Trevor J. Potter’s Post

A really interesting piece here!

When we talk about Banned Books Week, we often focus on books like Anne Frank's Diary—stories that have been challenged or even removed from shelves. But the conversation around intellectual freedom goes so much deeper than just the books we read. Back in the 1970s, the ACLU made a bold and controversial decision to defend the free speech rights of a Nazi group in Skokie, Illinois. It’s a case that still makes many of us uncomfortable today. Their views were abhorrent, but the case was a stark reminder that free speech isn’t about protecting the ideas we love—it’s about protecting all ideas, even those that challenge the core of our values. And that’s where libraries come in. Libraries don’t just offer access to popular or "safe" ideas—they offer access to all ideas. Why? Because intellectual freedom means giving people the right to explore, question, and ultimately, decide for themselves. And for that Libraries require hope. 💡 Hope that people will: 💡 Be curious enough to explore different perspectives. 💡 Be brave enough to question their own assumptions. 💡 Be wise enough to think critically about complex, sometimes uncomfortable, topics. Banned Books Week is a reminder that intellectual freedom isn’t just about protecting the right to read—it’s about ensuring that all voices, even the ones we disagree with, are allowed to exist. This is the hard work we do in libraries, but it’s also how we plant seeds of hope in the world. Libraries play a key role in fostering a world where people are free to think, grow, and learn—no matter how difficult the conversations may be. 🌍 Intellectual Freedom can be challenging to uphold day to day. How are you embracing intellectual freedom in your life? 👇 #BannedBooksWeek #FreeSpeech #IntellectualFreedom #Libraries #CriticalThinking #RightToRead #Censorship https://lnkd.in/dxK8eNGv

Extensive explanation that worth reading.

Interesting article.

I am happy to share that my thesis can now be accessed by everybody! If you are interested in the alt-right and conspiracy theories, it is worth taking a look at it. Ah, post-Marxists may also find it interesting because I delve into the links between the alt-right and contemporary capitalism. https://lnkd.in/e9pBD6AR

An important read.

Franklin, K. (2023). Suffer, Little Children: Childhood as Seen Through the Eyes of Black Writers. Abstract: The works of Richard Wright, in particular his autobiographical writings including Black Boy (1945), illustrate how bleak life could be for African American boys trying to get by in the deep South during Jim Crow. Mary Mebane shows that life was no easier for adolescent black girls in her memoir, Mary (1981). In Notes of a Native Son (1955), James Baldwin writes about the deleterious effect that systematic racism had on his home life while growing up—how the cruelty his stepfather inflicted upon the Baldwin children is the cruelty the world has inflicted upon him. Poets such as Langston Hughes in “Junior Addict” (1964) and Gwendolyn Brooks in Annie Allen (1949) and other works tell tales of hopeless, hapless black youths who come from homes like Baldwin’s (or even worse). These children are fated to become victims and victimizers. They are very much like the bullies in Norman Podhoretz’s “My Negro Problem—and Ours” published in Commentary in 1963. In Podhoretz’s telling, it is the black boys from his Brooklyn neighborhood who terrorize whites—not the other way around. In any case, being confronted with the weighty issues of race, difference, fear, and loathing force Podhoretz to consider issues well beyond the usual childish pursuits seriously. Likewise, Lillian Smith, a white Southerner, is prematurely aged after an incident in which her respectable middle-class parents’ allegiance to whiteness and their humanity come into conflict, and whiteness wins. My paper examines how these writers and others demonstrate how the harsh realities of racism and childhood naivete cannot coexist for long. These authors show how formative and life-changing bigotry and hate can be for those who experience it and live to tell their stories. Keywords: Race, African Americans, Childhood, Richard Wright, Langston Hughes.

A true future classic in our opinions. Simple but very effective.

My new article