Whale Talk and Athletic Shorts, by the award-winning young adult author, Chris Crutcher, has been challenged for profanity and racially sensitive words in a spate of districts. NCAC’s letter helped restore Whale Talk in one district in South Carolina. [CN #97 Spring 2005]


Under attack for language depicting the realities of racism is the historical book, War Comes to Willy Freeman by James Collier, in a middle school in Ithaca, NY. The book had been taught for 10 years but was unilaterally removed from the classroom and the library by the principal, in disregard of the district’s procedures, on the complaint of a parent. [CN #97 Spring 2005]


An art exhibit, Made in Palestine, showing the work of Palestinian and Arab-American artists about the Palestine-Israeli conflict at the Westchester, NY County Center, was attacked by the district’s assemblyman as “anti-Semitic,” and for “promoting terrorism.” The legislator tried to cancel a fund-rasing event the group had scheduled and the exhibit itself, but was overruled by the County Executive. [CN #97 Spring 2005]


Respect for the integrity of art prevailed at the University of Wichita’s Ulrich Museum after a community group asked to have a political statement posted alongside Where We Come From, an exhibition by the critically-acclaimed Palestinian-American artist, Emily Jacir. The show drew concern from the Mid-Kansas Jewish Federation, which pressured the museum to post a sign and distribute brochures on the group’s views on Middle East politics. The artist objected, and her call for assistance received nationwide response from artists, academics, and curators. NCAC and others argued that the inclusion of a statement from a political group would violate the artistic integrity of the exhibit and expose the museum to future political pressure. The museum decided to go forward with the exhibition without conditions or limitations. [CN #96 Winter 2004-05]

» In celebration of Black History Month Black History Month is a time to reflect on the contributions that African-Americans make and have made to American society and to recognize the struggles that define the African-American exprience in America. Much of Black History Month understandably focuses on well-known movements, incidents and individuals for civil rights in America. Often overlooked is the role played by free speech in civil rights, politics, art and entertainment in the shaping of black history – and American history.

» Grand Rapids athletic shorts In February 2005, the book Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher, has become controversial in Grand Rapids, Michigan, because one of the stories contains the word "nigger."

» Boulder, CO - Ward Churchill In February 2005, Hamilton College, in Clinton, NY, cancelled a talk by University of Colorado Boulder Professor Ward Churchill because of views he expressed in an essay published three years ago, in which he suggested that the 9/11 attacks were retribution for U.S. foreign policy, for which the victims shared some responsibility.

Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a graduate student from Saudi Arabia studying computer science at the University of Idaho, was acquitted of charges of "fostering terrorism" but will still be deported. He was imprisoned in February 2003 on charges that he provided "advice and assistance to terrorist groups," in violation of the USA Patriot Act, by managing two Web sites allegedly containing links to Hamas. Al-Hussayen admittedly opposes U.S. policies in the mid-east, but denied the terrorism charges, which carry a maximum 45-year sentence. A jury acquitted him on the terrorism charges but deadlocked on lesser unrelated charges. Al-Hussayen accepted deportation in exchange for the government dropping the remaining charges. [CN #94 Summer 2004]

The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force subpoenaed Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, in February to obtain records of the university chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, after the chapter sponsored an antiwar conference, Stop the Occupation! Bring the Iowa Guard Home! Expressions of widespread outrage forced the withdrawal of the subpoenas. The Guild has requested Congressional hearings into FBI investigations of campus political activities. [CN #94 Summer 2004]

For two summers in a row, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill weathered criticism of its reading assignments for incoming students. First, UNC faculty chose Approaching the Qur'an, and the following year it selected Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed. Both elicited protest-albeit for different reasons-and embroiled the University in controversy, including a law suit, in which UNC ultimately prevailed. This year's summer reading assignment is David Lipsky's Absolutely American, which follows cadets at West Point-undoubtedly an engaging book, but query why it was selected. Did UNC decide to play it safe? Are other schools doing so? [CN #94 Summer 2004]

Bill Nevins, a New Mexico teacher, sued the Rio Rancho School District for not renewing his contract after students read anti-Iraq war poetry in class and in public. Although the district claimed Nevins was not rehired for other reasons, he won a $205,000 settlement. [CN #94 Summer 2004]

