At 7 a.m. Friday on WCOA, my guest will be Shalini Agarwal, the counsel for Protect Democracy, the organization partnering with PEN America on the federal lawsuit against the Escambia County School Board over its banning of books.
On Wednesday, PEN America, Penguin Random House, and a diverse group of authors joined with parents and students in Escambia County to file a federal lawsuit in Pensacola challenging removals and restrictions of books from school libraries that violate their rights to free speech and equal protection under the law.
Why this matters: It’s a first of its kind challenge to unlawful censorship. The lawsuit says the Escambia County School District and School Board violated the First Amendment rights of the students, authors, and publishers by removing books “based on ideological objections to their contents or disagreement with their messages or themes.”
Tune in at 7 a.m. here. Good radio happens when you get to hear the newsmakers. Agarwal will be my 2050th interview since August 2021.
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