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Observations from a librarian on book banning [1]

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Date: 2023-03-11

Librarian rant. Sorry.

The book banners continue their cultish behavior, going after any book they're told to by...well, you know who's doing it.

And you'll see claim after claim after claim after claim after claim that "nobody is banning books" and that they just want "appropriate books" on the shelves.

Well, let's look at these claims.

First of all censoring a book is banning the book. Anyone that tells you otherwise is just ignorant. Or willfully lying for their own ends. If you've made the text of a book unavailable for some reason, you've banned it. And that's according to professionals like the American Library Association and also the US court system and Supreme Court with decisions like Island Tree vs Pico. Or Counts vs Cedarwood School District. Or Sund vs. City of Wichita. Or Case vs. Unified School District No. 233. And many others over decades of court cases, at both the state and federal level.

"But" they say, "anyone can go to the public library so it's not REALLY banned if you yank it from the school library!"

No.

No, no, no. Nope. Nuh uh. No.

I have high school students that tell me they've NEVER been in a public library before. Which means their parents never took them there. And for many kids, public libraries are limited by distance. A kid that lives five miles outside of town probably isn't walking to the public library.

"But they can go to a bookstore or buy it on Amazon!"

Nope.

A student who lives in a hotel with a dozen other family members and is a missed paycheck or layoff away from homelessness isn't going to be buying books, are they now? Yeah, sit down and shut your bad self up. A parent that doesn't value reading isn't going to drop cash for books for their kid.

Besides, this argument is roughly the equivalent of saying "The Nazis didn't REALLY ban books in the 1930's because Germans could still go to France and buy them there! So there!"

"But they can find it on the internet!"

Sigh.

Ok, if they're not going to the public library, they probably don't have a public library CARD, which means they can't check out ebook or audiobooks.

And again with the families without economic means. You think they have regular access to internet and devices? Questionable.

"They can find a copy and download it!"

You mean, like, illegally? You're really advocating they break the law and download a pirated copy to get around your stupid ban? Really? Listen to yourself.

And gosh, let's looky here. An English teacher in Texas was suspended and either quit or was fired (depending on which story you believe) because she shared a QR code to the Brooklyn Public Library. Because the BPL is offering free library access to ebooks to students across the US to many of the books being challenged.

And now the State Secretary of Education is demanding the state Board of Education revoke that English teacher's license. In other words, the book banners are actively trying to destroy her career.

But do go on about how you're all about this not REALLY being a ban and the books are available in SOOOO many other places. Sure, Jan.

"But these books are PORNOGRAPHIC!!1!"

Oh? Have you actually READ them?

Well? Have you?

"Well, no, but I've seen excerpts and they are FILTHY!"

Then 1) Go. Through. Your. Schools. Challenge. Process. Don't go AROUND it by storming the school board and threatening their lives if they don't do what you want.

and 2) You've read something out of context. Go. Read. The. Book. Don't just believe what some fool TOLD you to be angry about. Educate yourself. Then make your case in the appropriate way. Really, librarians don't bite. We really don't. If there is something genuinely inappropriate on the shelves, we're willing to hear you out.

and 3) Oh? All of them are filthy? Pornographic. Hmmm. Let me look at a few of those 850 titles that Texas state Gov. Abbott and Texas state representative Krause want to ban from school classrooms and libraries.

So, what was it that was pornographic?

Was it the Legal Atlas of the United States? That one? Lots of explicit sex scenes in THAT one. Man, just the title sounds racy, right? Ooof. Someone pour some ice water on me.

Or was it maybe We the Students: Supreme Court Cases for and About Students?

Or Teen Legal Rights?

The Confessions of Nat Turner? A fictionalized account of the 1831 Nat Turner Slave Rebellion, written in 1968 by Pulitzer Prize winner William Styron? And was a finalist for the National Book Awards 1968 for Fiction? Lots of steamy sex scenes in that one? Sounds like a regular "50 Shades of Gray," huh? Feel free to tell me all about how pornographic this one is. Go ahead. I'll wait.

Or is it An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States for Young People? The Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears?

The 57 Bus? A nonfiction book about an incident on a bus where one teen set another on fire and was charged with a hate crime? Lots of porn in that one, is there?

The Latino/a condition: a critical reader?

Oooh, how about They called themselves the K.K.K.: the birth of an American terrorist group? Huh. Well, gosh if it doesn't have lots of porn and explicit sex in it, I wonder why this one's on the list? Things that make you go Hmmmmm.

Life, Death and Sacrifice: Women and Family in the Holocaust? Another one to make you wonder why it's on the list, eh?

Inventions and Inventors?

You are the Supreme Court justice?

I can keep going. Oh, hey, let's think about a few NOT on THAT list but have been challenged, like Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl. Maus? The Hate U Give?

Go ahead. Tell me all about how they're "pornographic."

"But they're not appropriate!"

According to WHO? You? Why do YOU get to make that decision for other parents' children? In the 80's a church group tried to get Charlotte's Web banned because "talking animals are blasphemous." You cool with that?

"But people have banned Huck Finn and Dr. Seuss and To Kill a Mockinbird and..."

Uh...no. Not really. And if people have tried to get them off of school library shelves, they're as wrong as you are. "But they did it first!" doesn't work even on the playground in third grade. Are you really going to try it HERE and expect it to work?

But one problem is people are conflating REQUIRE READING lists and library books. There's a difference. Required reading is just that...required. And reading lists get revised from time to time. To Kill a Mockingird and Huck Finn are getting dropped from REQUIRED reading lists in favor of more modern works that will speak to today's students. They are not, to my knowledge, coming off library shelves, and if they are being challenged, I expect my fellow librarians to follow the challenge process just as they would for YOUR challenges -- assuming you bother to follow the process and not just slander the librarian on social media (Full disclaimer, this week I've finally checked the box of being called a "Groomer" not just once, but twice. And a pedophile once. And a freak. And a Marxist. Nice people, these book banners.)

As for Dr. Seuss, the books that are no longer being published aren't being pulled from libraries, except as any part of the regular weeding process. And it was the Foundation handling Seuss' estate that made the decision. In other words, the legal owner of the works made the voluntary decision to no longer publish them.

That's their right to do. No censorship or banning going on there. Books go out of print all the time for a lot of reasons.

"But you can't have EVERY book on the shelves so YOU'RE really the book banner! Hah! Checkmate!"

And that's why librarians take graduate level courses on things like Young Adult Literature, and Collection Development. Yes, we make choices about what to put in the school library. But we try to do it withing professional guidelines to maintain a diverse collection that will appeal to a wide audience and meet a variety of needs. And that's why we rely on other librarians, professional book reviewers, and book awards, and similar things to help guide our decisions.

We are professionals. Professionals who want their students to want to read, to be excited to read, to have books that will entertain them, but also make them think, to learn new things, to put themselves in the shoes of another. To see themselves. To see others. That's what we want. That's our "agenda." Getting your kid to read a book. The horror. No wonder you want to stomp us down.

Are we perfect? No, and we don't claim to be. And that's why the challenge process exists. It's there for a reason, and yes, sometimes challenges ARE valid. But don't abuse it.

And by all things holy, if you're going to try to challenge a book...Read. The. Book.

[END]
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