Early in April, while walking our dog, we passed a free lending library and noticed a Holy Bible inside and not much else. At the same time, the current administration was ramping up its campaign to erase books tied to diversity, equity, and inclusion. On April 4, The New York Times published a list of 381 titles removed from the U.S. Naval Academy Library—including Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings—by order of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s office.

It felt like the moment to take action—starting in our own neighborhood.

We researched the most frequently banned and challenged books, particularly those targeted for their themes of race, gender, sexuality, and power. From that list, we curated a four-book collection we could afford to buy and placed them in local free libraries. That was the start of our quiet resistance—and this is our invitation for others to do the same. Quietly resisting can be a small gesture — one banned book, one free library, and one mind at a time.