creating gaps in knowledge for young learners and undermining efforts to teach students to think for themselves.
We've seen quadrupling of the reports of censorship in school libraries in public libraries in the last year," Deborah Caldwell-Stone said. Ive done this work for 20 years and I've never seen numbers like this in the past and we're just really deeply concerned about the impact on young people's education, their ability to read widely about the world in general about their lives in particular and what it means for our democracy to have government agencies trying to tell individuals and tell families what they can and can't read.
According to the American Library Association, the number one most banned book in the last decade was "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie
"Captain Underpants" (series) by Dav Pilkey is actually the second most banned book in America.
"Thirteen Reasons Why" by Jay Asher ranks third, and "Looking For Alaska" by John Green is the fourth most banned book.
"Looking for Alaska" was recently challenged in the Coloma, Michigan school district. So far, no specific books have been banned locally, but the conversation over potential censorship in school libraries is ongoing.
You can read the full list of the most frequently challenged books here.
Go here to read the rest:
"The Battle Over Books:" Nationwide trend of book censorship ... - ABC 57 News
- EFF, Open Rights Group, Big Brother Watch, and Index on Censorship Call on UK Government to Repeal Online Safety Act - Electronic Frontier Foundation - December 16th, 2025 [December 16th, 2025]
- Censor approval pending as IFFK puts 19 films, including Palestine-themed titles, on hold | Entertainment News - Hindustan Times - December 16th, 2025 [December 16th, 2025]
- Europes real censorship problem isnt what Trump claims - Index on Censorship - December 16th, 2025 [December 16th, 2025]
- Is impartiality possible when it comes to free speech? - Index on Censorship - December 16th, 2025 [December 16th, 2025]
- Union government disallows screening of 19 films at the 30th International Film Festival of Kerala - t2ONLINE - December 16th, 2025 [December 16th, 2025]
- This HIV Expert Refused To Censor Data, Then Quit the CDC - KFF Health News - December 16th, 2025 [December 16th, 2025]
- Dhurandhar Faces Regional Censorship in the Gulf but Dominates India With Massive Action-Spy Buzz - Times of India - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Censorship pure and simple: critics hit out at Trump plan to vet visitors social media - The Guardian - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Meta accused of banning LGBTQ+ accounts in one of its "biggest waves of censorship" ever - LGBTQ Nation - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Who is 2025s Tyrant of the Year? - Index on Censorship - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- YouTube and big tech censorship threatens global accountability, Palestinian rights groups say - Mondoweiss - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Elons Crying Censorship Over An EU Fine That Has Nothing To Do With Censorship - Above the Law - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Opinion | We Should Teach Our Students How to Think, Not What to Believe - The New York Times - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Tyrant of the year 2025: Donald Trump - Index on Censorship - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Tyrant of the year 2025: Vladimir Putin - Index on Censorship - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Tyrant of the year 2025: Recep Tayyip Erdoan - Index on Censorship - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Tyrant of the year 2025: Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada - Index on Censorship - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Tyrant of the year 2025: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - Index on Censorship - December 14th, 2025 [December 14th, 2025]
- Trump Is Using the Misinformation Censorship Playbook Republicans Attacked Biden For - Reason Magazine - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- What we learned about free speech in 2025 - Good Authority - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Under the radar: Israel steps up censorship and suppression of independent reporting - Committee to Protect Journalists - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Education advocates urge Hochul to sign bill aimed at combating censorship in schools - WAMC - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- ICEBlock app sues Trump administration for censorship and 'unlawful threats' - NPR - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- OnePlus Removes AI Writing Feature After Reports of China-Focused Censorship - PCMag - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Tyrant of the year 2025: John Lee - Index on Censorship - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Facing Criticism, Weber State Says It Will Be More Nuanced - Inside Higher Ed - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Snapshots of Censorship: The Cost of Criticizing the President - PEN America - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Meta shuts down global accounts linked to abortion advice and queer content - The Guardian - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Tyrant of the year 2025: Nayib Armando Bukele - Index on Censorship - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- LGBTQ+ and abortion organisations claim Meta is silencing their accounts in huge censorship sweep - attitude.co.uk - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Kentuckians feared the post-war world. So they burned their kids comic books - Lexington Herald Leader - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- ICE tracking app sues Trump admin for abuse of govt power, censorship; says admin pressured Apple to remove app - CNN - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers Case: Even the ACLU Calls NJ Actions 'Censorship by Intimidation' - cbn.com - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Tyrant of the year 2025: Narendra Modi - Index on Censorship - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- ICEBlock Developer Sues Trump Admin Over Censorship 12/09/2025 - MediaPost - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- OnePlus temporarily disables a major AI feature following allegations of censoring sensitive geopolitical terms - PhoneArena - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Despite censorship woes and the terrifying price of RAM, 2025 was the year I fell back in love with PC gaming - GamesRadar+ - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- Internet Censorship Tools Exported Along Belt and Road - The Jamestown Foundation - December 12th, 2025 [December 12th, 2025]
