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A CEREMONIAL RESOLUTION
19-298
IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
September 19, 2012
To recognize the freedom to seek and to express ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular, and to join communities across the country to declare the week of September 30, 2012 through October 6, 2012 as “Banned Books Week” in the District of Columbia.
WHEREAS, the freedom to read is essential to our democracy, and reading is among our greatest freedoms;
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;
WHEREAS, the freedom to read is protected by our Constitution;
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;
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;
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;
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;
WHEREAS, intellectual freedom is essential to the preservation of a free society and a creative culture;
WHEREAS, conformity limits the range and variety of inquiry and expression on which our democracy and our culture depend;
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;
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; and
WHEREAS, the District of Columbia Public Library System continues to acquire and make available materials representative of all the people in our society and encourages District residents to read freely, now and forever.
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, That this resolution may be cited as the “Banned Books Week Declaration Resolution of 2012”.
Sec. 2. The Council of the District of Columbia recognizes the fundamental right to free speech and access to ideas, even those some consider unorthodox or unpopular, and declares the week of September 30, 2012 through October 6, 2012 as “Banned Books Week” in the District of Columbia.
Sec. 3. This resolution shall take effect immediately upon the first date of publication in the District of Columbia Register.
