Book bans are not about books: Update

In my original August 2023 post, I set out how book bans are about so much more than books. It seemed like a good time to update this piece as the forces at play are stronger than ever.

Book bans are not so much about the content of specific books as they are about instilling fundamental Christian nationalism, packaged in a glossy white box with a pink OR blue bow, and sold to Americans as “grassroots efforts to protect our children.” The movements hawking that box are proclaiming loudly that America will be safe when it is white, straight, wealthy, patriarchal, and bound by biblically self-justified moralistic rules, handpicked from a 2000-year old text.

This may seem like an extreme interpretation about the actions of a few, “innocent soccer moms” who have proclaimed themselves to be “moms for ‘liberty’” and “joyful warriors” but their end game is far from innocent and far more insidious than they let on. The short-game is to destabilize and create chaos. The long-game is to dismantle public libraries and privatize public schools using voucher systems. Private schools where the white, Christian national narrative can be indoctrinated and strictly controlled.

Do books still hold power?

It could be argued that the days of the printed word are at an end and that “kids these days” are consume only digital content, streamed to them on their phones, tablets, and computers. Instead, publishing still carries immense power in shaping our societal norms. In an article in the National Education Association’s neaToday newsletter, author Mary Ellen Flannery provides a beautiful description of books: Books are mirrors and windows. Mirrors of who we are. Windows into the experiences of others.

Books reflect the diverse aspects of human experience through thoughts, ideas, and emotions. They provide an opportunity for self-discovery and introspection by allowing readers to see themselves in characters and situations. When a child picks up a book and sees their own face – their own experience – reflected on the pages, they can see that they are part of their community and the overall society in which they reside. They learn that their story matters, that their face is important to the American tapestry, that their experience counts.

Books also offer readers the opportunity to step into the shoes of characters from different backgrounds, cultures, and life circumstances. This window fosters empathy, understanding, and a broader worldview. To stand in the shoes of a character as they gaze out at the world and observe reality through their eyes is a powerful, beautiful way to expand horizons.

When reflections are skewed – or missing – and those windows are closed, we all lose that opportunity for engagement and connection to our community. For Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native, immigrant, and LGBTQ+ students, this is particularly important as they live in a world every day where they are stereotyped and/or overlooked in popular culture. Finding themselves in the pages of the few books written by or about who they are, provides one of the few connection points available to them.

Groups like Moms for Liberty, know all of this and they do not want our Black, Brown, immigrant, and LGBTQ+ students to feel included or accepted in their schools, homes, or in society at large. Attacks against teaching our history — good and bad — while accepting youth for who they were born to be, are organized, intentional, and start with banning the books that might teach otherwise.

These groups want only white students to find themselves in the pages of a book. They want they want the story to be comfortable and affirming. They discourage opportunities for these white students to learn about and gain empathy for thers who do not look them or come from a diverse life experience.

Stories and images that personalize “alternate” stories and people are a threat and these groups double down on the idea that those who share them are “groomers” and claim they’re “indoctrinating helpless [white] children” who must be protected. Protected from seeing their world broadly, through the eyes of others not like them, and accepting a society based in diversity of thought and action.

Make no mistake, books are powerful.

Don’t book bans just make those books more popular and sought out?

It could be argued that banning a book simply makes it more popular. That kids see titles on a list of books they shouldn’t read and are even more encouraged to seek them out. In some rare, highly publicized cases, this was true. The graphic novel, Maus, gained international notoriety with its banned status.

Unfortunately, the idea that banning a novel gives it a broader audience misses the point that removing it from public and school libraries means taking it from those who have the least access and need it the most. The most marginalized, the misunderstood, those who do not possess a cell phone, a computer with an internet connection, transportation to a bookseller, and/or a credit card. Those who are desperate to find their face reflected in the pages that would show they’re connected to our collective “we.”

Outside of the library, book bans also have a chilling effect on the books publishers choose to bring to market, in print or digitally. Suzanne Nossel, Chief Executive Officer of PEN American, the leading human rights and free expression organization, frequently talks about the view that banning books fans their popularity and increases sales.