- 'There's too much censorship, restrictions': Mona Singh says the kind of shows OTT streams 'would never be shown on TV' | Hindustan Times - Hindustan... - November 30th, 2025 [November 30th, 2025]
- Cultural heritage organizations need continued funding and freedom from censorship [letter] - LancasterOnline - November 30th, 2025 [November 30th, 2025]
- NetChoice Disappointed in 11th Circuits Ruling Allowing Florida to Enforce Its ID-for-Speech Law - NetChoice - November 30th, 2025 [November 30th, 2025]
- David Rieff: To be truly woke, wed have to even censor the pyramids of Tenochtitlan - EL PAS English - November 30th, 2025 [November 30th, 2025]
- In memory of Sir Tom Stoppard, a visionary dramatist and fierce champion of free expression - Index on Censorship - November 30th, 2025 [November 30th, 2025]
- Salman Rushdie: BBC removal of Trump criticism was cowardly - UnHerd - November 30th, 2025 [November 30th, 2025]
- A movie that drove Canadian censors wild returns to the screen - CBC - November 30th, 2025 [November 30th, 2025]
- Posters with purpose: the analog protest calling out the censorship of womens health - Tech.eu - November 30th, 2025 [November 30th, 2025]
- Dmitry Glukhovsky on exile, censorship and the dystopia of modern Russia - Reuters - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- Police accused of censorship after officers raid Standing Together event in Haifa report - The Times of Israel - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- Pop Star Googoosh on Irans Censorship, Exile and Her Fight to Perform - Newsweek - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- Ali Asgari on Satire, Censorship, Absurdities Behind 'Divine Comedy' - Variety - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- How Steam censors LGBTQ+ content on behalf of the Russian Government, 27/11/2025 - Video Games Industry Memo - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- MTV Banned Madonna's 'Justify My Love' Music Video in 1985 for Being Too Racy. The Censorship Backfired Spectacularly - Yahoo - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- Iranian Filmmaker Ali Asgari on Satire, Censorship and Absurdities Behind Divine Comedy: You Show How Silly and Stupid the Rules Are - IMDb - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- BBC Accused Of Censorship After Removing Claim That Trump Is Most Openly Corrupt President In History From Prestigious Radio Show - deadline.com - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- Freedom of speech needs freedom of thought - Index on Censorship - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- Trkiye: Political pressure, judicial harassment and censorship targets media - ARTICLE 19 - Defending freedom of expression and information. - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- On the Sweeping Supreme Court Decision That Led to Widespread High School Censorship - Literary Hub - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- Valve block Steam game with queer art in Russia after state censor attacks it for promoting non-traditional sexualities - Rock Paper Shotgun - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- Quebec universities warn Bill 1 could force schools to self-censor - Montreal Gazette - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- VICTORY AGAINST STATE CENSORSHIP Alternative news organization Bulatlat hails a Quezon City court decision that nullified the blocking of its website... - November 28th, 2025 [November 28th, 2025]
- FCPS school board censorship: Definitely illegal and incredibly stupid, part 2 | Opinion - Yahoo - November 24th, 2025 [November 24th, 2025]
- YouTuber exposes the most censored and surveilled Android phones in the world - Android Authority - November 24th, 2025 [November 24th, 2025]
- Toby Young to Address Orbn-Backed Group on UK Censorship - DeSmog - November 24th, 2025 [November 24th, 2025]
- Europes Minor Protection Tightrope: How to Protect Young Users Without Censoring the Internet - Disruptive Competition Project - November 24th, 2025 [November 24th, 2025]
- Judge Declares Government Censorship Law that Caused Hundreds of Book Removals from Libraries in Missouri Unconstitutional - ACLU of Missouri - November 23rd, 2025 [November 23rd, 2025]
- Trump Adds Censorship to the Campaign Against Arms Control and Disarmament - CounterPunch.org - November 23rd, 2025 [November 23rd, 2025]
- Seaver Faculty Association Sends Letter on Weisman Censorship to Administrators - Pepperdine Graphic - November 23rd, 2025 [November 23rd, 2025]
- NDSS 2025 THEMIS: Regulating Textual Inversion For Personalized Concept Censorship - Security Boulevard - November 23rd, 2025 [November 23rd, 2025]
- Advocates Alarmed Over New Alabama Ban On Youth Access To Trans Books In Libraries - PEN America - November 23rd, 2025 [November 23rd, 2025]
- Editorial Cartoon: Big Tech is censoring the reality of the war in Gaza - The Minnesota Daily - November 23rd, 2025 [November 23rd, 2025]
- Tales of Berseria Remastered will be censored worldwide - Nintendo Everything - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]
- How Donald Trump can still censor the Epstein files - The Telegraph - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]
- What a Black Congresswoman Allegedly Said in Just-Released Epstein Texts That Has Republicans Demanding Her Censorship - The Root - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]
- UK university censors human rights research on abuses in China - FIRE | Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]
- Trump, Brendan Carr Threaten To Censor Some More Comedians For The Crime Of Comedy - Techdirt. - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]
- Internet Censorship in 2025: The Impact of Internet Restrictions - Security.org - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]
- Tales Of Berseria Remastered's Japanese Version Will Include The Original's Overseas Censorship - TheGamer - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]
- Breaking the positive feedback loop of oppressive censorship - dailycal.org - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]
- Franco's 36 years of authoritarian right-wing rule was marked by repression and censorship - IslanderNews.com - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]
- Shakespeare Makes a Fool of His Censors - The Imaginative Conservative - November 20th, 2025 [November 20th, 2025]