Banning books: Protecting kids or erasing humanity?
| New York
Kasey Meehan says it was her long-held love for books that made her become, in one sense, their political advocate.
鈥淎s simple as that sounds, I think that鈥檚 what brings many folks on the team to this role,鈥� says Ms. Meehan,聽聽of the Freedom to Read initiative at PEN America, a nonprofit that advocates for freedom of expression at the intersection of human rights and literature. 鈥淔or many of us, reading has just been such a foundational part of our own self-discovery and a kind of self-awareness-building experience.鈥�
In some ways, it is this very power of books and ideas that has often thrust them into the center of politics, either to bolster existing authority or to pose a threat. Given the emotional impact of literature and storytelling, it may not be surprising that those who would ban certain books understand their potential impact and power.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onAmid battles over what kids may read in schools, Banned Books Week highlights books as an essential tool for educators to teach empathy and create informed citizens. Parents rights groups argue that children do better when parents also have a say in what they are reading.
It鈥檚 a particularly busy week for Ms. Meehan and her organization as they participate in the聽annual Banned Books Week, founded in 1982 and sponsored by of publishers and nonprofits. This year, they are highlighting what they see as the dangers of banning books in school, especially at a time when such bans have been increasing across the United States, particularly in Republican-led states.聽
For Ms. Meehan and others, the power of books and ideas is integral to their vision of a democratic society. 鈥淏ook bans are just a real threat to developing a deeper understanding and empathy for others in our very pluralistic society 鈥� the ways we can see each other鈥檚 humanity,鈥� Ms. Meehan says.
According to a recent聽PEN America report, there has been a spike in efforts to ban books during the 2022-2023 school year, including over 3,300 instances in certain school districts where over 1,550 titles were taken off school shelves.聽
鈥淲hen we examine the scope of the last two years, books that include diverse characters, primarily characters of color and LGBTQ+ characters, were overwhelmingly subject to book bans,鈥澛犅燤s. Meehan as the PEN America report鈥檚 lead author. The vast majority of these books, too, are considered young adult titles, she says.
The most-banned books this school year include 鈥淭ricks鈥� by Ellen Hopkins, 鈥淭he Bluest Eye鈥� by Toni Morrison, and 鈥淟ooking For Alaska鈥� by John Green. Other oft-banned books include 鈥淕ender Queer鈥� by Maia Kobabe and 鈥淎ll Boys Aren鈥檛 Blue鈥� by George M. Johnson.
Many Republicans reject labeling such efforts 鈥渂ans,鈥� however, arguing that when it comes to public education, questions about the age-appropriateness of certain topics in school libraries are legitimate concerns. That鈥檚 especially true, they say, when it comes to matters of human sexuality. Such books remain available for sale. The point, many say, is that it is parents who should control what their children have access to read when it comes to these subjects.聽 聽
鈥淚t is not partisan to assert that children do better when their families know what鈥檚 going on in their lives,鈥� Nicole Neily,聽聽of the nonprofit Parents Defending Education, during a U.S. Senate hearing about book bans in September.聽
鈥淵et now when families ask to simply know what their children have access to 鈥� or may wish to put guardrails on material for children of certain ages 鈥� they are pilloried in the public square,鈥� Ms. Neily said. 鈥淪uch public flagellation is intended to not only extract a pound of flesh from the perpetrator but to send a message to any other parent with similar reservations: Speak up, and the mob will come for you too.鈥澛�
The values underlying conservative efforts to emphasize parental rights and guardrails on access to books are part of religious conservatives鈥� understanding that they should train their children in the traditional ways of their faith and understanding of a divine order revealed in Scripture.聽For most, sex, gender, and human sexuality are clearly defined, and a departure from these ways聽disrupts God鈥檚 intended order.
At the same time, too, a Republican 鈥渨ar on woke鈥� has fundamentally challenged the idea that books about racial and sexual identity foster empathy and peaceful pluralism. In fact, many conservatives say, such efforts are themselves both anti-democratic and rooted in a dangerous emphasis on racial and even religious differences.
In an executive order 鈥渋ndoctrination and critical race theory in schools,鈥� Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas聽this year said a focus on identity was 鈥渞esurrecting segregationist values鈥� and was 鈥渁ntithetical to the traditional American values of neutrality, equality, and fairness.鈥�
States such as Florida, Texas, and Missouri have been the most active in placing restrictions on books and concepts in schools, in some cases including higher education. But the controversies have also spilled over into聽, as efforts to ban books with topics on race and sexuality extend beyond public education.
鈥淭he books being banned are always those of marginalized voices, but it鈥檚 so important that those voices are brought in and included as legitimate and true and just as important as the others,鈥� says Dana Reisboard,聽聽of education and critical literacy at Widener University in Chester, Pennsylvania. 鈥淭he need for diverse voices and the need for nontraditional family structures to be brought up and brought into discussion is because they exist.
鈥淪o it鈥檚 erasing not just the people who need to see themselves; it鈥檚 also erasing for people who don鈥檛 want them included, and who then wouldn鈥檛 understand them,鈥� she continues. 鈥淭heir own sense of self and identity then grows disproportionately, takes on sole significance, because it鈥檚 in a vacuum.鈥�
The parental rights Moms For Liberty has spearheaded many of the efforts to remove certain books from schools, becoming a major conservative grassroots organization with close ties to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Last year, the state passed its Parental Rights in Education Act, which some critics have dubbed the 鈥淒on鈥檛 Say Gay鈥� law.聽Over the past year, of all the books banned in U.S. public schools, 40% of these have been in Florida, PEN America found.
The organization has dismissed the books in the PEN America鈥檚 report as 鈥減ushing porn on school kids.鈥� It has offered a competing 鈥淭each Kids To Read Week,鈥� highlighting some of the dismal reading proficiency numbers among American fourth graders. Moms for Liberty did not return repeated requests for comment from the Monitor.
Accusations of pushing porn have also included conservative accusations that these books are part of a effort to sexualize schoolchildren or 鈥渞ecruit鈥� them for LGBTQ+ 鈥渓ifestyles.鈥澛�
Such accusations have been leveled against members of the LGBTQ+ community since the beginning of the gay rights movement in the 1970s, says Donna Decker, a of English who teaches a class on banned books at Franklin Pierce University in New Hampshire. 鈥淚t really is frightening, calling or insinuating that someone is a predator. And what that does 鈥� the real crux of this is, it is trying to erase people鈥檚 humanity. So do not say 鈥榞ay鈥�; do not say 鈥榯rans.鈥� Pull medical treatment or access to medical opinions. It鈥檚 all part of the same distancing, an attempt to turn people into a dangerous 鈥榦ther.鈥欌��
Professor Decker says she and her students talk about the power of literature and storytelling and the reasons governments have long tried to ban books. And she says that books help form human empathy and they play an important role in both understanding the world and becoming a citizen in such a diverse, democratic society.
鈥淚t鈥檚 often the case that some people鈥檚 stories are considered valuable and other people鈥檚 stories are erased,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut there is an important civic value in doing the opposite, really and truly understanding what our country is, and what it was. You could say the same about understanding yourself, and books help us do that.鈥�
