100-year-old WWII widow blasts book bans in fiery speech

It took just a few minutes for 100-year-old Grace Linn to eviscerate anyone seeking to ban books from schools.

Speaking in front of 500 people at Florida’s Martin County School Board, Linn was among the hordes of concerned citizens protesting the removal of approximately 80 books from public school libraries based on the complaints of one parent, according to Advocate.

After introducing herself as “a hundred years young,” Linn spoke about her husband, Robert Nicoll, who was killed in World War II.

“He was only 26,” she said, “defending our democracy, Constitution, and freedoms.”

According to the Daily Beast, Linn was seven months pregnant when Nicoll was first declared missing in action. She found out he had died when their daughter, Nicci, was three days old.

She then compared the book banning taking place in her district to Nazi actions.

“One of the freedoms that the Nazis crushed was the freedom to read the books they banned. They stopped the free press, banned and burned books. The freedom to read, which is protected by the First Amendment, is our essential right and duty of our democracy. Even so, it is continually under attack by both the public and private groups who think they hold the truth.”

Someone behind Linn then unfurled a large yellow quilt depicting dozens of commonly banned books, such as This Book is Gay, Lawn Boy, 1984, Maus, and The Color Purple.