Rhode Islanders rally for the Freedom to Read and against book bans at State House event
"I had to read a book called Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury," said high school student Sila Yang. "And when I looked at Trump’s Administration, I asked myself, 'Where have I seen this all before?'"
The Freedom to Read Act (2025-H 5726, 2025-S 0238) seeks to protect libraries from partisan or doctrinal book-banning efforts and affirm the free speech rights of authors, publishers, and readers in Rhode Island. Representative David Morales (Democrat, District 8, Providence) and Senator Mark McKenney (Democrat, District 30, Warwick) have submitted the bills. An event, appropriately held in the Library of the Rhode Island State House, saw well over 200 people from various organizations advocating to pass the legislation.
Here’s the video:
Transcripts below have been edited for clarity:
“Rhode Islanders should be incredibly proud of the 2025 Freedom to Read Act that has been crafted and championed by a broad coalition of passionate legislators, authors, teachers, librarians, parents, and other advocates of our First Amendment rights as Americans,” said Cheryl Space, co-chair of RILA Legislative Action. “This legislation carefully lays out the groundwork for building school and public library collections, details the process by which invested people can register a concern about library materials, and adds protections for librarians and educators to build collections without fear of legal action. It upholds book creators’ rights to communicate their ideas freely and defends the freedom to read as a human right protected under the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.”
“I can tell you we’re working on many bills like this across the nation, and the Rhode Island Freedom to Read Act will be the strongest such bill in the nation,” said Rosie Stewart, Senior Manager of Public Policy at Penguin/Random House. “When this bill passes, Rhode Island will set the example that the First Amendment to read, think independently, and access diverse perspectives is safe in this state; and that our library collections should reflect the diversity of our experiences and communities.”
“The freedom to read is part of what makes America what it is,” said Aaron Coutu-Jones, director of the Warwick Public Library. “When we look to our libraries, that is where it’s encapsulated. What we have in our collections provides us with opportunities to see ourselves represented in the world, to get a chance to experience what it’s like to be someone else, and to understand them better. That’s why the freedom to read is so important.”
I want to center the views of two Rhode Island High School students, Sila Yang and Oscar Kunk, student organizers with ARISE (Alliance of Rhode Island Southeast Asians for Education).
Sila Yang
I am currently a senior at Pilgrim High School. I remember, back in my sophomore year, I had to read a book called Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, a novel that takes place in a dystopian future where books are outlawed and burned to ashes by firemen. The story’s themes explore the effects of censorship and conformity, and individuals’ struggle with self-identity and a desire for knowledge. However, the government brainwashes its citizens with the media, preventing them from learning and being open-minded. And when I looked at Trump’s Administration, I asked myself, "Where have I seen this all before?"
Censorship is a global issue. Even the freest of countries are unsafe by it. Despite being called the land of the free, we are threatened with censorship. According to the National Coalition Against Censorship, censorship prevents people from spreading ideas, opinions, and important messages. In the year 2025, the Trump Administration threatens to ban people relating to LGBTQ issues, racial history, and injustice. Not only does censorship affect writers and librarians, but it threatens the education of many students and silences marginalized communities, including myself as a Hmong American student.
I understand what it is like being hidden in the dark. The Vietnam War, let alone the Secret War of Laos, is rarely discussed, if ever, in our history classes. To have other history banned, including LGBTQ history and Black history - to have any history censored is a disgrace to history itself.
When I was an elementary schooler, my second grade teacher read books about Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. I listened to the segregation of Black and white students. I listened to the arrest of Rosa Parks who was simply sitting on a bus. And I remember listening to an excerpt of Martin Luther King Jr’s I Have a Dream speech.
I remember that following night, as tears slipped down my eyes and my heart filled with gratitude. I was in second grade, yet I was inspired by these impactful figures to make a difference. I also wanted to live in a world where everyone is created equal and treated equally, which is why I’m here today.
This is what America threatens to take away from our youth - inspiration and role models. It is a shame to live in a land where everyone is supposedly free. Yet, our government wants to restrict a child’s freedom to knowledge and kindness, so I encourage all of you to support the Freedom to Read Coalition and Senate Bill 0238 for our writers, librarians, students, and future.
Oscar Kunk
I’m here in support of the Freedom to Read. Literature has been a critically important aspect of my life for as long as I can recall. Through moving back and forth and the seperation of my parents, books have been one of the few concepts I can turn to. Raised by a librarian/archivist, I’ve always known the importance of reading and the dangers of restriction and censorship. As an avid reader of comic books, my younger self was always left questioning the erratic nature of Silver Age comics. The omnipresent Comics Code Authority (CCA) would be my greatest enemy and the answer to this question.
After my first few years of reading comics, that little white rectangle that marked the interference of the CCA would be the bane of my existence. I had no idea why outsiders would need to dilute the artistic visions of artists and authors for any reason. No person other than the author or editor should have the ability to veto or alter a book or its contents. In a modern world in which the comics code authority is rendered obsolete, there is no use for such jurisdiction or norms to be held in place.
Countless misguided minds, intent on controlling what information or art is available, are more than worrying. There’s no knowing if I would ever have been able to discover the writings of one of my favorite authors, Simone de Beauvoir. As a young man scouring the library collections, the book selections were determined by external forces. The policing and restriction of knowledge directly infringes upon the civil liberties of all Americans, halting the free speech of authors and preventing the people from receiving the public education promised to them.
Such policing causes deficits in the collective knowledge of the American people, who lose decades, if not centuries or millennia, worth of history from numerous perspectives. Banning scientific books, such as those focused on reproduction, directly limits understanding of the self and the world around us.
Libraries should be safe spaces where knowledge is available to people and bad actors should have no jurisdiction over such hate acts. I hope that any Rhode Islanders listening will proceed with the understanding that their rights are in danger. Supporting the Freedom to Read act is one of the best ways to resist this threat to our civil liberties.
Cathy G Johnson is the author of The Breakaways, a middle school graphic novel about a school soccer team and building friendships. The book has been challenged and banned across the country.
My book was the 2019 winner of the local Rhode Island Dorry Award for Children’s Book of the Year. Publisher’s Weekly lauded it, saying the graphic novel will resonate with readers who are figuring out who they are and where they belong.
The book was doing well in 2021. Imagine my surprise when reporters for CNN, ABC, NBC, the Associated Press, Fox News, and many more started contacting me. It started in Texas, but people in Missouri, Oklahoma, and Florida have contacted me. The book was being banned. Why?
When I first moved to Rhode Island in my early twenties, I taught in the Pawtucket Elementary Schools. These schools were filled with amazing children with diverse backgrounds and interests. I wanted to make a book for my students. I wanted to make a book where the children of Rhode Island specifically could see themselves and read about themselves. According to the School Library Journal in 2018, the year before my book came out, only 10% of children’s books had Black characters. 5% Latino. At the time, 29% of Pawtucket students were Black and 26% were Latino. It wasn’t fair. The Breakaways has 15 characters in it. There are a lot of players on a school soccer team, so I could include a lot of diverse life experiences.
I was able to include other diversities such as socioeconomic status, body size, hair type, and gender expression. Yes, one of the students on the soccer team is Sammy, who, partway through the book, comes out as transgender. The book is not a transgender story. Sammy is a pretty minor character. It’s a story about the lives of children and the many different identities of children worldwide. But because Sammy is in my book for maybe about 15 pages, the book got challenged and banned.
I say this all to tell you that this book is Rhode Island. I made this book for Rhode Island children. I lived on the street in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood. David Morales and I go to the same library, and it’s at that library, in 2019, when The Breakaways came out, where I taught a comic book drawing class. I celebrated the release of my book with Rhode Island kids.
In my comic book class, I taught children how to express themselves. Most of the time, we express ourselves with funny pictures, goofy monsters, and silly drawing games. I've taught a similar class to much acclaim throughout Rhode Island—Woonsocket, Smithfield, Cumberland, North Kingstown—I could keep going. In these library classes, I teach children to express who they are with creativity. In these classes, magic happens.
Children should always be able to express themselves. They should feel special, protected, and safe. Books should reflect children's real lives. Thank you for supporting the Freedom to Read Rhode Island legislation, which supports children's growth in loving themselves, however they identify.
Books give children self-worth. The 2021 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health states that 70% of LGBTQ youth describe their mental health as poor. 42% of LGBTQ youth seriously considered attempting suicide. The survey says strategies to improve mental health and prevent self-harming behavior and suicide include providing safe and supportive environments, and enacting legislation to protect the safety of LGBTQ Youth.
I have been the victim of harassment as the author of a band book. I have received threats, but to me, I am not the victim here. It’s the readers, it’s children. You have the power to protect children’s ability to see themselves, feel heard, and be valued. Please do.
Beatrice Pulliam, president, Rhode Island Libray Association: I work at the Providence Public Library (PPL) and we’re celebrating our 150th anniversary this year. William Foster, PPL’s first librarian (and incidentally was also the first president of the Rhode Island Library Association) and his colleagues carefully curated and collected books for the interest, information, and enlightenment of the community of Providence and beyond - without government interference.
Librarians today continue this experiment of enlightenment here in our state and across the country. It is important for librarians to foster that sense of wonder readers experience when they see themselves in a book.
Senator Mark McKenney: I absolutely love libraries. I love reading. Reading is a gift. For many years, I was involved with literacy, and I knew people who had grown up unable to read. When they learned to read as adults, they cherished that gift. They could now read the label on their medicine, a job application, and a bedtime story to their child. They knew exactly what it meant to have this gift.
We’re protective of the gift of reading, and we fight when someone wants to take it away with book bannings or lawsuits meant to intimidate libraries, librarians, and schools because of a book they happen to have on their shelf. Stealing that gift is wrong.