NCAC and the ACLU of Colorado are protesting the removal of several works of art from The Luggage Project at the Denver International Airport. Employees called the art "disturbing" and "offensive" for including box cutters, splattered red paint, and political bumper stickers. [CN #94 Summer 2004]

A Boston College student was arrested near a military recruitment office in Boston for protesting US treatment of Iraqi detainees. Joseph Privatera stood silently on a stand, dressed in a black cape and hood, with stereo wires dangling from his fingers. Police charged him with making a bomb threat, a serious offense, but charges were later dropped. [CN #94 Spring 2004]

» Has His Penis Gone to His Head? Spring 2004
Jerry Boyle's sculpture, Holier Than Thou, provoked heated criticism that it is offensive to Catholics because the Bishop's miter is overtly phallic and his expression too dour.

» LAX Removes Tapestries "Eye-Speak," a series of tapestries created by 116 Los Angeles-based artists of African, Chicano and Latino descent are to be removed from the International Terminal at LAX in February 2004 because several complaints by unnamed airport personnel, who allegedly said they found parts of the work "offensive," LAWA decided a segment of "Eye-Speak" or all of it must come down, LACAD ceded to that agency's pressure.

» January 26, 2004 - Roll of Thunder Challenged in Seminole County, Florida A parent, who has not read the award-winning book, objected because it includes the word "nigger." Although her child was immediately given an alternative reading assignment, the parent has continued to press for the book's removal. » Letter Protesting Roll of Thunder Incident

» Tuscaloosa College Bans "Negative" Photos Winter 2003-2004
Shelton State Community College in Tuscaloosa, Alabama has removed from its gallery an exhibit of photographs by John Trobaugh of G.I. Joe and Ken dolls for fear that they "created a negative impression."

Paradise, an award-winning play by Glyn O'Malley, which examines the impact of war on Israeli and Palestine youth, will not be produced as scheduled after Muslim leaders in Cincinnati protested. The play is about two girls, a jihad-bomber and her murder victim. The Cincinnati Playhouse had staged a reading for educators and leaders of the Jewish and Muslim communities in February. [CN #89 Spring 2003]

Joy Crane in Sioux Falls, S.D. had two pieces of art removed from a government mapping center which regularly hosts exhibits by local artists. Deeming them "inappropriate," the center removed sculptures of a tiny pregnant male, and the Earth emerging from the birth canal. NCAC is urging the center to develop exhibit policies that protect artistic freedom. [CN #89 Spring 2003]

» The Play "Paradise" Cancelled in Cincinnati
In August, 2002 The Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park awarded its annual Lazarus New Play Prize to playwright Glyn O'Malley for Paradise, an examination of the impact of war on Israeli and Palestinian youth. The production was scheduled to tour high schools near Cincinnati in March 2003.

Cincinnati Muslims protested that the play, which depicts a character based on Ayat al-Akhras, an eighteen-year-old girl who blew herself up in Jerusalem in March, 2002, murdering three people. One of the murdered people was Rachel Levy, a high school senior. This is a play about two young girls, a jihad-bomber and her murder victim. On Feb. 18 the Cincinnati Playhouse will put on a stage reading of the canceled play for educators and leaders of the Jewish and Muslim communities in Cincinnati.

» Los Angeles Art Show Canceled by L.A. City Cultural Affairs Department Under Threat of Community Violence October, 2001
The work in controversy, War, showed LAPD and gang members in same-sex dancing poses.

» Male Nude Proves Too Realistic for California Art League September 27, 2001
The Elsie May Goodwin Art Center, run by the Stockton Art League, rejected a sculpture by one of its members-Vincent Mazo-because the piece was too anatomically explicit.

» Joy Crane's "Chastity Belt Circa 2001" in South Dakota Aug. 3, 2001
The South Dakota Brookings Art Council reversed its decision to exclude a local artist's piece from an annual art exhibit. Previously, it feared the piece was inappropriate because of its controversial content and potential to cause conflict in the community.

