Various schools across the United States have begun reconsidering the literature made available to students, resulting in slashing texts relating to important topics and events in history.
Included in the nationwide bans are books such as Maia Kobabe’s “Gender Queer: A Memoir,” Angie Thomas’ “The Hate U Give,” Sherman Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian,” Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” and even Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.” Most of these titles, along with other banned titles, displayed LGBTQ+ or race-related topics.
Despite the increasing number of books getting banned, a group of activists in Melbourne, Fla. have recently fought back against the book bans by sparking their own revolution within their community.
According to Tovia Smith from National Public Radio (NPR), the members set up a “book nook” in their local Ben & Jerry’s store and filled the shelves with banned books.
In addition to the setup, there has been an increase in banned books appearing in Little Free Libraries all across the country.
According to the Little Free Library website, their mission is to distribute “books that provide perspectives on racism and social justice; celebrate BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and other marginalized voices.”
Having these free and accessible mini libraries and other pop-up opportunities within communities nationwide is a simple solution to a more major problem: decentralizing literature and hiding readers from the truth.
Legislators need to realize that taking away books relating to serious topics is not going to make those topics disappear completely, but instead complicate people’s understanding of culture and history.
If we swipe away books relating to LGBTQ+ topics, it will not make the LGBTQ+ community disappear, but instead make it harder for people outside the community to understand the struggles of those within the community. It will instead add to the discrimination and judgment that LGBTQ+ people face.
Similarly, if we swipe away books relating to race, the understanding of other cultures and their struggles will be unachievable. Removing books from shelves will add to the racism that people in marginalized communities go through daily.
Throughout time, writers have gone to great lengths to record history: the thoughts and feelings relating to events that affect people. Book bans are a thoughtless and insincere process that reflects poorly upon our country and the freedom of speech that our government tries so hard to uphold.
To create a more unified country and to uphold respect for others, we need to know the journey that people have taken and the struggles that make us human.
I cannot imagine the next generation growing up without these important pieces of literature that I have grown up on, that I have dissected and learned from. As a writer myself, other people’s stories have been a crucial part of my own journey. Silencing others’ voices because we are worried that children will be ‘badly influenced’ holds back the potential that our children can reach journalistically, socially, emotionally, and mentally.
If schools continue to shield children from important pieces of information that heavily affect their lives, we might as well no longer claim to be giving our children a quality education.
Nicole Dumont can be contacted at
ndumont@kscequinox.com
