In a post entitled, “24 Resolutions for 2024,” the National Education Association (NEA) encourages union members to “READ A BANNED BOOK… Text BANNED to 48744 to get a book recommendation from NEA.”
The union’s chatbot promises to provide “titles that some folks want to censor” and to send texts featuring “books that celebrate diversity and are often banned.” Examples of the union chatbot’s “banned” books include Hop on Pop by Dr. Seuss and The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Anderson. Apparently, a Toronto (Canada) father grumbled to the Toronto Public Library about Hop on Pop in 2014, so it is now considered “banned” by our country’s largest teachers union.
The chatbot encourages people to “tell your friends to text BANNED to 48744.” Give it a try! As IWF Fellow Nicole Solas wrote recently, “You will have to do your own investigation on every “banned” book title the NEA texts to you. Spoiler alert: if you find the book for sale, it’s not banned.”
To learn more about how teachers unions perpetuate the “banned” books myth, read Teachers Union Now Texts You Book Ban Propaganda, Banned Books Week Is Nonsense, and Teachers’ Unions Pretend To Promote Freedom, and listen to the Students Over Systems podcast.
For more information about teachers unions, visit www.iwf.org/issues/education/