Los Angeles Times

Commentary: Why book bans and voter suppression go hand in hand

An activist rallies outside an early polling place in February 2021 in Warner Robins, Georgia.

In the lead-up to the midterm elections, mainstream media attention focused some — though not enough — on voter suppression efforts, but too little attention was paid to the book bans that are metastasizing in states across the country. The same factions that have tried to gerrymander their way into power are trying to gerrymander our education, suppressing the ideas and lessons that hold the keys to what we have long endeavored to become: a fully inclusive multiracial democracy.

The links between these book bans and the efforts to block Black and brown voters from the polls are as connected as the interstate routes that connect

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