Last month, libraries across the country celebrated Banned Books Week. This week of literature recognition is observed annually and acknowledges contemporary novels that have been banned from schools and literary organizations. Banned Books Week reminds us that censorship attempts to limit literary creativity and the intellectual freedom of readers and writers.
After learning more about this literary holiday, I was able to contextualize the harm of censorship, and I discovered ways that individuals can push back against book bans and exercise their right to information.
REASONS FOR BOOK BANS
Banned and challenged books are often reported based on LGBTQ+ content, sexual content, crude language, substance use/abuse, and religious content, among other things.
When an individual has a complaint regarding the content of media that is “harmful” or “offensive,” they can report a challenge to their library or school system to have the book considered for removal.
TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Before a ban goes into effect, the book must first be challenged. A challenge is an attempt to ban a book from a public organization based on the content. These challenges typically happen on a micro-level, where books are “banned” from individual libraries, retail book stores, publishing houses, and school districts. Challenges are often settled with the reshelving of a book; it may placed in a different section of a library with proper labeling suggesting that the content is not suitable for young audiences.
In some cases, book bans have been observed on the Supreme Court level and questioned for banning on the macro- level (across the United States). However, banning nationally is a more difficult process because of the First Amendment (which protects your freedom of speech and press).
While challenging a book is often done to “protect” young people from content that is not suitable for their age group, challenging a book prevents others from having access to the same content/information.
COUNTERING CENSORSHIP
The process of challenging and banning books may feel distant from you, but there are ways to make your voice heard. The American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF) offers support for those looking to report censorship through an anonymous form.
Article III in the Library Bill of Rights says that, when applicable, “libraries should challenge censorship in the fulfillment of their responsibility to provide information and enlightenment.“ Libraries exist to give people access to free media and resources that can fuel individual learning. To ban a book is to deprive people of their right to information and limit the expansion of their knowledge.
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”
The Lorax, Dr. Seuss
As the First Amendment states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” The truth is, libraries are radical and your access to potentially controversial media is not a privilege, it is a right.
One of the best ways to push back against book bans is to read the banned books.
BANNED BOOKS YOU SHOULD READ
1984 by George Orwell: A dystopian novel about rebelling from oppressive governmental control.
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: A classic novel which explores the idea of false accusations stemming from racism.
Maus and Maus II by Art Spiegelman: A graphic novel series depicting the life of the author’s father as he recounts his experience as a Holocaust survivor.
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison: A story about a young Black woman who struggles with racialized beauty standards.
PROTECT YOUR Intellectual Freedom
Intellectual freedom is “the rights of library users to read, seek information, and speak freely as guaranteed by the First Amendment.” You can, and should, read books that are challenged because of your right to intellectual freedom. If you feel inclined to do so, you should also report censorship on books you believe should be reconsidered.
“Any book worth banning is a book worth reading.”
Isaac Asimov
The ban on select literature is an attempt to silence the stories of (historically) marginalized groups and unfairly shape the American narrative. Many of the authors whose books have been banned have been made to feel shame about their LGBTQ+ or Black identities that they write into their novels. When you read a banned book, you are giving the platform back to those authors who have been silenced, and fulfilling their wish for readers to read their work! When you read a banned book, you may find that the stories are quite topical.
You will likely learn something when you read through a new perspective, one that is different from your own. Stay informed and read a banned book!