Mission Statement
We, the Students Against Censorship (SAC), firmly believe that education is of utmost importance. This education creates a safe, happy, and prosperous future, one that we can all enjoy and work towards. We commend the efforts of policy-makers and public figures who have already taken steps to improve the education of our youth. We applaud those who encourage reading, praise those who increase access to literature, and stand beside the authors writing these essential novels. By prioritizing our youth and children we prioritize our future. While we agree with the sentiment behind HB 374, we also feel that this bill is both counterintuitive to its purpose and immoral in its application. We, the SAC, affirm that information –all information, sensitive and otherwise– holds value and merit because of the ways in which it opens a student’s mind and invites deeper thought and discussion. We also affirm that student's rights need to be considered in addition to parent's rights when it comes to HB 374. Many literary works that are being banned on the basis of sensitive material and an apparent disregard for the message behind the banned pieces. By limiting students' exposure to sensitive material we lower their ability to respond to such material in the real world. This censorship has tended to affect minority groups, limiting exposure to their experiences, leading to decreased empathy for groups outside of oneself and one’s experiences. We, the SAC, assert that the human mind is free, and that furthering the current path of HB 374 and other methods of censorship does little more than attempt to cage the minds of our youth. We hold that the free spread of information is a necessity, especially when it comes to education. Humanity is at its best when literature is not limited. We are hopeful for the future, but also firmly stand for the fact that that future depends on meaningful literature to open the eyes of our society.
We of the SAC pledge to stand against the extreme censorship of our literature and to exemplify the kindness and understanding that we wish to promote in the world. We will carry ourselves in a respectful manner and follow the necessary systems for change, but we do not, and never will stand for the current levels of censorship that HB 374 has created. We proclaim the immorality of current actions and affirm that we are more human when we read, and that writing makes us human.
