People For the American Way

People For Response to Revelations of Palin’s Attempted Book Banning

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 2, 2008

Contact: Drew Courtney or Josh Glasstetter at People For the American Way

Email: [email protected]

Phone Number: 202-467-4999

Time Magazine today reports that Alaska governor and Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin attempted to ban books from her local library as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, and then threatened to fire the librarian who stood up to her for not giving “full support” to the mayor. People For the American Way president Kathryn Kolbert issued the following statement:

“People can disagree about a lot of things, but censorship is completely beyond the pale. Our democracy was founded on the belief that government shouldn’t tell people what kinds of books to read or what kind of beliefs to hold. No one with that kind of history should be anywhere near the White House. Sarah Palin needs to clarify her stance on freedom of speech immediately, and John McCain needs to explain why he chose a running mate with so little regard for the Constitution.”

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Read More

  • Read more about book banning in public schools here.