California Student Activists Announce Banned Books Week Campaign

October 2, 2023

(LOS ANGELES) - Beginning Monday, October 2 for Banned Books Week 2023, the Golden State Readers youth advocacy group will be launching a year-long 1000 Books Fund and diversity book drive, as well as a viral awareness-raising campaign where students from all over California will wrap their backpacks in caution tape to symbolize their opposition to book bans and educational censorship.

The Golden State Readers have announced that their backpack caution taping campaigns will be spearheaded by several Next Gen PEN America student alumni at Mira Costa High School in Manhattan Beach, New Roads School in Santa Monica, Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco, Albany High School, and several schools in the Coachella Valley and San Diego areas. They envision that their campaign will inspire youth from other schools in California to participate over the course of the week.

“The caution tape is our way of highlighting the irony of the whole argument against making diverse literature accessible,” says Gianna Goodman-Bhyat, student president of the Mira Costa High School Banned Books Club. “Proponents of book bans are mistakenly viewing our education and the literature in our backpacks, classrooms, and libraries as dangerous just because they threaten the status quo… what ever happened to knowledge is power?”

Student activists and professional actors Anais and Mirabelle Lee of the Beatrice Martin Foundation have also joined the Golden State Readers project as lead influencers. “Growing up, our mom was constantly sharing us works by James Baldwin and Toni Morrison,” says Mirabelle. “These books taught us lessons on girlhood, specifically on being a Black woman, communication, how to love and so much more. These books are exactly why we established the Beatrice Martin Foundation in our late great-great-grandmother’s honor, to promote diverse literature and literacy among underprivileged youth.” Anais adds “These stories can shape a person’s life, and being unable to see yourself represented in stories is a disservice no young person should have to face.”

Last week, leaders from the Golden State Readers primed their peers for the caution tape campaign through a New Roads School Freedom to Read Fair bake sale which raised over $500 last Tuesday, and by leading workshops at PEN America’s Freedom to Read Student Summit at San Francisco Public Library on Saturday. “We organized today’s summit because NorCal students need to realize how the national book ban crisis is depriving minority students everywhere of representation”, says Leela Hensler, a student organizer for the San Francisco event. Fellow organizer Margo Weber adds, “Even though books are being banned largely outside of California, they’re holding all of us back as a generation”.

Contact: goldenstatereaders@gmail.com