Banned books? That is not the American way. Now is the time for us to take a stand against Book Censorship in the USA! Are you also interested in helping others who are experiencing memory loss, dementia, and Alzheimer's? You can take action NOW to support one (or both) of these important issues! If you are opposed to book banning in our libraries and schools, please keep reading to learn how you can help a First Amendment advocate to continue his non-profit work in defense of the right to read. Steven Pico is one of the few Americans who can say he took the book banners to court, and won. Steven Pico is the ONLY American who can say he took his local Board of Education all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, and won his book-banning case! In Steven's case, all of the banned books were returned to library shelves without restriction, a legal battle which took almost 6 years to resolve. Even though I have lived in Europe since I was born in 1991, I have learned so much about American history from the activism, interviews and speeches of Steven Pico. That's correct, Steven's fight against book banning is even well known in Europe, where I was born. So, when I discovered that Steven was in need of help following the pandemic, I felt I should reach out to good people like you, to ask for your help and for your support on behalf of this principled man and the important causes he has championed. By profession, Steven is a painter, sculptor, and editor. I mention this fact because fighting the book banners can best be described as Steven's passion, not his avocation. Steven continues to speak out against censorship, and he fights to defend everyone's freedom to read and educate themselves in a free, democratic society. In addition, over the past five years Steven has developed a non-profit blog designed to use "ART as a form of THERAPY" in order to allow people who have limited access to museums to enjoy art from the best museums. This is especially helpful to promote Emotional Memory for those who are experiencing memory loss -- and for anyone who is home bound, in a medical facility, or for any reason misses being able to travel and visit art museums. The blog also provides a valuable tool for caregivers. It is free and non-profit website. I set up this Go Fund Me because page because Steven needs your help, your support. Steven lost his parents to illness in years past and has no immediate family in the U.S. He lost his job as an editor at the outset of the pandemic in March 2024 and, like most people at age 65, he is facing several health issues (heart and thyroid) and the related medical expenses. With a large thyroid nodule pressing against his larynx, the last 2 cytopathology reports came back as "inconclusive" about which Steven's doctor wrote: "It came out as Bethesda Class 3 -- which means there were atypical cells of unknown significance ... Class 4 and 5 is malignant." I realize a lot of people have retreated from the fight to preserve our freedoms in Europe and in the USA because the political scene has become so divided. Steven, however, continues to defend books, authors, teachers and librarians. You can do the same. If you are unable to devote your time to join the fight against book banning at this time, perhaps you can lend support to Steven Pico, someone who has been an eloquent defender of the Constitution for decades. In November 2024, I attended THE NEW PRESS SOCIAL JUSTICE AWARDS ceremony where Steven Pico was honored "for a lifetime of fighting against censorship." Past winners of this honor include Harry Belafonte, Pete Seeger, Alice Walker and Toni Morrison. If you believe that federal and local governments abuse their power and politicians VIOLATE YOUR RIGHTS when they ban books from stores, schools and community libraries, I hope you will join me and my family to support Steven Pico. Steven has also been recognized by the Writers Guild of America, East "for his valiant fight against censorship" and by the American Library Association for "strong commitment and defense of the principles of intellectual freedom and the right to read." Steven took book banners to Federal court from 1977 through 1982 (and won!) to protect 11 books that had been banned from his school district in New York State. Since his victory at the U.S. Supreme Court in 1982, Steven has continued to speak out eloquently in defense of the Constitutional rights of teachers, writers, parents, librarians, students, authors, publishers, journalists, and ALL citizens. Steven continues to stand up for creative and academic freedom. He is a Quaker who respectfully advocates for the rights of both professionals and the general public to read and use a variety of books to educate themselves (and educate others) in our free society. We have all learned that our Constitutional rights can be taken away from us, and from everyone, unless we do something as Steven has done and as Steven continues to do! Steven spoke with library officials at the Glen Ridge Public Library in New Jersey in February 2024 just before the Library Board voted unanimously to keep in circulation 6 books (that a group had asked to be banned), including Mr. George M. Johnson's "All Boys Aren't Blue." For several years, Steven has also worked with the plaintiffs and lawyers in Llano County, Texas to combat book censorship in the County's Public Library system. You may want to follow this important case and read U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman's March 30, 2024 Order returning all banned materials to free use in the library system during the pendency of this legal action. Steven is still experiencing problems with his legs. Your support will help Steven continue his work against censorship, and assist with his living and medical expenses. Book banning is on the rise; however, I believe there are many Republicans, Democrats and Independents out there who believe that censorship is incompatible with our free society. Below, I have listed some of the facts I have learned about the history of book censorship in the U.S.A., just in case you want to learn more about this timely issue. The U.S. Post Office once confiscated and burned 500 copies of an American journal containing portions of "Ulysses" and a court ruling banned this James Joyce novel in the United States. You may have recently heard that "Maus" by Art Spiegelman, "All Boys Aren't Blue" by George M. Johnson, the novel "Forever" by Judy Blume and the poem "The Hill We Climb" by Amanda Gorman have been attacked and censored in 2024 and 2024. You might be surprised to learn of the many important books which have been banned from libraries & schools across the United States, including: The Diary of a Young Girl (Anne Frank) 1984 (George Orwell) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (Maya Angelou) The Great Gatsby (F. Scott Fitzgerald) The Kite Runner (Khaled Hosseini) The Color Purple (Alice Walker) Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck) Native Son (Richard Wright) Beloved, The Bluest Eye (Toni Morrison) To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon) Brave New World (Aldous Huxley) The Handmaid's Tale (Margaret Atwood) Invisible Man (Ralph Ellison) Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury) This One Summer (Mariko Tamaki) and