In a sad state of affairs, banning books is back in style in America and certain states have returned to the old days of censorship!
Current Events
Yes, conservative parents, activists, school board officials, and lawmakers across the country have returned to a practice America hasn’t seen in decades: challenging and banning books. In fact, the American Library Association issued a report stating it received an “unprecedented” 330 reports of book challenges (each of which can include multiple books) just last fall.
“It’s a pretty startling phenomenon here in the United States to see book bans back in style, to see efforts to press criminal charges against school librarians,” said Suzanne Nossel, the chief executive of the free-speech organization PEN America.
Regrettably, her worst fears are being realized.
In Wyoming, a county prosecutor’s office was thisclose to charging library employees for stocking the books “Sex Is a Funny Word” and “This Book Is Gay.”
In Oklahoma, a bill was introduced in the State Senate to prohibit public school libraries from stocking books related to sexual activity, sexual identity, or gender identity.
In Tennessee, the McMinn County Board of Education voted to remove the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel “Maus” from an eighth-grade project on the Holocaust because it contained nudity and language that was considered profane.
Parents and residents in multiple states are demanding that school districts not teach Critical Race Theory — although many protesting against it have no idea what the topic is about.
What’s most interesting is that those who are banning books and complaining are politically (read: Republican) and religiously (read: Evangelical) conservative.
“I didn’t know that was something you could do, file a criminal complaint against a book.”
– George Johnson, author of the memoir “All Boys Aren’t Blue.”
“The politicalization of the topic is what’s different than what I’ve seen in the past,” said Britten Follett, the chief executive of content at Follett School Solutions, one of the country’s largest providers of books to K-12 schools. “It’s being driven by legislation, it’s being driven by politicians aligning with one side or the other. And in the end, the librarian, teacher or educator is getting caught in the middle.”
Sadly, libraries and librarians in conservative states are being threatened with physical harm for daring to carry books on race, slavery, the holocaust, and other historical events that “some” wish the world would forget and never teach to new generations.
Additionally, books that address gender or sexual identity, including George M. Johnson’s “All Boys Aren’t Blue” and Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” have also been targeted for censorship.
“If you look at the lists of books being targeted, it’s so broad,” Ms. Nossel said, adding that some groups have essentially weaponized book lists meant to promote more diverse reading material.
For example, the group No Left Turn in Education has actively attempted banning books it says are “used to spread radical and racist ideologies to students,” including Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States” and Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.” However, some say these groups are merely attempting to whitewash the past and suppress the truth.
Perhaps no book has been targeted more vigorously than “The 1619 Project,” a best seller about slavery in America that has drawn wide support among historians and Black leaders and was featured in a 2019 special issue of The New York Times Magazine. Now, it has been targeted for banning and for its story to be silenced.
Jack Petocz, a 17-year-old student at Flagler Palm Coast High School (who organized a protest against banning books) said that removing books about LGBTQ characters and books about racism was not only discriminatory, but harmful to students who may already feel in the minority and that their experiences are rarely represented in literature.
“As a gay student myself, those books are so critical for youth, for feeling there are resources for them,” he said, noting that books portraying heterosexual romances are almost never challenged. “I felt it was very discriminatory.”
One literary expert used a well-known novel as an example to put it all into perspective.
“If you focus on five passages, you’ve got obscenity,” Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s office for intellectual freedom said. “If you broaden your view and read the work as a whole, you’ve got Toni Morrison’s ‘Beloved.’”
OK WASSUP! covers Current Events:
Banning books is back in style.
I do not even know where to begin with this. I understand some parents want to keep risky subjects from their kids. But trying to ban books about race and history is where it loses me. Like DJ said they are trying to white wash history and we all know why.