America has a book banning problem

“I had thought America was against totalitarianisms. If so, surely it is important for young people to be able to recognize the signs of them. One of those signs is book-banning. Need I say more?”

– Margaret Atwood, responding to news of her books being banned in Leander, Texas

From banning books by Walt Whitman to Allen Ginsberg, and from Toni Morrison to Margaret Atwood – there’s a long history of hysteria and authoritarianism around preventing books that will open minds and change hearts from getting into the hands of readers in America.

This week is National Library Week. Which makes one think of book bans, and why they’ve become so prevalent. Another sign of the country gone mad with authoritarians trying to take more and more rights away?

PEN America has put out this short list of some of the most recent banned books titles:

Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe

All Boys Aren’t Blue by George M. Johnson

Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison

Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Pérez

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out by Susan Kuklin

The fact that Toni Morrison, one of the greatest writers this country has ever had is on this list is an American tragedy. The fact that any of these books are on a banned book list in this country, in the year 2023 is an American tragedy.

The book banning across the United States, that’s accelerated year by year is one step away from book burning, and is a national disgrace.

Groups demanding that books be restricted or removed from libraries in the United States rose by 38% in 2022.

Removing books from school and public libraries is undemocratic thought control.

Where is the right for freedom of choice, freedom of thought, freedom of curiosity for every reader, in 2023?

Most books bans are put in place to stop students from their right to read freely, by organizations whose sole purpose is banning books, censoring books, keeping books deemed inappropriate reading matter – due to LGBTQ+ themes or characters, people of color as the main protagonist, books that directly deal with racism, books containing any form of sexual experiences or relationships conveying sexuality, and anything to do with activism and standing up for one’s rights.

In other words, teenagers need to be protected from the regular course of being curious and alive in the world.

If you’re against reading freely and liberally, natural curiosity, a far-ranging interest in knowledge, you’re doing nothing but trying to turn the culture backwards, and that’s not going to work.

Trying to remove any trace of LGBTQ+ books, and any books with characters confronting race/racism in today’s world? Have you thought about how impossible this is?

If your goal is to stop kids from getting titles they want to read, and prevent them from getting a copy in their school library, or local public library, there’s this thing called the Internet, and most cities still have bookstores you can walk into and buy books.

The majority of citizens in the United States are against book banning.

School libraries are being attacked by far-right organizations with blocking freedom of thought as their main goal.

Books that reflect characters like themselves back to a student could save or change their life.

Previously, they could easily find such a book at their school library, or their local library.

If physical books are being banned in their city, town, county, or state, students do have an eBook choice at their fingertips.

In response to books being censored and librarians and authors being silenced across the country, the Brooklyn Public Library started Books Unbanned. Students anywhere in the United States between the ages of 13 and 21 are invited to apply for a free Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) eCard.

Open your mind to the ideas you are interested in knowing more about.

Like all art, books save lives.

Stories where a reader recognizes themselves are life-saving stories.

Banning these types of diverse and inclusionary books is unconscionable.

The New Now is available in paperback or eBook format, on Amazon.