Banned Books WeekVILLAGE OF NORTH PALM BEACH
OFFICE OF THE MAYOR
PROCLAMATION
BANNED BOOKS WEEK
WHEREAS, the freedom to read is essential to our democracy, and reading is among our greatest freedoms; and
WHEREAS, privacy is essential to the exercise of that freedom, and the right to privacy is the right to open
inquiry without having the subject of one's interest examined or scrutinized by others; and
WHEREAS, the freedom to read is protected by our Constitution; and
WHEREAS, some individuals, groups, and public authorities work to remove or limit access to reading
materials, to censor content in schools, to label "controversial" views, to distribute lists of "objectionable"
books or authors, and to purge libraries of materials reflecting the diversity of society; and
WHEREAS, both governmental intimidation and the fear of censorship causes authors who seek to avoid
controversy to practice self - censorship, thus limiting our access to new ideas; and
WHEREAS, every silencing of a heresy, every enforcement of an orthodoxy, diminishes the toughness and
resilience of American society and leaves it less able to deal with controversy and difference; and
WHEREAS, Americans still favor free enterprise in ideas and expression, and can be trusted to exercise critical
judgment, to recognize propaganda and misinformation, and to make their own decisions about what they read
and believe, and to exercise the responsibilities that accompany this freedom; and
WHEREAS, intellectual freedom is essential to the preservation of a free society and a creative culture, and
conformity limits the range and variety of inquiry and expression on which our democracy and our culture depend; and
WHEREAS, the American Library Association's Banned Books Week: Celebrating the Freedom to Read is
observed annually during the last week of September as a reminder to Americans not to take their precious
freedom for granted; and
WHEREAS, Banned Books Week celebrates the freedom to choose or the freedom to express one's opinion
even if that opinion might be considered unorthodox or unpopular and stresses the importance of ensuring the
availability of those unorthodox or unpopular viewpoints to all who wish to read them.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, David B. Norris, by virtue of the authority vested in me as Mayor of the Village of
North Palm Beach, do hereby proclaim the week of September 30 — October 6, 2012, as
BANNED BOOKS WEEK
in the Village of North Palm Beach, Florida.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the Village of North Palm Beach
to be affixed this 27th day of September, 2012. l—K--\ _
Norris,