Pramila Jayapal Makes Case For Books, Free Expression In Seattle
SEATTLE, WA- Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal urged readers to resist censorship by continuing to read challenged books and support silenced writers, telling the Jaipur Literature Festival in Seattle that literature was essential to defending free expression.
“In my mind, to read is the ultimate act of nonviolent resistance,” Jayapal said at the opening of the festival’s third Seattle edition.
Addressing a gathering at the Seattle Public Library, Jayapal spoke about what she described as growing restrictions on speech, dissent and democratic debate in the United States and elsewhere.
Jayapal criticized the US president over an announcement that she said would bar CNN, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. She also cited restrictions on books in the United States, including Toni Morrison’s ‘The Bluest Eye’, ‘The Kite Runner’, ‘Milk and Honey’ and ‘The God of Small Things’.
Jayapal argued that such actions threatened fundamental freedoms and pledged to oppose them.
“And we intend to do everything in our power to reclaim our democracy and to refuse to allow our fundamental rights to be shut down,” she said.
Alongside voting and community organizing, Jayapal urged the audience to keep reading, share their own experiences and engage with stories written by people whose voices were being suppressed.
“It critiques powerful institutions and it expands the boundaries of our dialogue and our thinking,” she said of literature.
“It refuses to let anyone muzzle our imagination so that we can truly begin to share ourselves and our journey forward.”
Jayapal also described the festival as a response to hostility towards Asian Americans, international conflict and restrictions on civil liberties.
“It is our home for exchanging ideas and for dreaming the impossible,” she said.
She welcomed the festival’s growth beyond India to the United States, Britain, Spain, the Maldives and Australia, saying it had brought Indian and South Asian authors, filmmakers and artists to new audiences.
For Jayapal, the occasion also carried a personal connection to India and to writing. She recalled arriving in the United States alone at 16. Her parents, she said, believed the country would offer her opportunities and the freedom to be herself. Becoming a US citizen took 17 years.
Years after arriving, she returned to India and spent two years living in villages, exploring her relationship with her birthplace and her identity. That experience informed her first book, ‘Pilgrimage to India: A Woman Revisits Her Homeland’, published by Seattle’s Seal Press and subsequently by Penguin India.
She also discussed ‘Use the Power You Have: A Brown Woman’s Guide to Politics and Political Change’, expressing hope that it could encourage other women to recognize and exercise their own influence.
Jayapal thanked the festival organizers, readers and the Seattle Public Library. She also celebrated Seattle’s independent bookshops, small presses and writing community, describing them as essential to the city’s literary life. (IANS)
