CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WINA) – MoveOn’s Banned Bookmobile stopped by Charlottesville’s Free Speech Wall on Wednesday, October 18, as part of its national tour to address the rising wave of book bannings in Virginia and across the country.
MoveOn distributed free copies of more than 40 of the most frequently banned books along the tour, including titles banned in certain Virginia districts, such as “The Bluest Eye” and “The Perks of Being a Wallflower.”
“I want my 2-year-old granddaughter to grow up in a country where she has free access to whatever works of literature she wants to read!” said Nancy Damon, Vice Chair of the Charlottesville Democratic Committee and MoveOn’s local event liaison.
“I can’t imagine, especially right now when we have a computer in our pocket and our kids are constantly looking at videos, I can’t imagine trying to tell them not to read,” said former Charlottesville School Board member Amy Laufer, who’s now running for House District 55. “I mean, what kind of extremist agenda is that?”
In early October, actor Levar Burton and MoveOn Political Action collaboratively released a new, original “Read Banned Books” T-shirt for National Banned Book Week. The limited-edition shirt features the likeness of the lifetime literacy champion LeVar Burton (long-time host of the PBS “Reading Rainbow” show) and can be purchased here.
