Julia Roberts, More Stars Issue Call to Action to 'Let America Read' amid Growing List of Banned Books
Selma Blair, Sterling K. Brown, Andy Cohen and Julianna Margulies are among those who have pledged to work to increase awareness about the issue
Stars including Julia Roberts, Selma Blair and Sterling K. Brown are coming together to "Let America Read."
The new initiative from the Creative Artists Agency's philanthropic arm, CAA Foundation, and the nonpartisan group Campaign for Our Shared Future aims to raise awareness about the increase in book bans across the country.
"I am a reader. I think all books have some value, but the life-changing books that have fought for that space in the school Canon of literature, they represent what has been so vital to America," Blair said in a statement. "Eli Wiesel's books and The Diary of Anne Frank taught me the importance of never forgetting. And to keep tragedies alive in writing teaches the resilience we have. They went through it and they wrote about it so one day we won't have to."
Other celebrities backing the effort include Chloë Grace Moretz, Connie Britton, Julianna Margulies, Shonda Rhimes and Andy Cohen — and all are issuing a call to action.
Related:Texas Judge Orders 12 Library Books Removed Over LGBTQ and Racial Content to Be Returned to Shelves
"History is clear: good ideas are strengthened through contest, as governments are through debate," Margulies said. "Since time immemorial, book banning has been the refuge of leaders who fear that their arguments and writs cannot withstand scrutiny. Its violence is born of weakness. And we are not a weak people – fighting book bans is an act of patriotism and a show of strength."
The stars' support is additionally important given that librarians and other administrators are facing increased pressure to limit access to books, CAA Foundation Executive Deborah Marcus said.
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"This current wave of book banning in the U.S. is an issue that we all need to be deeply concerned about," Marcus said. "Librarians and teachers across the country are being targeted, threatened, and fired for putting books on shelves that are age appropriate, historically sound, and reflective of society during the time periods in which they were set. The bans and these tactics pose a direct threat to the health of our entire educational ecosystem and to our democracy."
Toni Morrison's Beloved, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and George Orwell's 1984 are among books that have been the subject of bans over recent years, while those with racial or LGBTQ+ themes have also been targeted.
In a bit of good news for book advocates, late last month, a federal judge ruled that a South Texas library had to reinstitute 12 books that had such themes, which had previously been removed after Republican lawmakers and others in the community deemed them inappropriate due to their content.
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