Paula Mauro, American Libraries; ‘We Have to Work Together’: Action Beyond Banned Books Week
"While Banned Books Week ended on September 28, writer, director, producer—and Banned Books Week honorary chair—Ava DuVernay stresses the importance of continuing the work of amplifying marginalized voices...
“This banned book effort is an agenda by people who want to make some of us less free, to silence the voices of some of us,” DuVernay tells American Libraries. “We can overcome this, but we have to work together.”
DuVernay recorded a video conversation with Banned Books Week Youth Honorary Chair Julia Garnett, a student activist who fought book bans in her home state of Tennessee and now attends Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. In the video, the two discuss DuVernay’s approach to championing diverse viewpoints as a filmmaker and ways the rest of us can join and stay in the fight.
The video is available here, as well as on the Banned Books Week YouTube channel. Highlights from the video are also excerpted below...
How student activists can cope with feeling lonely in their anticensorship fights—often as the youngest person in the room:
First of all, I commend you. I take my hat off to you. I bow to all activists who are doing that hard work. I think the one thing to remember is, it’s lonely because that’s what leadership is. There’s someone who’s leading, and that is who we’re following. And it’s lonely at the front. It’s about building coalition and making sure that the folks around you are aware, are educated, are interested, and are leaning in.
People have different levels of engagement, and that’s okay. But even one person can have an impact…. And if I feel that kind of loneliness—that, “Gosh, I’m the only one out here doing it, and everyone else is doing this”—if you feel it and you still want to do it, you’re on the right track. And there’s nothing better than feeling like you’re on the right track. So, not easy. But glorious, you know?"
