1. United States
2. Texas
3. Letter

I am writing to urge you to support the Fight Book Bans Act and to take a clear, public stand against the growing wave of book bans sweeping across the United States. Across the country, coordinated campaigns are targeting books in school and public libraries at an alarming rate. Many of the books being challenged focus on history, race, identity, and the lived experiences of millions of Americans. When books are removed or restricted for political reasons, students, families, and communities are denied access to ideas, perspectives, and information that are essential to a functioning democracy. Libraries exist to expand knowledge, not to enforce ideological boundaries. They are among the few places in American life where people of all backgrounds can freely explore ideas, ask difficult questions, and encounter viewpoints different from their own. Efforts to ban books undermine that mission and threaten the very foundation of intellectual freedom in this country. The Fight Book Bans Act is a critical step toward protecting that freedom. It would help ensure that schools and libraries remain places where educators and librarians — not political pressure campaigns — guide decisions about what materials belong on the shelves. It affirms that access to information and the freedom to read are core American values. Let me be clear: book bans are censorship. They limit knowledge, erase voices, and weaken the ability of young people to understand the full complexity of the world around them. A democracy cannot thrive when access to ideas is restricted because they make some people uncomfortable. Protecting the freedom to read is not a partisan issue. It is a fundamental commitment to education, open inquiry, and the constitutional principles that define the United States. I urge you to support the Fight Book Bans Act and reject all efforts to censor books in our schools and libraries. Our students deserve access to knowledge, our educators deserve the freedom to teach, and our communities deserve the right to read without political interference. Please stand on the side of intellectual freedom and defend the right of every American to read.