Last weekend the CBLDF team was at C2E2 in Chicago where we launched a huge t-shirt project with Threadless, delivered a presentation on the history of comics censorship, signed up over 30 new members, and raised more than $7,300 for our important work. CBLDF Executive Director Charles Brownstein recaps the festivities after the jump!
CBLDF is committed to supporting the comics community. Fill out our form to request assistance or report censorship today!
CBLDF is committed to supporting the comics community. Fill out our form to request assistance or report censorship today!
Kurt Vonnegut’s Letter to the Man Who Burnt His Books
On occasion, the victims of censorship take the opportunity to face their censors directly. However, few artists respond with the humor and aplomb exhibited in a letter written in 1973 to Charles McCarthy, the head of the school board at Drake High School in North Dakota. The author of this letter? Kurt Vonnegut.
Click through for excerpts from Vonnegut’s letter…
Protestors Take Over Tucson School Board Meeting
Last week, the Tucson Unified School Board voted 3-2 against renewing the contract for Sean Arce, the director of the school district’s disbanded Mexican American Studies program, in spite of support voiced during the public-comment period of the meeting. In response, protestors tied themselves together with zip ties and chanted in support of the MAS program. No one was injured or arrested during the protest despite tightened security at recent school board meetings.
Click through for more about the latest developments in the Tucson book ban…
Threadless Design Challenge Opens Submissions to Comics-On Tees Vol. 6 by Neil Gaiman!
Threadless kicked off the Chicago Comics and Entertainment Expo (C2E2) last night with a benefit party for Comic Book Legal Defense Fund at Threadless Headquarters where a new fundraising effort for the non-profit organization was announced. In July, Threadless will launch Comics-On Tees Vol. 6, a series of four tees based on the poem The Day the Saucers Came, written by bestselling author and CBLDF board member Neil Gaiman. Artists have a chance to design the first tee in the four-part series, and 25% of the proceeds from the chosen design will benefit CBLDF.
Submissions for the first The Day the Saucers Came t-shirt will be scored by the Threadless community, and its 1.8 million community members will help pick the final chosen design. Designs can be submitted through Threadless, and the chosen shirt will be revealed at Comic-Con International in San Diego. The other three tees in the series will feature art from John Cassaday (Planetary, Astonishing X-Men), Ben Templesmith (Fell, 30 Days of Night), and Brandon Graham (King City, Prophet). To submit designs & learn more about this project please visit: http://atrium.threadless.com/cbldf/
Judge Hears Arguments in Case Against Utah Law Restricting Speech on Internet
Last June, CBLDF joined the ACLU of Utah and the Media Coalition in an effort to bar the enforcement of Utah House Bill 260, a law that seeks to restrict constitutionally-protected speech. US District Judge Dee Benson heard arguments about the case this week, but he didn’t issue a ruling. Instead, he directed the parties involved with the case to resolve their differences over two contentious sections of code in the law within the next 30 days.
Click through for more about the case…
MUZZLED! The Thomas Jefferson Center “Awards” Censorship
This week, the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression announced the Jefferson Muzzles, which “are awarded as a means to draw national attention to abridgments of free speech and press and, at the same time, foster an appreciation for those tenets of the First Amendment.” Among the dubious honorees on the 2012 list are the US State Department for banning the participation of a Palestinian political cartoonist in a conference on free speech and the Salem, Missouri, Public Library Board of Trustees for blocking access to websites related to minority religions.
This is just the tip of the iceberg. The Thomas Jefferson Center gives the awards to ten individuals or organizations, but they start with a very large list of nominees, an indication that Free Speech is still very much at risk. You can read the entire Jefferson Muzzles list here.
Have your say and stop people from being muzzled! Help support CBLDF’s important First Amendment work by making a donation or becoming a member of the CBLDF!