Why are calls for book bans on the rise in America?

What is causing the spike in book challenges?

It’s worth specifying that there’s a difference between a book ‘challenge’ and a total ban. A challenge is considered an attempt to remove or restrict text based on their content, which can result in it being redacted, limited to certain age groups, or only accessed through special permission.

Schoolboard officials, local and state-wide lawmakers, and activists sometimes challenge books, but in the last year, the most frequent group doing so are parents of children, according to the American Library Association (ALA).

America’s century-old ‘culture wars’ have set the stage for this kind of debate to erupt, with white, often religious parents worried that their values and way of life are threatened by liberal views depicted in certain books.

And what better way to mobilise a bunch of older conservatives against liberal ideologies than Facebook? That’s right, social media and its polarising echo chambers have been pinpointed as a catalyst for ongoing book challenges.

Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, said ‘I’ve never seen anything like it,’ in 22 years of working for the organisation. She notes how Facebook groups have been used to create lists of ‘obscenity in school libraries’.

These posts then go viral amongst other concerned conservatives on the platform, leading to movement that challenges access to the literature across entire states.

Books that have been challenged

It’s ironic that several novels now considered universal literary classics were once banned for containing subject matter deemed ‘too controversial’ at their time of writing, from To Kill a Mockingbird, The Grapes of Wrath, The Colour Purple, and 1984.

Today, books that include Critical Race Theory, the academic concept which focuses on describing racism as systemic, rooted in policy and laws, have come to the centre of the debate.

Conservative parents across the country believe these books are ‘divisive’ and responsible for giving white children a negative self-image. In reference to a children’s book outlining Ruby Bridge’s experience of being Black in racially segregated America, one parent said, ‘It leaves kids feeling bad. History should be taught but teach [it] without agenda or ideology.’

The novel–made-motion-picture The Hate U Give has been banned in school for its alleged anti-police agenda, and on top of this, a graphic novel outlining the Holocaust titled Haus and written for young audiences, has also been banned.

In light of the Don’t Say Gay Bill passed in the state of Florida, which banned teachers from including lessons on sexual orientation in their lessons, books primarily focused on the LGBTQ+ experience such as All Boys Aren’t Blue, This Book is Gay, Lawn Boy, and Gender Queer, have all been challenged for removal from schools and libraries.

Do book bans work and what do they accomplish?

Sorry to those campaigning, but book bans won’t accomplish too much in terms of limiting children’s exposure to content or ideals deemed as ‘controversial’.

While kids may not get their hands on the glossy cover of an LGBTQ+ memoir or a book on Critical Race Theory during grade school, nothing can stop of them from strolling into a public library or spending their lunch money in shops with dedicated sections for banned books (which actually exist, by the way).

Simply scour the comments sections of YouTube videos and forums discussing book bans and you’ll find most agree that banning a piece of literature only makes the act of reading it more appealing. This is perfectly demonstrated by the book sales of Gender Queer, which shot up 120 percent after being challenged in various states.

What book bans do accomplish, however, is limit the opportunities of marginalised authors by preventing them from having their books in schools. And for children growing up without access to the disposable income required for buying novels, this opportunity will be unfairly stripped from them.

But it’s worth mentioning that the internet – where children and young people spend most of their waking hours – is brimming with content that discusses sex, sexuality, gender, and outlines real experiences of prejudice, race, and racism, within apps like TikTok, Twitter, and Instagram.

We aren’t living in the 1920s anymore. Most of the questions young people have about the world can be answered with a few taps of a screen, and online communities often provide more explicit or questionable answers than teachers give inside regulated classrooms.

So which would you rather?

There are numerous examples of how in-depth school lessons on the ‘dark’ parts of history serve to benefit society, rather than corrupting or making them more divisive.

Germany is well known for addressing its turbulent political history, with upwards of 25 museums and memorial dedicated to the Holocaust. Germany even has a word for coming to terms with reconciling the events of the Holocaust and the war – Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung.

Since 2005, German public schools have been mandated to discuss WWII and its broader social contexts in order to give students a better understanding of the modern political landscape.

While it’s not totally free of radicalism or racism, Germany’s willingness to fully engage with its history has been respected around the world. This is in massive contrast to America, a country notorious for brushing over troubling or upsetting realities.

Regardless of whether books are banned or not, young people cannot (and will not) be shielded from our weird and wacky world forever.

In an increasingly interconnected global society, opportunities to discover and learn about different ideologies, concepts, and identities are endless. So why not let it happen in classrooms, where it can be done correctly?