[Publishers are] very cognizant of [books that have been banned]… They run national businesses and they have distribution in Florida, in Texas. A lot of them rely heavily on the school market for children’s and young adult books. And so, they can’t afford to ignore it. They’re very alarmed by it.

That’s why Penguin Random House joined us in our lawsuit that we filed in Escambia County, Florida to challenge one of the most egregious patterns of book banning that we had seen. We’re talking with other publishers that really recognize that their business and also the values that they stand for, the basic fundamental freedom to read, is at stake and eroding in our culture and that we need to push back.

It doesn’t end there. We do not have to look far to see how movements, sparked with book bans, spread to the enactment of draconian laws that go far beyond the library shelf. In late 2022 in Russia, a law that had initially been aimed at restricting access to books with LGBT themes available to children was expanded to include restricting the “demonstration of ‘LGBT behavior,’ making any expression of a LGBT lifestyle almost impossible.” It also includes that “any action or information that is considered an attempt to promote homosexuality – whether in public, online, or in films, books or advertising” – could incur a heavy fine.

These laws have been used by authorities in Russia in a campaign to stop gay pride marches and detain gay rights activists. Civil rights organizations point out that the new law “is intended to drive so-called ‘non-traditional’ LGBT lifestyles practiced by lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people out of public life altogether.”

It started with book bans in Russia. It started with book bans in Nazi Germany. It’s not just about the books.

Bigger than the books, book bans are a power play

Banning books is a tool used by those in power to control the flow of information and shape public opinion. By limiting access to certain ideas or narratives, they maintain their authority and prevent dissenting or progressive ideas from gaining traction. This control over information is a powerful way to influence society’s perceptions and values.

In a 2022 Café Insider podcast, Joanne Freeman and Heather Cox Richardson discuss bans from this perspective:

Freeman: “[T]he bans say, we, the people doing the banning, have the power to make this decision and enforce it. These decisions about books and what people can and can’t read, they’re about inclusion and exclusion. They’re about people performing these power gestures…

The ban itself is significant, is wrongheaded, is anti-democratic. But part of what’s happening right now is these performative moments in which certain people are on the one hand, claiming that they have the right and the power to decide whether other people have access to, and then throwing this into the atmosphere as a political calling card to bring people who will have an emotional response to this, to their side.

So even as we…  can sit here and rail against what banning books means, and the many ways in which that’s anti-democratic, part of what we’re looking at here is people of a particular political persuasion making a power play that says they have the right to make these decisions, and in doing so, they have the right to say who is included and who is excluded among the national we.”

Defining the “national we.” Powerful words, especially in the hands of those who want to ensure that the defined “we” is made up of a very specific, privileged group.

Bans on the rise

Despite lacking support from a majority of Americans, the number of bans across the country has exploded. According to WordsRated, a non-commercial, international research data and analytics group, there were 273 unique titles challenged in 2020. By 2021, that number had increased to 1,597. So far in 2023, there have been 2,571 unique titles challenged.

Update: 2023 numbers were as eye-popping as feared with a total of 4,240 unique efforts to ban book titles in schools and public libraries. This was a 65 percent increase from 2022.

Most challenges have been filed by a very, very small minority. According to an in-depth study by The Washington Post: “The majority of the 1,000-plus book challenges analyzed by The Post were filed by just 11 people. Each of these people brought 10 or more challenges against books in their school district; one man filed 92 challenges. Together, these serial filers constituted 6 percent of all book challengers — but were responsible for 60 percent of all filings.”

Often, we hear that book bans are about “parental rights.” As it stands, the war cry to protect the rights of a very small number of citizens are eroding the parental rights for the majority of Americans. Dr. Jessica Powell, Associate Professor in the Department of Education & Curriculum at the Southern Connecticut State University, reminds us that public education is about children’s rights. “Schools are designed to serve children. And yes, families are all part of that but if we are deciding on policy and we’re deciding on rules and curriculum, then we must think about the rights of children. The rights of all children.”

One more time. The rights of all children, not just those who are white, straight, and fundamentalist Christian.

Are book bans popular?

Probably most perplexing is that these bans are being brought forward by a few, very loud, very organized groups and yet book banning in general is vastly unpopular among Americans, regardless of political party affiliation. The American Library Association (ALA) reports that 71% of Americans are against efforts to remove books from their local public libraries. Politically this breaks down into 75% of Democrats oppose the bans, 58% of independents, and 70% of Republicans.

