American actress speaks of censorship fears

OFF THE BEATEN PATH

February 23, 2025

AN award-winning actress has expressed dismay over the American government’s move of removing her book from the list of volumes taught at schools for children of US military personnel. The decision smacks of creeping censorship, she suggested.

In an Instagram post, Oscar-winning actor Julianne Moore wrote she was “deeply saddened” by the Trump administration’s decision to put her children’s book called ‘Freckleface Strawberry’ under review, the ‘Express Tribune’ reported.  

The book tells the tale of a red-headed youngster who hates her freckles but eventually learns to love them — as well as the differences of others. According to ‘The Guardian’, the US Department of Defence circulated a memo stating that all library books “potentially related to gender ideology or discriminatory equity ideology topics” were being looked into, and that a “small number” of said books were being held for “further review” as part of the administration’s crackdown on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programmes.

“It is a book I wrote for my children and for other kids to remind them that we all struggle, but are united by our humanity and our community,” the Oscar-winner wrote in her social media post. “I am truly saddened and never thought I would see this in a country where freedom of speech and expression is a constitutional right.”

Many in the world of arts and humanities fear that a climate of censorship is impending — and it’s far from the only concern.

In January, President Donald Trump signed an order that mandated all federal agencies to end Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programmes. The move was felt in the arts scene, namely in several dozen major museums that receive federal funding, including the Smithsonian and the National Gallery of Art. These institutions were left to determine whether their programmes fit with the new directives that consider diversity efforts to be discriminatory.

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