Banned Books Back!

Help find homes for 22,500 books removed from Florida schools

Campaign Ended

Organized by Firestorm Collective

$42,715

750 Supporters

142% of $30,000 goal

Story

Campaign Ended

$42,715

750 Supporters

142% of $30,000 goal

Campaign Update

11 months ago

Pledge Against Prisons: A Banned Books Back Fundraiser (and Packaging Party!): June 11

Tuesday, June 11th, 5:30pm – 8:00pm ET

Pledge Against Prisons

A J11 Banned Books Back! Fundraiser

Every June 11th, we mark the International Day of Solidarity with Long-Term Anarchist Prisoners by showing our support for those who risked their freedom throwing a wrench in the gears of oppression. Some of these folks, such as Marius Mason, have participated in direct actions against corporate greed and exploitation of the earth. Others were sentenced for the roles they played during the 2020 uprisings against police brutality.

This year we're raising funds for freedom fighters inside the prison system while taking action against fascism outsidethe prison system! Community members are invited to help us package and send free chapter books to kids in Florida through our Banned Books Back! campaign. For every book bundle sent, pledged funds will be donated to prisoners.

To pledge: https://bit.ly/j11-pledge

Campaign Update

11 months ago

Sapphic Meetup at Our Next Banned Books Back Packaging Party: June 8!

Saturday, June 8, 1:00pm – 3:00pm ET

Banned Books Back!

Sapphic Meetup

Help send books removed from Florida public schools back to kids in Florida! In coordination with Sapphics of Asheville, we'll be packaging free picture and chapter books for ages 4–12, along with zines and stickers. This event is open to all queer women, nonbinary, and gender nonconforming folks. Make friends, make a difference, and make your way across the street for drinks at The Odd when you're done!

Last winter, Firestorm received a serendipitous donation of children's books that had been removed from Duval County Public Schools as part of an ongoing effort to censor titles depicting queer joy, civil rights history, immigrant stories, and more. Right now, our collective is harboring dozens of boxes of these "dangerous" titles—but not for long. With your support we'll be sending these Banned Books... Back!

$400

Melisa made a $400 donation

10 months ago

Thank you so much for the work you do! These books are so important! — Going to school in Texas in the 1980s, literature gave us so much more than the school history books, which focused most of its storytelling on the heroic stories of white (usually wealthy) male pioneers, businessmen and military leaders and the strategic details of the battles they fought. Other perspectives were at best given a few paragraphs. It was totally unbalanced. — It was literature and biographies in English class - and the opportunities to do more research in the school library - that gave me more information about people who were marginalized and their battles for dignity and opportunity. It helped me gain empathy for people who were different from me. It gave me a vocabulary to formulate what had been happening to me and others I knew — so that I could also deconstruct my own internalized discrimination and become the person I wanted to be. Mental emancipation is a necessary first step before any other from of freedom. And empathy is necessary for a functioning democracy.

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$10

Monica Hoo made a $10 donation

10 months ago

Keep it going!!!!

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$25

Stephanie made a $25 donation

10 months ago

This is amazing! Keep fighting the good fight 😉

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Anonymous made a donation

11 months ago

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Campaign Update

11 months ago

Volunteer Packaging Party: Saturday, May 25, 5 to 7 pm, at Firestorm Books!

Help send books removed from Florida public schools back to kids in Florida! We'll be packaging free picture books and chapter books for ages 4–12, along with zines and stickers. No experience is necessary, we'll show you how it's done!

Last winter, our collective received a serendipitous donation of children's books that had been removed from Duval County Public Schools as part of an ongoing effort to censor titles depicting queer joy, civil rights history, immigrant stories, and more. Right now, our collective is harboring dozens of boxes of these "dangerous" titles—but not for long. With your support we'll be sending these Banned Books... Back!