» Student Production of "Of Mice and Men" Cancelled
On May 3, 2001 a student production of Of Mice and Men was to open at Dacula High School in Dacula, Georgia, until Principal Donald Nutt abruptly canceled it because the student actors refused to remove profanity and "racially insensitive" language from the script. The Belladonna Repertory Company donated its theater for the students to produce the play, uncensored

» Esperanza Peace & Justice Center v. City of San Antonio 2001 WL 685795 (2001) The court determined that San Antonio was penalizing Esperanza by discontinuing arts funding to the center due to the socio-political views expressed in the artwork produced at the center. The removal of arts funding was determined invalid and an infringement on Esperanza's First Amendment rights.
Also see: » Texas "In-Your-Face" Group Wins Arts Funding Triumph

» Free Expression Organizations Celebrate Esperanza Center's Landmark Legal Victory

The San Antonio City Council defunded the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center for sponsoring a lesbian and gay film festival. Esperanza's First Amendment lawsuit prompted the city to bar funding for organizations in an adversarial relationship. The policy was rescinded when city counsel called it illegal. Nonetheless the city still denied Esperanza funding. [CN #71 Fall 1998]

» Butterfly Painting Removed From Show Michele Tuohey's painting, "Butterfly," was removed from a show of Cuban-American art in Springfield, IL in August 2000. The problem was the red umbilical cord running between the legs of one of the figures in the painting to a fetus behind her.
Related:
»Grassroots Letter to Governor George H. Ryan regarding the removal of Michele Tuohey's painting, "Butterfly," from an exhibition at the Illinois State Fair.

» April 2000 - Huck Finn Remains a Staple Novel in Oklahoma High School
A school board in a school district in Enid Oklahoma voted, 6-to-1, to retain The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn on the required reading list for high school juniors. A school district committee had earlier recommended its removal following a complaint filed by a group of black ministers.

» In Texas: Positive Art Brings Negative Response Spring 2000
An art exhibit about Houston's civil rights history was removed from the windows of Foley's Department Store. The provocative photograph, titled Racial Tensions, features black and white figures balanced on opposite ends of a see-saw, with nooses around their necks and hands tied behind their backs.

Mayor Giuliani's reaction to the Sensation exhibit stimulated a satirical installation from artist Hans Haacke, now on display at the Whitney Museum of Art Biennial Exhibit in New York. The provocative artwork, Sanitation, links the current culture wars to the banning of "degenerate" art in Munich in 1937. It displays the text of the First Amendment along with quotations in Nazi-style script from Patrick Buchanan, Pat Robertson, Jesse Helms and Mayor Giuliani and is surrounded by garbage cans blaring the sounds of marching troops. So far the controversy over Sanitation has not evoked a peep from Mayor Giuliani. [CN #77 Spring 2000]

» January 2000 - Native Son Retained on Colorado High School Reading List
A school board in Littleton, Colorado voted to retain Native Son on the high school reading list. It was challenged because of sexual scenes, violence and racial language.

Arizona school officials banned a musical adaptation of Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, at Carson Junior High in Mesa. The novel contains racial and sexist references, and offends law enforcement officials and churchgoers, claimed Mesa "educators." [CN #75 Fall 1999]

» Art Until Now Padlocked in Detroit In November 1999, the new director of the Detroit Institute of Arts padlocked the doors of an art exhibit, Art Until Now, because some of the religious and racial artworks may offend "important parts of our community."

» Winter 1998 - Brooklyn Teacher Assigned Nappy Hair, Accused of Being Racially Insensitive A well-intentioned third-grade teacher, who happens to be white, gave her mostly black and Hispanic students a critically praised book about a black girl with kinky hair. So who did the school authorities choose to investigate first? The well-meaning teacher, or the foul-mouthed, harm-threatening parents? The teacher, of course.

Abortion, contraception, homosexuality and masturbation are words that aren't discussed in New York City's Community School District 24. The Board adopted a policy in 1987 to delete those words from curriculum materials. "Ask your parents," is District 24's pedagogical response to kids' questions. Now a Board member says the policy is too lenient and wants to ban all mention of those subjects anywhere on school grounds. This is the same district that rejected the "Rainbow Curriculum" in 1992. [CN #70 Summer 1998]

» The Philly Flasher Succumbs to Censors in Tennessee Fall 1997
The Philly Flasher, a painting with a visual depiction of frontal male nudity by Emerson Zabower, was removed from the walls of an art exhibit in Johnson City, TN, in August. A few of the viewers found it so offensive they demanded its removal.

