By Linda Hardman
DWGC Legislative Chair
Sometimes a small film turns out to have a huge impact! “Banned Together” is just such a documentary. It so seamlessly put together, and the characters are painted so vividly that by end of the film you feel so closely entwined in their story that the skirmishes in their censorship battle have become a clarion call for all of us to become involved.
In the film, three courageous high school seniors step forward together to combat the highly charged, rancorous struggle that students, teachers, and librarians face against hostile community members who are convinced that public schools fail to protect students from pornographic instructional materials and books in their classrooms and libraries and that this exposure can destroy their child’s innocence, and even worse, lead to aberrant or abnormal behavior.
Isabella (Izzy), Millie, and Elizabeth are students of diverse backgrounds who represent three public high schools in Beaufort County, SC. They originally met through DAYLO (Diversity Awareness YouthLiterary Organization), a youth-created and run literary initiative that provides opportunities for children in the community to be a part of a story-telling experience through books. Izzy, Millie, and Elizabeth find commonality in their thirst for knowledge and their passion for reading and books.
When some of Beaufort’s most dedicated and inspiring teachers and librarians come under vicious attacks and are cruelly harassed and accused of “grooming” students, and the book-banning voices in the community become more threatening, Izzy, Millie, and Elizabeth become the most visible spokespeople to courageously and articulately counter the belligerent book-banners. Ultimately, 97 books were challenged because they contained passages that were deemed objectionable for young people. All 97 passages were taken out of context. The Beaufort County School Board pulled all 97 books for review and read them in full to ferret out any questionable pages. Eventually, most of the books were returned to the shelves.
The girls are spotlighted as they argue for unrestricted and free access to books and champion the potential of books for learning and expanding one’s horizons through the unfettered use, emphasizing the power of books to help one feel that they are not alone when they read about a similarly-lived experience as their own. They learn that books inform, educate, provide escapism, thrills, and adventures, offer a continuum of emotions and help one develop and enhances knowledge of beauty, nature, history, scientific theory—the list is limitless. Some of the most rewarding aspects of books help the reader realize our shared humanity and develop skills to navigate through life’s obstacles.
In addition, Izzy, Millie, and Elizabeth with several authors, some of whom have had their books banned. One such author was Jodi Picoult who offered encouragement and inspiration to the students. The film also follows them in Washington, DC, where they are the guest of Democratic Representative from Maryland, Jamie Raskin, who is a renown Constitutional scholar, and who engaged them in a lively discussion on the First Amendment and academic freedom.
The documentary shines the light on the Moms for Liberty, an anti-government, anti-public education organization that formed during Covid 19 in Florida by who moms who sought to gain more autonomy over their children’s education. Some describe the Moms as a subversive group because they actively seek to gain control of school boards and become the education power brokers in their communities, forcing their will on issues such as curricula and censoring books and instructional materials. Although Moms for Liberty was organized about three years ago, they now have branches throughout the country, including in Greenville and many other counties of South Carolina. Ellen Weaver, South Carolina’s State Superintendent of Education, has close ties to Moms for Liberty.
Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida is one of the most restrictive education governors in our country and frequently boasts about Florida being the state where “woke goes to die.” Florida educators are forbidden to use certain terminology in their teaching; academic courses that address Native American and Black history have been expunged. Jennifer Jenkins, a speech pathologist from Brevard County, Florida is a liberal-leaning educator who ran for school board in her district. Although she was successfully elected, she and her family have been harassed and threatened. A Florida educator started a bookmobile that included books that had been banned; he and his family were so tormented and threatened that they eventually moved to another state. “Banned Together” zeroed in on the hostile teaching environment in Florida, but the film highlights similar situations in other states as well.
After the screening of “Banned Together,” we were treated to a Q and A session with the producers and director of the film, Jennifer Dumas Wiggin and Tom Wiggin; Josh Malkin, Senior Advocacy Strategist of ACLU of South Carolina; Tamara Cox, 20-year educator, including the last 10 years as a school librarian. She has served as the president of the SC Association of School Librarians for the last two years; and Jonathan Newton, Upstate librarian for over 20 years, working for the Greenville County Library System and USC Upstate. He is a past president of the SC Library Association and currently co-chairs the SCLA Advocacy Committee.
“Banned Together” is a powerful little film that packs a lot in its short ninety-minute run! It exposes a real threat to our public school system that left unchecked can seriously undermine the ideals of that system to serve our communities by offering the best education to all students, regardless of their backgrounds and to develop critical thinking skills in its students, helping them become productive citizens of the world. It was truly inspiring to witness dedicated educators and librarians put their careers on the line to defend what they knew to be true. It was even more uplifting to see students take a stand and courageously work to bring about positive change!
According to the producers of the film, it has had 100 showings, and they are already experiencing great demand for more screenings. For the Greenville showing on October 23, all the available 140 seats were reserved. The next time that it will be shown in this area will be Sunday, November 3 at Wofford College in Spartanburg. As word-of-mouth travels, expect that to be greatly attended.