Julianne Moore vented her shock and upset in a recent Instagram post after her children’s book Freckleface Strawberry ran afoul of Donald Trump‘s book ban. A semi-autobiographical tale of a seven-year-old girl who struggles to accept her freckles before learning to embrace them, Freckleface Strawberry is no revolutionary manual. It’s a children’s book about learning to love and live with your differences. Unfortunately for the Big Lebowski actress, diversity and empathy are two things that Trump and his fascist allies are trying to stamp out. Here’s how Julianne Moore and her book fit into it all.
The Censorship of Freckleface Strawberry
The Trump administration has made censorship a central pillar of its political strategy. Freckleface Strawberry is just one book caught in the ban wave. The government’s compliance review order reportedly affects all Pentagon schools serving U.S. military families. That means this censorship would impact approximately 67,000 children across 160 schools. What is the target, according to a DoD memo? Gender ideology and discriminatory equity ideology. If that sounds vague and abstract, it is, and that’s no accident.
Using such ambiguous language allows the Trump administration to justify reviewing, restricting, and banning whatever it wants, more or less. Paired with the stripping of Black History Month, attacks on the National Archives, and the multiple Executive Orders targeting trans and disabled people, one thing is obvious. Language and libraries are two of the biggest battlefields in the war for free speech. It’s obvious that Moore, herself the child of a Vietnam veteran, is struggling to understand. As the actress put it,
I can’t help but wonder what is so controversial about this picture book that cause it to be banned by the US Government. I am truly saddened and never thought I would see this in a country where freedom of speech and expression is a constitutional right. [sic]
For those worried about free speech and uncensored education, the battle in the U.S. is only beginning. Julianne Moore and Freckleface Strawberry may be two victims of Trump’s book ban, but they are far from the only ones. Worse, most students and authors affected won’t have Moore’s star power and platform to spread the word. Whether you’re a parent, student, librarian, or concerned onlooker, now’s the time to speak. If it matters who writes history, it also matters who gets to read it.
