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Joe Biden Said Republicans Are 'Banning Books' Like 'To Kill a Mockingbird'

Facts And Fact Checking,Book Bans,Culture War,Polarization,Censorship,Joe Biden,Free Speech

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Fact Check

Claim: Republican politicians are "banning books," including To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.

Who said it: President Joe Biden in the video he released earlier this week officially launching his reelection campaign. When he says Republicans are "banning books," we see a stack of books at the top of which sits a worn paperback copy of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Context: Journalists and other Democrats frequently complain about Republicans "banning" books. They are almost always spreading misinformation. Usually the book in question has simply been removed from a school's curriculum—sometimes in response to complaints from parents, sometimes because the school board felt like it.

Why it matters: Perhaps the only things journalists and other Democrats hate more than book "bans" is misinformation, defined (by them) as information that has not been thoroughly vetted by journalists or some unaccountable board of left-wing "experts."

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