by Brynn Rudesill
An independent bookstore in Alameda, CA urging people to read books that are currently being challenged.
PSA: THIS IS AN OPINION ARTICLE. WHILE THE INFORMATION USED IS ACCURATE, THE COMMENTARY IS BASED ON MY OPINION.
Across the United States, there have been new efforts by conservative parents to ban books in public schools. In the past, books have been banned because of pornography, curse words, violence, substance use, and more. But now books that are being banned are because of race, gender, or sexuality.
The concept of books being banned has always been controversial. Some say it inhibits freedom of speech, and that all books should be free for students to read. Others say that we should ban books to protect students from subjects that could be inappropriate or harmful. There are some books that make sense to be banned. For example, Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler. This book glorifies Nazism and tries to rationalize the Holocaust. Another book that makes sense to be banned is American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis. It is chockful of fantasies of sexual violence, sexual abuse, rape, animal cruelty, and violence towards women. However, there are some banned books that make little to no sense as to why these are banned. The Lorax by Dr. Seuss was banned because the logging industry took great offense to the villainization of their industry. Another example of a book being stupidly banned was Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling. According to Shmuel Ross for Infoplease.org, St. Mary’s Island Church of England School in Chatham, Kent felt the sorcery described would influence children in a negative way. Headteacher Carol Rockwood said, “I believe it is confusing to children when something wicked is being made to look fun."
Today, groups of parents in both red and blue states are rallying around to ban books based on race, gender, and sexuality. The largest group of parents and politicians is No Left Turn in Education. This group is opposed to having what they call a 'Leftist Agenda' in their children's schools. In the fall of 2021 alone, there were roughly 330 books that were challenged. In Florida, lots of books on teaching critical race theory have been challenged and banned. Defined by UCLA professor Kimberle Williams Crenshaw for the New York Times, critical race theory is “a way of seeing, attending to, accounting for, tracing and analyzing the ways that race is produced, the ways that racial inequality is facilitated, and the ways that our history has created these inequalities that now can be almost effortlessly reproduced unless we attend to the existence of these inequalities.” Books on critical race theory or literature that apply these concepts are banned on the grounds that these concepts taught would incite guilt or shame in children who share the same sex or race as people who did bad things in the past. A common name for this is white guilt. This is deeply ironic because if children aren't taught the mistakes of the past and how deeply rooted racism is in our society, the next generation could just make the same mistakes. Some books on race that are being banned include Beloved by Toni Morrison, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Color Purple by Alice Walker, and more. Schools shouldn't protect white children from critical race theory if they're not also going to protect students of color from people not understanding their white guilt and privileges.
Another similarity between newly banned books is the featuring of LGBTQIA+ content. Schools are defending their right to ban these books due to them going against their religion. Edmund White, a gay author of A Previous Life, was quoted by the Daily Beast saying " The real issue is the linking of the evangelical Christianity and the extreme right. That combination is really deadly. All violence feels justified to them because they are trying to root out the Devil. " These non-progressive Christians are comparing 'the Devil' to being anything but cishet, which is extremely homophobic and transphobic. White also said that these people are worried about how “these books will ‘convert’ their children''. Some of these LGBTQIA+ books that are being challenged are All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson, Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe, Melissa (formerly published as George) by Alex Gina, and more. These books not only highlight queer stories but stories of queer people of color. These books are so important because they allow people who are never represented in the media to be represented.
Books about critical race theory and the LGBTQIA+ Community are there to inform and better the community, and everyone should have the right to read them. The next generation of people should not be taught to be ignorant just because the current generation is.
Ways to Support Your's and Others' Right to Read
Know your rights: The First Amendment protects your right to read. You have the right to express your opinion on a book, but you don't have the right to censor others from reading.
Write Letters: Write letters to authors, politicians, librarians, and others urging them to not ban books.
Use Social Media: Call out and report hate groups on social media, or spread the word about what is happening to these books.