» A high school production of West Side Story was canceled
in December 1999 in response to protests about its portrayal of Puerto Ricans and use of racial slurs. Fall 1996

» Ohio Board of Education Adopts Multicultural History Textbook National news spotlighted the rejection by the Hudson, Ohio Board of Education of The American People, a multicultural history textbook recommended by educators for high school use. But the Board's reversal of its action seems to have gone unnoticed outside of the state.

» The Continuing Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Figure out how to teach the book September 1995
The New Haven school's superintendent had responded to parents' complaints about Mark Twain's novel Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by pulling the book from an eighth-grade reading list. The parents' complaints focused on the use of the word nigger, which appears scores of times in the book.

» The Uses of "Indecency" Summer 2004
by Svetlana Mintcheva
The contradictory boundaries of acceptability in our cultural-corporate context highlight the interdependence between censorship and titillation. Bare breasts have officially joined the seven dirty words-the more they are banned and bleeped, the more they titillate.

» A Blank Check? Summer 2004
by Joan E. Bertin
Perhaps the Supreme Court decision affirming the rights of individuals detained as "enemy combatants" to consult with lawyers and to contest the grounds for their detention reflects the leading edge of an attitudinal shift.

» Student Wins Censorship Battle and Award Winter 2002-2003
Lisa Distelburger, sixteen-years-old, sprang into action to restore a fellow student's artwork to display. The work depicted fighting in Northern Ireland, a suicide bombing in Israel, and the bodies of victims of violence in India with a commentary: "If this is the will of God, who needs God?"

» Must Curators Self-Censor? Winter 2002-2003
Simon Taylor, curator at the Guild Hall Museum of East Hampton, Long Island was fired midway through a successful exhibition, "Personal and Political: The Women's Art Movement, 1969-1975."

Nigger, The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word, by Randall Kennedy, explores the use of the word and by whom, and analyzes the controversies to which it has given rise. [CN #85 Spring 2002]

The Last Summer of Reason, by prize-winning Algerian author, Tahar Djaout, tells of the struggles of a freethinking bookstore owner against a fundamentalist regime taking over his country. The author was assassinated for "wielding a fearsome pen." [CN #85 Spring 2002]

» NCAC Letter Submitted to the Albany Times Union About The Vagina Monologues Ad September 6, 2001
The Times Union has decided not to run advertisements about an upcoming production of "The Vagina Monologues," because of reservations about printing a word describing a feature of female physiology.

George W. Bush didn't intend to benefit Planned Parenthood, but a grass roots protest spun from his executive order denying federal funds to international social agencies that counsel about or mention abortion, even when self-financed. President's Day messages in the form of contributions to Planned Parenthood criticized Bush for denying critical health information to poor women and for muzzling free speech in other countries. [CN #81 Spring 2001]

» Decency Revisited: New York's Mayor Is At It Again Spring 2001
Spurred by the Sensation exhibit and now Renee Cox's Yo Mama's Last Supper, depicting a nude black woman in place of Jesus at the Last Supper, both at the Brooklyn Museum, Giuliani instituted a "decency" commission to police such matters.

» Free Speech Groups Express Concern Over Student Reaction to Controversial Ad New York, March 26, 2001
A number of prominent free speech groups are expressing concern over student reaction on several campuses to a controversial ad that recently ran in college newspapers across the country. The ad, titled "Ten Reasons Why Reparations for Blacks is a Bad Idea for Blacks-and Racist, Too" was written and paid for by conservative activist David Horowitz.

» Censorship or Curatorial Discretion? March 21, 2001
A Seattle gallery chose to move artwork from the front to the back room of its space after the provocative nature of the photographs prevented patrons from moving throughout the entire gallery to view other artists' works. This incident questions where the line is between censorship and permissible curatorial discretion.

» Issue #77: Confederate Flag Battle: A Time To Teach by Kenneth A. Paulson
Spring 2000

» Feminists, Racketeers, and the First Amendment by Wendy Kaminer
Published in Dissent, Winter 1999
Questioning the use of RICO against anti-abortion protesters.