The study (conducted through an independent firm) went on to ask respondents about their trust in librarians (both in public schools and in public libraries) to make decisions about appropriate books and their findings showed that “most voters and parents hold librarians in high regard, have confidence in their local libraries to make good decisions about what books to include in their collections, and agree that libraries in their communities do a good job offering books that represent a variety of viewpoints.” Note: More detailed findings in references.

And yet, there it is and here we are. The groups advocating for and propagating a majority of requests to ban books are coming a small and very loud, minority. A minority bent on dividing us and causing enough discord that the very existence of public schools and public libraries are coming into question.

As a prime example, a tiny public library in Dayton, Washington came under attack in late 2022. It started with a request by a parent, Jessica Ruffcorn, to ban specific books.

When [Librarian] Vandenbark and his colleagues, backed up by the library’s five-member board of trustees, refused to cave to Ruffcorn’s demands, the group went for the nuclear option, circulating a petition to put a measure on this year’s November ballot to dissolve the library system altogether. If it succeeds, the community will lose its library and all the services that the institution offers to residents in the town and the surrounding rural county—a stark small-town example of the changes a growing movement is trying to make across America.

Update: In August of 2023, the Columbia County-based group, Neighbors for Progress, filed a lawsuit to stop the measure from showing up on the ballot in the 2023 election. In their press release, they stated that the proposition calling for the closure of the library was simply “censorship by another name.” However, their petition took a more focused legal challenge:

“The complaint alleges that the Unincorporated County has exceeded its initiative powers; the petition and ballot processes conflict with the federal and state constitutions; the dissolution statute, as applied, unconstitutionally disqualifies City residents; and the petition process was plagued with fraud.”

On September 20, 2023, Columbia County Superior Court Commissioner, Julie Karl blocked the Columbia County Auditor’s Office from printing ballots with the measure. She stated in court that dissolving the library would be an “irreparable loss” to the community because of the diverse services it provides aside from books, noting its resources for people who are low-income or who do not have housing.

The Dayton Public Library managed to survive the challenge but the fight that was required stands as a harsh reminder of just how far those pushing books bans are willing to go to achieve their goals. Goals that are far loftier than just removing books from shelves.

Once again, book bans are not just about the books.

Book bans are about asserting control and establishing a narrative for our country that is white, straight, Christian, and patriarchal. Groups like Moms for Liberty are using book bans to stir up communities and create discord, although as previously mentioned, this is not their long-game.

The long-game is to fill school boards with likeminded, white Christian Nationalists bent, not on making our public schools a better place but rather to shut them down. They are focused on creating legislation in states that provides the legal stick heavy enough to make this happen. This legislation, once codified, will have a chilling effect on our democracy that will take years to unwind.

This is the time to resist this suppression. By recognizing the importance of books as mirrors and windows, individuals and communities can resist book bans and protect our right to access information, explore diverse perspectives, and engage in critical thinking. Perhaps this is our tipping point to use these bans to spark conversations about the importance of intellectual freedom and the dangers of censorship.

Dig deep and make your own decisions but recognize the motivations behind these bans so that we can better advocate for diversity of thought and the importance of open dialog in our society. We need to defuse these white boxes, tied with pink OR blue bows, presented in the name of “protecting the children” and the messengers that carry them.

We can do this through full disclosure, action, and truth that we want a diverse country where all students are heard and safe. We need to call out Christian nationalism for the thinly veiled white supremacy it is. And we need to make it clear that these white hooded “warriors” are not us or fighting our war.

Ours is a battle to protect our public education system, to support our teachers, and to ensure that the public dialog remains inclusive of all individuals. This, regardless of race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or the unique mirror and window we each offer and share.

What can we do?

• Attend school board meetings in your area and pay attention. Be involved.

• Remind people that a majority of Americans do not support book bans and act accordingly.

• Research the financial backing of all school board candidates. Follow the money. Pay attention to the mission and goals of backers just as much as the stated goals of the candidate themselves.

