The surprising rise of censorship in this country is a mounting threat to our democracy. Books by people of color and about racial justice have been among the most often banned titles in the last few years. To commemorate the first day of Banned Book Week, AAPF’s “Books UnbannedTM” tour, in partnership with The New Republic’s “Banned in the USA” Bookmobile Tour of 2023, presents a conversation with authors including Black feminist legal scholar and AAPF Executive Director Kimberlé Crenshaw, professor and anti-racist activist Dr. Ibram X. Kendi, alongside journalist and cultural critic Michael Harriot. The authors will discuss increased censorship, the surprising reach of moral panics that have informed censorship and what we all must do to protect the values of learning and literacy. Moderated by professor and radio host, Dr. Kaye Wise Whitehead.

Presented with Brooklyn Public Library’s BPL Presents, three authors discuss new memoirs. Interweaving family stories more enchanting than those in any novel, Ingrid Rojas Contreras writes, in The Man Who Could Move Clouds, a luminous testament to the power of storytelling as a healing art and an invitation to embrace the extraordinary. How to Say Babylon is Safiya Sinclair’s reckoning with Rastafari, the culture that initially nourished but ultimately sought to silence her. Essayist Phillip Lopate’s A Year and a Day is at once a self-portrait, a picture of the times, and a splendid new elaboration of what the essay can be. 

How do ordinary people claim democratic power in a world of increased inequality and loss? Join us for a conversation about power, democracy, race, and the law as three leading thinkers discuss their new books. Jocelyn Simonson (Radical Acts of Justice: How Ordinary People are Dismantling Mass Incarceration) explores how groups of people are engaging collective resistance within the criminal legal system; Christopher Paul Harris (To Build a Black Future: The Radical Politics of Joy, Pain, and Care) draws on his experience as an activist and organizer to explore how the new Black politics can forge a future centered on collective action, community, and care; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Héctor Tobar (Our Migrant Souls) uncovers something expansive and inspiring about the meaning of “Latino” in the twenty-first century, while Miriam Baer (Myths and Misunderstandings in White-Collar Crime) explores the complex terrain of federal white collar crime, unearthing how understanding the pathologies behind our legal practices can help us hold those in power accountable for their misdeeds. Moderated by Erin Geiger Smith (Thank You For Voting).

We all have been disappointed, dismayed or angry with creators, leaders and celebrities whose work we admire, but whose personal actions are inappropriate, reprehensible, or worse. But, as individuals, we are responsible to activate the cancel culture spectrum from punishment to redemption and need to consider ramifications. Is accountability the middle ground? Ernest Owens, The Case For Cancel Culture: How This Democratic Tool Works to Liberate Us All and Evan Nierman, The Cancel Culture Curse: From Rage to Redemption in a World Gone Mad, offer conflicting points of view about cancel culture and its impact on society.  Moderated by Kathryn Lofton, Lex Hixon Professor of Religious Studies and American Studies at Yale University.