ms. butler: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, today i rise honoring women's history month to once again bring attention to the destructive practice of book

banning taking place all across our nation. at this time, i am also going to be joined by my esteemed colleague, senator tina smith from minnesota. our nation's literature serves as a mirror, a window, and a door to endless possibilities fuelling our imagination, fostering empathy and challenging us to think critically about our beliefs and values. to many young americans, opening a bookingwith characters who resemble them and their lived experiences is the very essence of our nation's commitment to freedom of thought. these stories highlight the voices of everyday americans who often go unheard. let me put the horrors of these book bans in context. pin america provides a comprehensive overview of the increase in book bans across

u.s. schools during the 2021-2022 school year. it reveals a significant rise in instances of censorship with over 2,500 cases affecting 1,650 unique titles. most of these bans are driven by organized groups targeting groups that explore lgbtq-plus themes. the american library association documented 1,269 demands to censor library books and resources, marking the highest number of attempted book bans in over 20 years, and nearly doubling the count from 2021. a significant 38% increase was observed in the number of unique titles targeted and the majority

concerning lgbtq-ia-plus topics. the worst part is that these challenges are increasingly initiated by groups rather than individuals with a shift towards targeting multiple titles at once. it's the new veneer by which historical revisionists intend to erode the history of our people. i am all but obligated to ensure that all forms of expression remain unrestrained, just as rivers carve the landscapes of america, literature has the profound capacity to shape the minds and lives of america's youth. these stories flow through their consciousness, eroding old biases, watering seeds of new ideas and guiding them along the path of self-discovery. in navigating these waters,

young people learn to understand and embrace their identities, recognize their place in the larger narrative and appreciate the diversity of human experience. literature in its boundless forms acts as a river, constantly moving, shaping, and transforming the self hood of our youth, guiding them towards the vast ocean of their potential. growing up in rural mississippi and as the descendant of sharecroppers, my journey echoes the narratives of resilience and perseverance that are deeply rooted in the american history, and so i found solace reading the words of the great maya angelou, one of our nation's quintessential civil rights leaders and one of its most prolific writers. with her profound literary and societal contributions, angela

left an indelible mark across america, particularly through hur oort biography "-i know why the caged bird sings" offers deep insight into the human condition. yet proponents of book banning do not believe her story have a place in the national narrative. "-i know why a caged bird sings" it is set against the backdrop of the rural south, providing a poignant explanation of her own experience growing up as a black girl in america during the great depression of the 1930's and 1940's. her words encapsulate the essence of the, of american beauty and it, it's not just a triumph, but also the struggles that shape us, guiding our path to becoming who we are meant to

be. i know why a caged bird sings is a testimony for transformation and triumph over adversary making it an essential piece of literature. every child in this nation should have the opportunity to read it if they are truly to understand the history of the united states. in her writing, maya angelou offers, quote, without willing it, i have gone from being ignorant of being ignorant to being aware of being aware. the worst part of my awareness was that i didn't know what i was aware of. i knew very little, but i was certain that things had, that things i had yet to learn wouldn't be taught to me at george washington high school. i began to cut classes, to walk in golden gate park or wander along the shiny counter of the

emporium department store. when mother discovered i was playing true want, she told me if i didn't want to go to school one day, if there were no tests being held and my school work was up to standard, all i had to do was tell her and i could stay home. she said she didn't want some white woman calling her up telling about her child she didn't know and she didn't want to be put in a position of lying to her. that put an end to my truancy, to be left alone on the tightrope of youthful unknowing is to experience the excruciating beauty of full freedom and threat of external indecision. few if any survive their teens. most surrender to the vague but murderous pressure of adult conformity. it becomes easier to die and

avoid conflicts than to maintain a constant battle with the superior forces of maturity. until recently, each generation found it more expedient to plead guilty to the charge of being young and ignorant, easier to take the punishment meted out by the older generation which had itself confessed to the same crime short years before. to command, the command to grow up at once was more bearable than the faceless horror of unwavering purpose, which was youth. the bright hours when the young rebelled against the descending sun had yet to give way to 24-hour periods called days that were named as well as numbered. the black female is assaulted in her tender years by all those common forces of nature at the same time that she is caught in the american, caught in the t