We’re facing people trying to steal the gift of reading and don’t think it doesn’t happen here. It does happen here. Last year in the House, we heard a Westerly high school teacher testify that she had been asked to remove a book. She considered it. There is a process, as most of us know in Rhode Island, whereby if somebody objects to a book, there is a consideration of whether that book should be removed. So she considered it and decided not to remove the book. It was appealed, and her decision was upheld, but thereafter, she was essentially harassed and stalked by a fellow who thought that she had made the wrong decision.
Look, I can decide what book I will choose at the library, whether I even want to go to the library, what my child reads, or what my child doesn’t read. We all do that. But what we can’t do is decide what everyone else gets to read, and we don’t get to decide what someone else’s kids can read or not read. No one else decides what my child reads.
Rabbi Jeffery Goldwasser of Temple Sinai Cranston: I’m speaking today on behalf of the Community Relations Council of the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, and the Board of Rabbis of Greater Rhode Island. Jews are known as People of the Book, and the books we cherish the most contain multiple voices and different opinions about the legal, ethical, and moral issues at the core of our belief and practice. The Talmud is the preeminent example of this - structured as a conversation among many authorities, each with strong opinions and often at odds with each other. Jewish tradition thrives on diverse views and free discourse among people with various viewpoints. The rabbis famously stated that any dispute for the sake of heaven will, in the end, endure. The idea of removing an idea or experience from our discourse, just because we disagree with it, is anathema to us.
It is an act of arrogance and of disloyalty to the concept of a free society in which no one can claim a monopoly on the truth. This is among the reasons I am so troubled by current efforts to ban books from school libraries through direct removal and the soft censorship of policies against purchasing books that are considered controversial. It is even more troubling to me that most of the books that have been targeted in this way contain themes of LGBTQ inclusion and the experience of people of color. We want all children to learn about the diversity of our society. We especially want BIPOC children to find their families’ stories, experiences, and culture in their libraries. We especially want LGBTQ children and children of families that have LGBTQ members to find their stories and their experiences in their library.
People of faith know that no truth emerges from exclusion. People of faith know that our God is a God of everyone, who finds no advantage in silencing and excluding voices. The only people determined to keep voices out of the public discourse are those with something to fear from open discourse. We want our children to learn the power of a loving God who loves all of God’s children. Some people will use the name of religion to claim that children need to be protected from ideas and experiences that will harm them. Quite apart from the fact that we already have amazing library professionals who work long and hard to fill library shelves with appropriate materials and who are guided by well-developed professional standards. The idea of using religion in the 21st century as a way to silence people should be shocking and repellent to people of faith.
Our faith is best protected by loving people, not excluding them and their stories. The Rhode Island Freedom to Read Act would maintain Rhode Islanders’ access to the marketplace of ideas and information. It would shield libraries and librarians from frivolous lawsuits and outside pressure to remove books from their collections. It is an act of faith. It is an act that is true to the spirit of the Talmud - building our understanding of each other and our relationship with God. Allowing voices to be heard is a path to understanding that is truly for heaven’s sake. In the end, it is a path that will endure.
Representative David Morales: Across Rhode Island, we believe in the freedom to read because throughout history, we have recognized that books have been the heartbeat of human progress, because they challenge us. They open doors into worlds that we would never otherwise know. They amplify the voices that would otherwise go unheard and there is no greater champion of freedom and open access to knowledge than our public libraries.
Libraries are the heart of our community because our libraries are spaces where anyone, no matter their background, age or beliefs can explore new ideas, discover history, and discover the empowerment of their voice.
We are facing a challenge where freedom is under attack, where across the country, books are being pulled from the shelves. Librarians are being harassed for simply doing their jobs - providing access to literature and information to our neighbors, youth, and seniors, and we need to be clear that it is happening in our backyard. There have been moments where librarians from Chepachet and Providence have been victims of harassment and pressured to remove books from the shelves. Authors have been critiqued endlessly for their work that challenges us to think critically about race and our LGBTQ+ community.
For that reason, we are fighting back. We are saying that the attempt to ban books is not about protecting children. It is not about protecting our community. It is about controlling them. It is about deciding whose story deserves to be told. It is about fear of different perspectives, fear of our truths, and the fear that comes with the power of knowledge.
Let me ask you: When has censorship ever been on the right side of history?
Audience: Never!
Representative Morales: When has silencing the ideas of a community led to a more enlightened and stronger community?
Audience: Never!
Representative Morales: The answer is never because every great movement for justice, civil rights, and equality has been fueled by the words of those who speak the truth. Their words only live because we have fought to protect them.
This event was so inspiring! Hope this is the year we get this bill passed. Meanwhile in Massachusetts there is a bill requested by constituents to *remove* the affirmative defense language from state obscenity law 😡
thanks as always