Steven LaChance Blog

In 2025 censorship in the United States is not a distant threat. It is happening right now.

So far this year more than 10,000 books have been banned in public schools across the country. About 44 percent of those books feature characters of color and 39 percent include LGBTQ+ themes. These removals are not stemming from concerned parents but are mostly driven by organized groups and government officials.

In Florida alone authorities have removed 4,561 books from school shelves this year. The Department of Education has dismissed 11 censorship complaints and even rolled back guidance that recognized censorship could violate civil rights.

Censorship is not confined to print books. Federal agencies have already removed or altered more than 8,000 web pages and nearly 3,000 datasets on topics like diversity, gender identity, climate, and public health. Entire swaths of public information are vanishing. These removals have sparked lawsuits, including one from Doctors for America demanding restoration of critical health data.

History has shown us how these patterns unfold. Heinrich Heine, the German poet whose works were burned in Berlin in 1933, warned a century earlier: “Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people.”

These are not abstract worries. They are facts unfolding in real time. Stories of race, identity, and resilience are disappearing. Vital public health and climate data are being erased.

Freedom of speech and access to information form the backbone of democracy. Censorship is the crack already spreading through those walls. If we grow accustomed to silence, we will not just lose books or web pages. We will lose the ability to question authority, to learn through truth, and to resist control.

History is not repeating, but it is rhyming loudly.