I Like Banned Books and I Cannot Lie

 There have been lots of reports of fights over books in schools this past year. Whether it’s Dr. Seuss or school districts in Texas or Pennsylvania, the goal is the same. Censorship. Censorship is something I feel very strongly about.  So much so that I wrote a paper about it. When we ban books, we are denying free speech.  But beyond that we are also denying ourselves and our children of an opportunity to not only learn about things that we don’t have direct experience with but also the opportunity to talk about these things. 

Two books that I have learned the most from are on the list of books that are the most challenged.  The Hate U Give and All American Boys. I am a middle-aged white woman, therefore, I see the world through the eyes of a middle-aged white woman. Books can give me a glimpse through a window into a world I don’t understand because I don’t experience the world in that manner. For example, before I read The Hate U Give, I assumed that if you sold drugs you were a criminal and therefore a bad person. I never stopped to think about why someone might be selling drugs. While there are some who chose to do that, there are others who are in such a state of desperation that they feel they have no choice. For example, a character in the book lived with his grandmother who lost her job in a hospital because she had cancer and could no longer perform all aspects of her job. So, the character, a high schooler, had to support his family and make sure his grandmother could get the care she needed. He worked in a supermarket but with that job he could afford to feed his family or keep the electricity on. Selling drugs, he could afford both. 

If you are not faced with a scenario like this, you can’t understand it.  I’m not saying even now that I understand what that level of desperation is like but at least through The Hate U Give, I got a glimpse into that world and can see that there are lots of gray areas and empathy is needed in these situations. They aren’t as cut and dry as I originally thought.  If this book is banned, how will anyone ever learn that lesson?  

In honor of banned books week this week, I will close with a quote from Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. from his report on the case U.S. v. Schwimmer in 1928.  He wrote, “If there is any principle of the Constitution that more imperatively calls for attachment than any other it is the principle of free thought - not free thought for those who agree with us but freedom for the thought that we hate.”  This philosophy is something that we should keep in mind now as unpopular opinions, points of view, books and even scientific studies are being censored.  Nothing can do more harm to our society than censorship.