Go Ask Alice The Naked Ape (Desmond Morris) Laughing Boy (Oliver LaFarge) Soul On Ice (Eldridge Cleaver) Down These Mean Streets (Piri Thomas) The Best Short Stories by Black Writers (edited by Langston Hughes) A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich (Alice Childress) Black Boy (Richard Wright) The Fixer (Bernard Malamud) A Reader for Writers, including "A Modest Proposal" (Jonathan Swift) Slaughterhouse-Five (Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.) The 11 books listed immediately above were banned from a public school system in New York State in 1977. At the age of 17, Steven Pico stood firm in his belief that "the right to read a book is implicit in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution" and, with Kurt Vonnegut by his side, Steven announced that he had filed a lawsuit seeking the return of these 11 books to his school library. I read a newspaper article entitled "The Faces Behind Famous Cases" in which the New York Times described Steven as a "Hero to civil libertarians." Truth be told, Steven remains a hero to people across the political spectrum -- conservatives, libertarians, liberals, independents, moderates, members of various religious and political persuasions -- all of whom understand what was at stake when Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan, Jr. declared "Our Constitution does not permit the official suppression of ideas" {Board of Education, Island Trees v. Pico}. In the landmark "Pico" decision, Brennan wrote, "we hold that local school boards may not remove books from school library shelves simply because they dislike the ideas contained in those books and seek by their removal to 'prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion'." A Reader for Writers, the anthology banned by the Island Trees Board of Education in New York, included John F. Kennedy's Inaugural Address, the U.S. Declaration of Independence and a letter written by Nobel Peace Prize-winner Martin Luther King, Jr. This book was banned from the school library because School Board members objected to Jonathan Swift's 1729 satirical essay "A Modest Proposal" (which they believed was "in bad taste") and a Robert Penn Warren essay on Malcolm X. The Board of Education said that speaking well of Malcolm X was "anti-American" since they felt he was "a traitor" to his country. In legal depositions, the publicly-elected School Board members admitted they never read any of the books they voted to ban, and that no one in the community of Island Trees (New York) had ever objected to or complained about any of the 11 books. The Board relied solely on a list of books received from outside its jurisdiction. The Board banned "A Hero Ain't Nothin' But a Sandwich" because in it a teacher tells his students that George Washington owned slaves! Steven Pico, the 17-year-old Student Council President at his high school, spoke out nation-wide against censorship and shepherded his legal case through the courts for six years, until the Island Trees Board of Education voted to return all of the books to the library shelves following Steven's victories in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and at the U.S. Supreme Court. By the time the Supreme Court issued its ruling (1982), Steven had already completed his B.A. degree from Haverford College, and then worked for three years at the non-profit National Coalition Against Censorship. Steven only sought the return of the books to the library shelves, where library patrons could choose to read these books (or patrons could choose not to read them); he never sought monetary reward. For reasons such as these, people around the world still look to the USA as a beacon of freedom. Even though I reside in Spain, my brother is a resident of the United Kingdom and my mother lives in Poland, I have started this fundraiser to show my appreciation for Steven Pico, a U.S. citizen who is admired in many countries. Steven Pico has spent many years defending books, educators, publishers and librarians. Steven has also worked for decades to protect the rights of authors to express themselves and the rights of all citizens (including students) to read freely. In these difficult times, I still believe the United States is a symbol of freedom around the world. However, to maintain our liberties, individuals must demonstrate the courage to defend our freedoms in a peaceful manner. That is exactly what Steven Pico has accomplished over the past 45 years. I have organized this fundraiser as a way to say THANK YOU to an American citizen for standing up for what is right, for defending the rights of everyone to learn and to educate themselves, and for peacefully opposing government attempts to limit freedom of thought. Even though my brother and I are citizens of Poland, we have chosen to become residents of other countries because we are opposed to Poland's Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwość) party and its policies limiting the freedoms of the Polish people. I admire what Steven Pico has done to protect freedom of speech in the United States of America. I hope you agree that the right to freely read books is one of your most basic and precious freedoms. While preparing this fundraiser, I came across many speeches given by Steven Pico to warn people about the dangers of censorship. When Steven spoke at a remembrance of the Nazi book burnings, he said "I am here because I share a common experience with those who lived in Germany in the 1930s. Growing up in the United States, I too have seen people who are afraid of ideas, afraid of books. Living in the United States, I have lived in a country where books are banned and burned. Some books describe painful truths, the reality experienced by people in their daily lives. Censors argue that certain books offend them, and I respectfully respond: Life cannot always be portrayed tastefully. There is no tasteful way to express life in a ghetto or in a concentration camp. Such truths should be depicted realistically." From my point of view, Steven was courageous and principled: he refused to stand by and do nothing while the voices of some authors were being silenced. He said, "The basic premise behind book-banning is that IDEAS ARE DANGEROUS. Today, there are people across many countries who are saying 'I know which ideas are right, and which are wrong. Our schools will not teach wrong ideas. Our citizens will not read wrong books.' We are here today because we have heard this language before. Heinrich Heine once wrote, 'Where they burn books, they will also ultimately burn people.' On May 10, 1933, the first of many book burnings occurred in Nazi Germany. Now we know that a great German poet was right: WHERE THEY BURN BOOKS, THEY WILL ALSO ULTIMATELY BURN PEOPLE." Today, some people are trying to hide and distort our history, to deny history in fact. Some politicians are using books as a tool to advance their own careers, to scare parents, and to deceive voters. Are teachers, librarians and books the most serious issues we have to face in schools today? Some citizens are willing to allow politicians and courts to take away our basic rights and our basic freedoms. If you feel as I do that this is a serious mistake, please help me raise funds for Steven. Thank you.
Artículos relacionados