tripartite crossfire of masculine prejudice. white ideological hate. the fact that the black american female eamericans with formidable character soven met with distaste and even belligerence, seldom accepted as an american outcome of the struggle. won by survivors and if not -- if not enthusiastic acceptance, end quote. to those accepting of the banning of books, i ask you to pause and reflect on a moment when a book truly spoke to you. let that memory guide you to understand the power of literature not just as a mirror of society, but a builder of empathy and understanding across diverse experiences. consider the richness these

narratives bring to our collective understanding and the importance of keeping that diversity accessible for all. literature, like rivers, carving landscapes, shapes the mind and lives of our youth, guiding them towards self-discovery and empowering them to embrace their identities. maya angelou's work exemplifies resilience and strength of marginalized communities of black women offering profound insights into the human experience. i urge my colleagues to reflect on a transformative power of literature and to join me on the senate floor to read an excerpt from a banned book that changed their lives but has since been banned from the lives of others. thank you, mr. president. may we continue to strive for a future where every voice is heard and every story is valued.

may america read freely. now i want to turn to my colleague, senator smith from minnesota. ms. smith: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. smith: thank you, mr. president. thank you so much, senator butler. mr. president, i rise today to speak out about the absurd book bannings that are happening in schools across our country, and i want to thank senator butler for inviting me to speak today about this issue. you know, i was reflecting, senator butler, as i was listening to you speak in the beginning about what reading meant to me when i was a young person and i was first understanding what it felt like to be immersed in a book that i loved, that feeling of learning, being able to imagine myself living different lives, being able to think about what different experiences would be like, and understanding that my

life was not everybody's life, that there is such diversity of life in this world. and being exposed to that through reading was so exciting to me. and also as i was seeing how i was not like everybody else, i was also able to see myself in the people that i read about, both my own struggles as well as triumphs in the stories that i read. and that is the gift of reading. and so to think about the absurdity of trying to block that gift from people because of one's own views about what is okay and what is not okay is, i think what is at issue here. i appreciate very much having the opportunity to read into the record incredible authors whose works have been unfairly banned, and i think it's interesting, colleagues, just last week the american library association released new data documenting how prevalent this is. they are documenting book

challenges that are happening throughout the united states and found a huge surge in these challenges. 65% increase in challenges to books just in 2023, the highest level that the ala has ever recorded. and among the books that were banned last year is a book called "and tango makes three, a book by justice richardson and peter parnell. it's a demonstration of the absurdity of banning books, this book in particular. it's based on the real story of two penguins in the central park zoo who create a family and raise a chick together. both of these penguins were male. and so a florida school district banned the book because of their state's don't say gay law. and now i'm going to read a bit of the text because i think it shows so much. here we go. children and their parents aren't the only families at the

zoo. the animals make families of their own. there are red panda bear families with mothers and fathers and furry cubs. there are monkey dads and monkey moms raising noisy monkey babies. there are toad families and cotton tomorrow tamarind families too. there are penguin families. every year at the very same time the girl pen republicans start noticing the girl penguins start noising the boys. when the right girl and right boy find each other they become a couple. two penguins in the penguin house were different. there was one named roy and the other named silo, both boys but they did everything together. they bowed to each other, they walked together, they sang to each other. they swam together. they didn't spend much time with the girl penguins.

instead they put their necks around each other. the zoo keeper noticed these two penguins and thought to himself they must be in love. mr. president, i have four grandchildren, and i think that reading a story like this to them, reading this story to them is exactly what should be happening as children, people of all ages really think about what it means to love one another, what it means to be a family, and how we can come together in that idea rather than being driven apart. and i hope and will do everything i can to make sure that my four grandchildren live in a future where books that affirm families can come in all different forms, in all different shapes and sizes that aren't considered worth banning. thank you very much, senator butler,

for organizing

>> "washington journal" continues. host: charlie spiering is here with us, senior political reporter with the daily mail, author of this book, "amateur hour: kamala harris in the white house." why did you write this book? guest: hi, thanks for having me. big part of why i wrote