Read Banned Books!
Pittsburgh Freethought Community is proud to celebrate Banned
Books Week during September 18–24, 2022. Banned Books Week is
the annual celebration of the freedom to read.
A coalition of organizations dedicated to free expression,
including the American Library Association, Comic Book Legal
Defense Fund, Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression,
Freedom to Read Foundation, Lambda Literary, National Council
of Teachers of English, PEN America, and the People For the
American Way Foundation, sponsors this event.
As an organization in Southwestern Pennsylvania dedicated to
freedom of thought, PFC endorses the event's motto:
“Books Unite Us. Censorship Divides Us.”
A book challenge is an attempt to remove or
restrict materials based upon the objections of an individual
or group. Challenges do not simply involve a person expressing
a point of view. They are attempts to remove material from a
curriculum, library, or bookstore because of its content,
ideas, or themes, thereby restricting other people's right to
read it.
A book ban is the successful removal of those
materials. The commitment of librarians, educators, parents,
students, and citizens prevents most challenges from succeeding
and ensures that most materials remain in school curricula,
public library collections, and bookstores. Book banning is a
form of censorship.
Anyone or any group can initiate a book challenge: parents,
library patrons, political and religious groups, educators,
elected officials, and students. The vast majority of challenges
occur in school libraries, public libraries, and individual
schools.
Although books are the most frequently challenged material,
films, graphic novels, textbooks, library programs and displays,
music, artwork, and electronic databases also face challenges.
The most frequently stated reasons include alleged explicit
sexual content, violence, child abuse, LGBTQ content, profanity,
religious or political viewpoints, race or ethnicity viewpoints,
unsuitability for children, lack of literary merit, or claims
that material contains “harmful,” “hurtful,” “hateful,” “hate
speech,” or “problematic” themes. Both the Left and the Right,
liberals and conservatives, can be censorious.
The American Library Association tracks the annual number of
book challenges across the country and compiles an annual list
of the most frequently challenged books.
In 2021, the Top 10 titles were Gender Queer by Maia
Kobabe, Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison,
All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson,
Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez,
The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas,
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by
Sherman Alexie, Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse
Andrews, The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison,
This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson, and
Beyond Magenta by Susan Kuklin.
These books contain many of the themes mentioned above.
However, ALA emphasizes that its annual Top 10 lists are only a
snapshot of book challenges. Surveys indicate that 82–97% of
documented requests to remove materials from schools or
libraries remain unreported and receive no media attention.
We are not alone. According to surveys from ALA and other
groups, at least two-thirds of eligible voters oppose censorship
in libraries and schools.
PFC encourages all of us to fight book challenges and bans. You
can contact local, state, and federal elected officials to oppose
censorship in any form. No individual, group, or government has
the right to determine what everyone else is allowed to read,
hear, and watch.
Most importantly, read banned books!
Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin wrote,
“A mind needs books as a sword needs a whetstone, if it is to
keep its edge.”
If someone wants to ban a book, it probably contains information
that we need to read. The more familiar we are with challenged
material, the more effectively we can fight challenges when they
occur.
PFC stands with all organizations fighting for our freedom to
read, write, and think for ourselves.
Sources and action resources