P R O C L A M A T I O N
BANNED BOOKS WEEK
Week of September 22-28, 2024
WHEREAS, the freedom to read is essential to our democracy, and reading is among our greatest freedoms; and WHEREAS, privacy is essential to the exercise of that freedom, and the right to privacy is the right to open inquiry without having the subject of one's interest examined or scrutinized by others; and WHEREAS, some individuals, groups, and public authorities work to remove or limit access to reading materials, to censor content in schools, to label "controversial" views, to distribute lists of "objectionable" books or authors, and to purge libraries of materials reflecting the diversity of society; and WHEREAS, both governmental intimidation and the fear of censorship cause authors who seek to avoid controversy to practice self-censorship, thus limiting our access to new ideas; and WHEREAS, every silencing of a heresy, every enforcement of an orthodoxy, diminishes the toughness and resilience of American society and leaves it less able to deal with controversy and difference; and WHEREAS, Americans still favor free enterprise in ideas and expression, and can be trusted to exercise critical judgment, to recognize propaganda and misinformation, and to make their own decisions about what they read and believe, and to exercise the responsibilities that accompany this freedom; and WHEREAS, intellectual freedom is essential to the preservation of a free society and a creative culture; and WHEREAS, conformity limits the range and variety of inquiry and expression on which our democracy and our culture depend; and WHEREAS, the American Library Association's Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is observed during the last week of September each year as a reminder to Americans not to take their precious freedom for granted; and WHEREAS, Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one's opinion even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them; now, therefore, be it NOW, THEREFORE, I, Bernie Norvell, Mayor of the City of Fort Bragg, on behalf of the entire City Council, do hereby proclaim the week of September 22-28 as Banned Books Week.
SIGNED this 23rd day of September 2024
ATTEST: BERNIE NORVELL, Mayor
DIANA SANCHEZ, City Clerk
No. 14-2024