Book Ban Trend Has Consequences

A young child reads a book pulled from the shelf of a library.

Courtesy Terry Vine via Getty Images

Lekhya Kollu

Red & Black contributor

For many high school students, the school library is a refuge; it represents one of the few places in school where they are able to escape the chaos of the hallways and gain access to valuable resources on issues important to them. A large part of this access comes from the diverse array of books made available to them. However, in Texas, conservative lawmakers and parents are spearheading an effort to pull hundreds of books from school libraries across the state, especially those dealing with divisive issues like race, sexuality and gender. “Why are we sexualizing our precious children?” a parent from Katy, Texas said at a school board meeting in November. “Why are our libraries filled with pornography?” The actions taken by conservatives are often over the objections of school librarians, many of whom in recent years have actively purchased more books dealing with subjects like race and sexuality as part of a national push to diversify the literary materials available to children. Now, many librarians must resort to pulling titles before they are even banned to prevent further criticism and complaint. In the process, many worried students are losing out on important resources for education and self-acceptance.

“For me, a lot of these books offer hope,” a student from Katy said. “I’m going to be going to college soon, and I’m really looking forward to that and the freedom that it offers. Until then, my greatest adventure is going to be through reading.” A sampling of just 100 school districts in the Houston, Dallas, San Antonio and Austin regions showed that just four months into the school year, 75 formal requests have been filed to ban certain books. Just a year ago, only one request was made in the same four-month span. Even Texas Governor Greg Abbott pushed for the Texas Education Agency to investigate the “criminal activity” of providing books considered “pornographic” to students.

Similar movements are occurring across the country, with some national groups like No Left Turn in Education and Moms for Liberty releasing book lists flagging books that contain ideas that, according to the No Left Turn website, “spread radical and racist ideologies [and] demean our nation and its heroes.”

“Some parents want to pretend that books are the source of darkness in kids’ lives,” said Ashley Hope Pérez, author of “Out of Darkness,” a young adult novel frequently banned. “The reality for most kids is that difficulties, challenges, harm, oppression — those are present in their own lives, and books that reflect that reality can help to make them feel less alone.”