One day all these books could be gone. Photo courtesy of IStockphoto.
SLOANE MACARTHUR | OPINION COLUMNIST | mmacarthur@butler.edu
Books have served as a catalyst of information and storytelling for all ages. Not only do they further the purpose of educational growth, but they are also a way for people to escape their reality and join a new world.
However, books are currently being pulled off the shelves of libraries and schools by individuals because they deem them as “unsuitable.” That “unsuitable nature” the extremists are so worried about are books that have LGBTQIA+ characters, or the main character talks about what it is like to be a person of color, because God forbid we let our youth read about other experiences rather than the white, heteronormative one.
First-year history-anthropology major Addie Dobry believes that when books are being banned it isn’t for the sake of the child.
“[It’s never] people trying to ban books for the sake of their child,” Dobry said. “More of the sake of them pushing [book banning] for their own ideals.”
Banning books is a political statement, used to minimize and devalue other voices that are not perpetuating dominant narratives. There have been over 10,000 banned books in America in the 2023-2024 academic school year. Some books that have been banned or challenged in 2024 are “All Boys Aren’t Blue”, “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” and “This Book is Gay”.
Each one of these titles references the LGBTQIA+ experience. These books were chosen to be banned or challenged because of their “sexually explicit” material. Children read books about superheroes before they go to bed and in the morning they don’t wake up as the next Iron Man. So if a child reads a book where the main character is gay, they are not going to wake up in the morning and be gay.
First-year biochemistry major Marisa Somai believes there is a certain type of book being banned.
“[Any book] that [has] anything to do with queer media [is banned],” Somai said. “[Especially] books that have a [controversial] background with history.”
Books are banned out of fear — the fear of change, the fear that as a society we will change. We cannot move forward as a society without change. What children are reading is low on the priority list of things we need to worry about when it comes to the well-being of children.
Republican politicians should be worried that children are not safe in school, not about the books that depict a main character with a different religious background or for having a political viewpoint. The United States maintains to be the country with the most school shootings in the world. As of Sept. 19, 2023, there have been 50 school shootings. From 2000 to 2022 there have been 328 casualties, 131 of those resulting in the death of a child in the elementary to secondary school grade level. Teachers, administrators and children are not safe in their public schools, but government officials are too busy banning books.
Books teach us, they carve the path to new ideas and thoughts that can change our perspective about the world we live in. It is dangerous to only know one story, to only know one type of representation of a subject when there are actually thousands.
Dean of libraries Josh Petrusa shared his thoughts about the representation of everyone in books.
“Limiting people’s access to books, stories and narratives does not protect them from the challenging issues in our community,” Petrusa said. “Young people deserve to see themselves reflected in a library’s books.”
I enjoy reading books that I can relate to. If I can see myself in the main character I am more likely to pick up that book. Children want to see themselves in books, to know that there are others out there like them.
The disgruntled beliefs of extreme individuals have them thinking that they are protecting the youths of America, when in actuality they are doing more harm. For every book that is banned, we are taking away a child’s outlet. Why? Because some Republicans can’t wrap their heads around the fact that not all people follow their heteronormative ideals?
Children should read books, they should know that there is an abundance of communities out there for them to explore and be aware of. Books show children that they are not alone and that they are not the only ones to have these thoughts, feelings and emotions. Republican extremists want to ban books because they can’t handle ideas that are about anything other than the straight white man. Books will continue to be banned in the public school system and libraries. Creating banned book clubs, and talking about those subjects that people find it hard to discuss are the way we can keep the books they are trying to decimate live on.
