Free Censored 2014 by Mickey Huff

explore subjects like sex, depression, drugs and abuse.
    In the firm belief that intellectual freedom is crucial to our development as well-rounded, socially engaged and empathetic human beings, the Kids’ Right to Read project fights for young people’s right to explore and grow by reading good books.

    ACACIA O’CONNOR is coordinator of the Kids’ Right to Read Project, a coalition project of the National Coalition Against Censorship ( NCAC.org ). Her position with KRRP combines many of her passions, including but not limited to literature, libraries, language, and freedom of speech. Also an Italian translator, Acacia received her master’s degree in literary translation studies from the University of Rochester.
    THE LIBROTRAFICANTE OPPRESSION DETECTION KIT
    Tony Diaz, El Librotraficante
    When Arizona legislators tried to erase our history, we decided to make more. When Arizona House Bill 2281 was used to ban Mexican American studies, we decided to take a stand. What started asthe Librotraficante Caravan to smuggle banned books back to Tucson has blossomed into a movement. In March of 2012, we organized six cities, smuggled over 1,000 books donated from all over the country, and opened four underground libraries.
    The Librotraficante movement is the tip of the pyramid. It stands on the base created by its parent organization, Nuestra Palabra: Latino Writers Having Their Say, which I founded, to promote Latino literature and literacy in Houston, Texas, in 1998. In that time, we have worked with most of the authors whose work was banned by the Tucson Unified School District (TUSD). The writings of our most beloved authors form the base of our movement.
    Currently, Arizona HB 2281 has been used to make only our history illegal; however, these anti-intellectual laws, like Arizona’s anti-immigration laws, will also spread. Although right now only Mexican American studies is outlawed, Arizona HB 2281 will pave the way to outlaw Asian studies and African American studies, not just in Arizona, but in other states. The end result would be disastrous: the dismantling of ethnic studies courses that have stemmed the drop out rate, an attack on critical thinking, and a trampling of the intellectual landscape of America.
    We must not allow that to happen, and we are making some progress.
    Texas Republican Senator Dan Patrick introduced Senate Bill 1128, and Texas Republican House of Representative Giovanni Capriglione introduced House Bill 1938 in spring of 2013. Last year we organized
    the Librotraficante Caravan to smuggle books banned in Arizona, back to Arizona, and this year we defended ethnic studies in our own back yard.
    We formed a Texas-wide coalition that fought against HB 1938 and SB 1128, which would discredit ethnic studies at Texas state colleges and universities and effectively eliminate Mexican American, African American, and women’s studies programs among others. Both bills are now dead. 4 We leave records of these struggles posted online as a testament to this stage of the civil rights movement of which we, and many others, are a part. Look for it sooner than later before the hackers strike, as the Librotraficante.com website regularly gets attacked.
    In terms of the legacy of the current civil rights movement, I have no doubt that our brothers and sisters in Arizona will be victorious. The Librotraficante movement believes it would be a powerful example of poetic justice in democracy if the only Latina Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor could sign the majority opinion overturning Arizona HB 2811 signed into law by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, and used as the legal trigger to prohibit Mexican American studies in Arizona. 5
    These tactics are straight out of the Arizona Republican Playbook. The far right’s anti-immigrant movement is well known, and even addressed in the Republican Party’s Growth and Opportunity Project. 6 However, they have not openly discussed, admitted to, or