• Push for use of methods where individual parents can stop their own children from books that they disagree with while keeping the books in libraries where the majority of parents can still allow access.

• Get involved with groups like Red, Wine & Blue who are actively working to protect our public schools.

• https://redwine.blue/

• Vote like public schools are under attack – because they are. Vote like democracy is under attack – because it is.

• And help kids in your communities find books that reflect their true selves and open windows and doors for further exploration. There’s a big, wonderful, diverse world out there and our kids deserve to experience it.

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American Library Association (ALA) findings in their report dated March 22, 2022:

Most voters and parents hold librarians in high regard, have confidence in their local libraries to make good decisions about what books to include in their collections, and agree that libraries in their communities do a good job offering books that represent a variety of viewpoints.

• Nine in 10 voters (90%) and parents (92%) have a favorable opinion of librarians who work in local public libraries and school libraries.

• Voters across the political spectrum say public libraries (89% of all voters and 95% of Democrats, 78% of independents, 87% of Republicans) and school libraries (92% of all voters and 96% of Democrats, 85% of independents, 91% of Republicans) play an important role in communities and schools.

Most voters are confident in local public libraries to make good decisions about their collections and think libraries do a good job representing a variety of viewpoints.

• Nearly eight in 10 voters (79%) and parents (79%) say libraries in their community do a good job of offering books that represent a variety of viewpoints, a sentiment held by majorities of Democrats (89%), independents (77%) and Republicans (70%), and by majorities of voters across demographic backgrounds.

• Three in four voters (75%) are confident in local public libraries to make good decisions about what books to include in their collections, and 74% of parents are confident in public school libraries’ decisions about their collections.

Majorities of public school parents affirm that various types of books should be available in school libraries on an age-appropriate basis.

• This includes works about U.S. History that focus on the role of slavery and racism in shaping America today, such as the “1619 Project” (84%); works of literature that use racial slurs, such as “Huckleberry Finn,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and “Of Mice and Men” (82%); novels for young adults that portray police violence against Black people, such as “Ghost Boys” and “The Hate U Give” (68%); fiction and non-fiction books about lesbian, gay, and transgender individuals, such as “George” and “This Day in June” (65%); and works of fiction that have sexually explicit content, including scenes of sexual violence, such as “Beloved” and “Looking for Alaska” (57%)

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References:

Flatt, Courtney. Measure to dissolve Dayton’s library won’t be on fall ballot. Northwest Public Broadcasting. September 22, 2023. Link here.

Nossel, Suzanne. Op-Ed: The recent onslaught of book bans is a strategic part of wider attacks on our democracy. Los Angeles Times. February 20, 2022. Link here.

Nossel, Suzanne & Preet Bharara. Book Bans & Free Speech (with Suzanne Nossel). Café Insider podcast. June 28, 2023. Link here.

Freeman, Joanne & Heather Cox Richardson. Bans, Schools, & Power: False Majorities. Café Insider podcast. June 22, 2022. Link here.

Abramsky, Sasha. The Small-Town Library that Became a Culture War Battleground. The Nation. August 7, 2023. Link here.

Books by and/or about Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (All Years). Link here.

Lapin/JTA, Andrew. ‘Anne Frank pornography’ being banned in Florida, Texas schools.   The Jerusalem Post. June 13, 2023. Link here. 

Merriam-Webster definition of nationalism: Link here.

Hlywak, Stephanie. Large majorities of voters oppose book bans and have confidence in libraries. American Library Association. March 24, 2022. Link here.

Natasnon, Hannah, Objection to sexual, LGBTQ content propels spike in book challenges. The Washington Post. June 9, 2023. Link here.

AMA: Teaching Race and Equity in Schools: Facts Over Fiction! With Dr. Jessica Powell. Red, Wine & Blue. Aired live, August 22, 2023. Link below.

Suliman, Adela. Georgia teacher fired after reading book on gender to fifth-grade class. The Washington Post. August 19, 2023. Link here.

Russian parliament passes law banning ‘LGBT propaganda’ among adults. Reuters. November 24, 2022. Link here.

Szakacs, Gergely & Alicja Ptak. As Hungary’s anti-LGBT law takes effect, some teachers are defiant. Reuters. July 8, 2021. Link here.