The Dangerous Movement to Ban Books in Schools
All Boys Aren’t Blue – A Memoir Manifesto by George M. Johnson is a bestseller on Amazon with nearly 1,700 reviews, most awarding the book a five-star rating. In 2020, the book was named a best book pick by public libraries in New York and Chicago, as well as a top pick by Kirkus Reviews and Publishers Weekly. In 2021, it was named a list pick by Texas Topaz Nonfiction Reading. But now the book has been targeted for removal in at least 14 states, movements that began online by parent groups who want to control what children can access in school libraries.
We are entering very dangerous territory. Other books that have been on these parental hit lists include Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, Toni Morrison’s Beloved and The Bluest Eye, and The 1619 Project, a bestseller about slavery in America.
Moves to ban books aren’t new. In the past, two iconic novels, To Kill a Mockingbird and Of Mice and Men were challenged. What has changed, however, is the strategy by groups looking to keep certain books out of children’s hands. Rather than just approaching a local or school library, these online groups are pressuring lawmakers to pass laws that will not only target the books, but the librarians who keep them on their shelves. In a January 31 article in the New York Times, Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s office for intellectual freedom said that what’s happening “will certainly have a chilling effect. You live in a community where you’ve been for 28 years, and all of a sudden you might be charged with a crime of pandering obscenity.”
Like so much these days, politics are driving this effort. Newly-elected Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin won by a two percent margin essentially siding with parents who want to control what their children are being taught in school, targeting curriculum and books that deal with slavery, racism, and sex, specifically anything dealing with the LGBTQ community. Oftentimes parents supporting these efforts have not taken the time to actually read the books being singled out or spoken to anyone at school about why these books might prove to have value. Signing onto a protest is as easy as clicking a link and signing a petition, perhaps not knowing the individual or group spearheading the campaign.
What one parent views as objectionable material, another might view as essential for a child to understand important issues making front page news and, in some cases, their personal circumstances. Numerous impassioned Amazon reviews for All Boys Aren’t Blue note that the book resonated with those struggling with sexual identity. In the Times article, one teen emphasized the importance of books with LGBTQ characters. “As a gay student myself, those books are so critical for youth, for feeling there are resources for them.” He noted that books which portray heterosexual romances are rarely targeted.
Who is qualified to declare that the material in a book is objectionable? Place six people in a room, give them a copy of a challenged book, one with sexual scenes, for example, and ask whether the book should remain in a library. Chances are the vote will be split. What one person views as beautiful, someone else might view as pornographic. As U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart stated in 1964 describing his threshold test for obscenity: “I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case (Louis Malle’s `The Lovers’) is not that.” Of course, by today’s standards, that sex scene singled out is mild compared to what can be viewed on numerous streaming services and even on broadcast TV.
In some ways, parents mounting these campaigns might as well be trying to hold back a flood by sticking a finger in a dike. The material that upsets parents is readily available on the internet, with far more controversial material on TikTok. Ban The Handmaid’s Tale? Fine. A young person can instead watch the award-winning series on Hulu.
And let’s face it. The best way to have a young person seek out one of these books is to declare it off-limits. If there’s a will (and there is), there will be a way for a young person to get that banned book despite whatever laws get passed.
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