QUESTION
If it appropriate for the city council to play a role in fighting against banning books, and what more could we be doing?
1:19:44
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166 sec
Council Member Carlina Rivera questions Emily Drabinsky and Jonathan Friedman on the city council's role in combating book banning. Drabinsky acknowledges the issue's severity in New York and suggests focusing on the crisis of school librarians and educational access. Friedman emphasizes the importance of improving public awareness and defending librarians against smears. Both underscore the role of New York City as a leader in promoting access to books and the fundamental freedoms of reading and learning.
Carlina Rivera
1:19:44
But is it appropriate for the city council to play a role in this fight against banning books.
1:19:51
And if so, what what more do you think we could be doing?
1:19:55
I mean, certainly, the funding is instrumental.
1:19:59
Right?
1:19:59
Less access is less access, period.
1:20:02
But we'd I'd love to know your thoughts on on the city council's role.
Emily Drabinsky
1:20:07
I'm I'm grateful for this hearing, when I travel around the country, people say, oh, you're from New York.
1:20:14
That's not a problem in New York, and it is in fact a problem in York.
1:20:17
And I think paying attention to what's happening in our school libraries is very important and very crucial in the conversation.
1:20:23
Every time I you know, talk to a school librarian, and they'll tell me about another one that quit, and now they haven't been replaced in schools.
1:20:31
You know, my kid didn't have a library in his middle school, and did that have something to do with the fact that he's not a reader?
1:20:37
Absolutely.
1:20:37
So I think the city council can take seriously the crisis of school librarians and the Department of Education here in the in the city.
1:20:45
I think that's important.
1:20:46
But making sure that the rest of the country knows that New York City is a place that values REIT that values books and that we'll promote access in every way that we can as a national leader.
1:20:55
You know, I I'm from Boise, Idaho, and my mom watches my weather on TV.
1:20:59
For her to see that New York City is taking book banning as seriously as we are here today, I have a lot of gratitude for that.
Jonathan Friedman
1:21:06
I cannot second all of that enough.
1:21:09
I guess what I would just add is the public awareness is so vital and helping people to understand Just what it is that a librarian does, part and parcel of this effort to pass laws and intimidate librarians has been an effort to smear the work of librarians to call them, you know, peddlers of sexual content to young children and other vile commentary.
1:21:36
We've seen librarians and teachers leave the profession because of the heightened harassment they are are that is being sent their way.
1:21:44
And There is is never a bad time for all of us to care about fundamental freedoms, freedom to read, freedom to learn, and to stand up for professions like that of librarians.
1:21:55
Every librarian that I have met in doing this work has told me about books.
1:21:59
They don't like books that they shelf one time or another and really kind of wish that they weren't.
1:22:06
And many librarians will tell you that, and then they'll tell you but the reason that they did it is because they believed in the overarching values of the freedom to read that is a core part of their profession, and we have to do something right now and New York City Council has any municipal body can be doing more to help the public image and the public understanding of what schools and libraries are meant to do.