While some leaders have worked to stop young people from reading certain texts, every effort must be made to ensure that all Black youth have access to books that have been banned in recent years due to conservative winds in today’s political climate.
According to a recent article in the Quarterly Journal of Economics, “Books can change outcomes for students themselves when they see people who look like them represented. What people see affects who they become, what they believe, and also what they believe about others.”
Toni Morrison once argued about the dangers of book banning in response to past attempts to restrict access to “Huckleberry Finn,” by Mark Twain, over its use of racial slurs. “The brilliance of ‘Huckleberry Finn’ is in the argument it raises. Banning books,” Morrison explained, “is a purist and yet elementary kind of censorship designed to appease adults rather than educate children.”
Sadly, Morrison was not extended the same degree of thoughtfulness she applied to Twain by the Wentzville School Board, located in western St. Charles County, Missouri. In 2022, the board voted 4-3 to pull Morrison’s celebrated “The Bluest Eye” from the district’s high school libraries.
According to PEN America, during the 2023-2023 academic year, 3,362 books were banned in the United States. More than 40% of these books were banned in Florida, led by Gov. Ron DeSantis
One local organization that promoted banned books through Black History Month is William O. Lockridge Community Foundation (WOLCF). Twenty-nine books banned book were highlighted, with the foundation citing “a concerning trend on banning books centered on Black, brown, and LGBT+ community experiences.” Cited books ranged from ”Dear Martin,” by Nic Stone, to “A Good Kind of Trouble,” by Lisa Moore Ramee, to “Stamped: Racism, Antiracism and You” by Jason Reynolds and Ibrahim X. Kendi.
“It is our responsibility to ensure that all books are accessible to our children, not just chosen by a select few,” WOLCF explained. “Let’s amplify our narratives and truths.”