Five protest banners hung from the roof's eve of the City Lights bookstore in San Francisco. Each described an individually famous author's view on censorship.

The leftmost two authors were Allen Ginsburg and Toni Morrison. Allen Ginsburg (author of Howl ) said: "They censor words, not the things they denote." And Toni Morrison (author of The Bluest Eye ) said, "Fear of unmonitored writing is justified because truth is trouble."

The next two authors were Debbie Reese and Luis Rodriguez. Debbie Reese (An Indigenous Peoples' History Of The United States ) said, "They are taking away mirrors for kids who so desperately need to see themselves in books." Luis Rodriguez (author of Always Running ) said, "Censorship is against reality. Those who ban books underestimate readers."

The rightmost banner displayed Maia Kobabe (author of Gender Queer ) who said, "Certain parts of the country may be fixated on censoring me, but I will not be censoring myself."