» Culture Wars Come to New York (Along With Mosquitoes) Fall 1999
An article describing the Giuliani/Brooklyn Museum controversy over the Sensation exhibit, especially Chris Ofili's The Holy Virgin Mary, a multi-media (including elephant dung) painting that depicts Mary as black.

» NEA's Head Whites Out The Story of Colors Spring 1999
Chief of the National Endowment for the Arts, William J. Ivey, created a new controversy when he withdrew funding for The Story of Colors, the Mexican folktale for children published by Cinco Puntos Press. Ivey revoked the grant,according to press reports, out of concern that some of the money would be used to support the Zapatista movement in Mexico.

» Censorship and Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles Summer 1998
A letter about an issue raised by eighth-grade English teacher Gina Corsun, of Edison, New Jersey, who had selected for teaching, Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles, for its relevance to the science and social studies curriculum. Of particular concern was a chapter entitled Way Up In The Middle Of The Air about a racist man, Samuel Teece, and his treatment of African-Americans who want to leave Earth and form a new society on Mars. Because of its use of the word "nigger,"

» Contested Histories Spring 1998
by Miles Unger
A controversy is raging over a Boston Magazine headline for an article about Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates that read, "Head Negro in Charge." The phrase, which according to magazine sources is sometimes used among blacks themselves, was deemed racist by many in the context of a magazine whose readers are primarily white.

» If Only Congress Could Gag the Globe! Summer 1998
Congress wants to bleet out the A-word from any international group that receives U.S. family planning funds. The legislation, HR 1757--also known as the Global Gag Rule--has passed both houses of Congress and now requires the President's action.

» NCAC Letter to SUNY Chancellor About Academic Freedom and Women's Studies Conference February 6, 1998

» NCAC Tells The Press Like It Is Winter 1996 NCAC wrote to The New York Times to point out a serious omission in an AP story of November 6 that noted Michigan Law dean Lee C. Bollinger had hired Catherine MacKinnon for its faculty and described her as one who "proposes laws making pornography a crime against women." The story failed to report the crucial fact that this proposal's unconstitutionality was affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1986.

» Free Speech and the Struggle for Equality Examples of suppression of musical free expression by black artists including Marian Anderson, N.W.A. and 2 Live Crew.

» February 15, 2005 - Professor Disinvited from Speaking Engagements for Expressing Views on 9/11 Hamilton College, in Clinton, NY, cancelled a talk by University of Colorado Boulder Professor Ward Churchill because of threats of violence. Wheaton College in Norton, Mass., and Eastern Washington University, where Churchill was also scheduled to speak, followed suit. The anger directed at Churchill is based on views he expressed in an essay published three years ago, in which he suggested that the 9/11 attacks were retribution for U.S. foreign policy, for which the victims shared some responsibility, and particularly for his use of the phrase, "little Eichmans," to refer to WTC victims.
Related:» Ward Churchill's essay: Some People Push Back » Ward Churchill Responds to Criticism of "Some People Push Back" » Joint Letter Protesting University of Colorado's Response to Churchill Controversy

» Academic Freedom, Freedom of Expression, Artistic Freedom: Artist's Statement Artist Jessica Lawless's artist's statement. Lawless is interested in examining the effects of policing and surveillance in relation to the construction of identity within marginalized public spheres.

» NCAC's Committee on Sex & Censorship
NCAC's Committee on Sex & Censorship brings a feminist perspective to censorship debates on issues relating to sexuality, sexual orientation, and gender roles. The Committee periodically sponsors public educational events, publications, advocacy, and a range of other activities. The Committee is spearheading a campaign opposing federally funded "abstinence-only-until-marriage" programs as a form of censorship of sexuality education.

Related:

» NCAC's Working Group on Women, Censorship & "Pornography" Home page of the Working Group with background information and mission statement.

» Censorship Hurts Women To be sexually free, women must be able to discover and legitimate their own sexualities through representing and seeing them represented in a vast variety of ways.

» What have Working Group members said about Women, Censorship, and "Pornography"?

» Members of NCAC's Working Group on Women, Censorship, & "Pornography"

» What Can You Do? Women, Censorship, and "Pornography"

» NCAC's Working Group on Women, Censorship & "Pornography" The Sex Panic: A Conference Report