By Sunita Sohrabji. Ethnic Media Services.
“Public school libraries have always been essential features of our democracy. But what we're seeing now is a real polarization of what should and shouldn't be available, driven by a few” – Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America's Reading Freedom Program.
The culture wars are raging, especially in public school libraries in southern states, with an unprecedented number of bans on books written by people of color or LGBTQIA authors.
"Public schools and their school libraries have always been essential elements of our democracy. And there have been times in history when this has been called into question and there have been pressures around what is and isn't offered in public schools," said Kasey Meehan, director of PEN America's Reading Freedom Program, in an interview on April 24 with Ethnic Media Services.
"But what we're seeing now is a real polarization and a real escalation of what should and shouldn't be available, according to some. Of course, it is never according to the many. It is run by a few," he said.
ban classics
Many of the books now banned are timeless classics, such as Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison's "The Bluest Eye," published in 1970, and Judy Blume's "Forever," published in 1975.
During the first half of the 2022-2023 school year, 1,477 instances of individual books were banned, affecting 874 unique titles, according to the "Banned in the USA" report ?Banned in the US?, published April 20 by PEN America. More than 130 books were removed from library shelves each month during that 6-month period, the report noted.
Book bans were most prevalent in Texas, Florida, Missouri, Utah and South Carolina, driven by a confluence of local actors and state-level policies, PEN noted.
Book ban in California and New York
But even progressive states have banned one or more books. Some New York school districts have banned Layla Saad's "Me and White Supremacy" and Maia Kobabe's "Gender Queer: a Memoir." Juno Dawson's "This Book Is Gay" is banned in California's William S. Hart Union High School district. The complete list of PEN America books from the last six months can be be consulted here, indexed by states.
In March, the American Library Association ?ALA, for its acronym in English? public new data documenting 1,269 book and library resource censorship lawsuits in 2022, the highest number of book ban attempts since the ALA began collecting data on library censorship two decades ago. The 2022 data was almost double the 729 challenges recorded in 2021.
Depopulation of library shelves
A record 2,571 unique titles were censored, an increase of 38 percent from the 1,858 unique titles censored in 2021, the ALA noted in its report.
In an interview with Jeffrey Brown for the PBS NewsHour, Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association's Office for Intellectual Freedom, noted that advocacy groups like Moms for Liberty, and No Left Turn in Education go to meetings of the board and require the removal of up to 100 books at a time.
“This has caused a real depopulation of the shelves in many libraries, especially in states like Florida and Texas,” he said.
From April 23 to 29, National Library Week is celebrated. This year's theme is "There's More to the Story."
freedom to read
The COVID-19 pandemic spurred activism, as parents organized to reopen schools or keep them virtual. That activism later extended to course curricula, the books taught, as well as book bans, Meehan said.
“There has been a real effort to be more inclusive and more representative in school libraries and in classrooms, to have books with LGBTQ plus characters, books with characters of color. This is the backlash to that effort, to ensure that those books are not included," he said.
"When we think about what the freedom to read means, it means being able to access a range of diverse ideas, stories and knowledge that represent ourselves and also allow us to see and learn about others who may be different from us," he said. Meehan. "Books that reflect students who historically have not been able to see themselves represented in school library materials are now subject to bans."
“It is certainly detrimental not to have that opportunity to see yourself reflected in the characters in the books, and in your family, your religion and your culture. All of these things are so important in learning and in reading and free reading," Meehan said.
A wider range of prohibitions
In the six-month period analyzed by the PEN report, 30 percent of the unique titles banned were books about race or racism, or featuring characters of color. Meanwhile, 26 percent of unique titles banned had LGBTQIA characters or themes.
The PEN report also reveals that the bans on books during this school year affect an increasing number of titles, including those that portray violence and abuse ?44 percent?, deal with health and well-being issues ?38 percent? and address death and grief ?30 percent?.
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