Bring Banned Books to GA

By Ted Resnikoff

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The State of Arizona has outlawed “ethnic studies” courses in public schools and removed nearly 100 books that were used as texts or supplemental reading in these courses from classrooms in Tucson. The UUA Bookstore has assembled a list of banned books and invites you to make your disagreement with this policy clear whether by bringing copies of the books with you to GA, or disseminating them in your congregation or community. A portion of the proceeds of these sales will be donated to our local partners in Arizona. This story is re-posted from the UUA Immigration Justice Blog, "Cooking Together". -Ed.

"Smuggle" a Banned Book to GA!

Cooking Together, April 18, 2012. In this post, Roger Brewin of the Unitarian Universalist HUUmanists invites your participation in a project that unites UU humanists despite political differences of opinion, reflecting both humanist and UU values.- Ed. An informal survey of humanists attending the 2011 GA, along with the previous debate among HUUmanist Board members over supporting a boycott of Phoenix, revealed deep divisions over a range of immigration related issues. When GA delegates voted to put together a Justice GA presence in Arizona, the HUUmanists Board chose to participate as fully as our differences would allow, which meant blending humanist values into the struggle for justice. We chose to focus our efforts on economic justice issues, where we have more unanimity. But we cannot be in Arizona without confronting the oppression felt by Latino/a people in that state, both those who are recent immigrants and those who are long time US residents and citizens. This oppression was brought home to us when Arizona outlawed “ethnic studies” courses in public schools and removed nearly 100 books that were used as texts or supplemental reading in these courses from classrooms in Tucson. We cheered the efforts of Tony Diaz, the so-called “librotraficante” who smuggled nearly 1,000 copies of these books in a caravan from Houston to Tucson, setting up “underground libraries” to house the books and make them widely available to children and adults. Read the full post here.