By Janelle Rivers
Originally published by the League of Women Voters of South Carolina

The League of Women Voters of South Carolina is part of a Freedom to Read SC coalition of organizations concerned about 1st amendment rights. The coalition was formed in response to recent calls to ban books in public libraries.

Objectors appear to be aligned with far-right groups. They demand that libraries—public libraries and sometimes school libraries—remove books from public circulation. Titles usually deal with issues of race or sex or sexual identity. The people who object often equate the very existence of these books in libraries to indoctrination, which means instruction in a specific doctrine to confer a religious, partisan, or ideological point of view.

Calls to ban books are popping up all over the state.

Local people have been working to respond to challenges in Greenville, Pickens, Spartanburg, and Horry, sometimes on very short notice. Local League presidents have been organizing local League members to attend local meetings, like county council meetings or school board meetings, to oppose these book bans and remind our elected officials that freedom of speech is a fundamental principle of the democratic process. Importantly:

• Book bans are an unconstitutional attack on the First Amendment right to access information.

• Librarians are trusted professionals who follow established protocols in purchasing and placing books.

• Every parent has and will continue to have the right to control what their child reads. They do not have the right to control what other people’s children read.

We can expect these challenges to continue.

We appreciate the responsiveness of local League officers and members. The state League is happy to provide resources and make connections to help support local League efforts.

Follow Freedom to Read SC for resources and updates.

Other members of the coalition are:

• Alliance for Full Acceptance

• American Association of University Professors SC

• ACLU of South Carolina

• Campaign for Southern Equality

• E3 Foundation

• Grand Strand Pride

• Harriet Hancock Center Foundation

• League of Women Voters of South Carolina

• Lowcountry Black Parents Association

• Jewish Community Relations Council of the Charleston Jewish Federation

• National Action Network of Columbia

• SC Association of School Librarians

• SC United for Justice and Equality

• South Carolina NAACP Conference Youth and College Division

• South Carolina Unitarian Universalist Justice Alliance

• Upstate LGBT+ Chamber of Commerce

• Women’s Rights and Empowerment Network (WREN)

Janelle Rivers is the education advocacy specialist/lobbyist for the League of Women Voters of South Carolina