RACISM
Why We Must Do More Than Buy Banned Books to Challenge Racism
Buying books helps but doesn't address the underlying problem
Banning books is something you would expect to see in a fascist dystopia, not in America, a nation that boasts about being the "land of the free and the home of the brave" in its anthem, but it's happening all the same. According to the American Library Association, 1,269 attempts have been made to "censor library books and resources," and 2,570 unique titles were targeted in 2022, a 38% increase from the previous year. Moreover, a whopping 90% of the book titles listed "were part of attempts to censor multiple titles." As Elizabeth A. Harris wrote for the New York Times, in the "backlash to the racial reckoning, conservative publishers" saw "gold," profiting off many White Americans' fear over a changing demographic and the elevation of marginalized voices.
So, who's responsible? Besides elected officials like conservative Floria Governor Ron DeSantis, who declared a "war on woke," research shows parents, political organizations, religious groups, school boards, and administrations, and even some librarians and teachers sought to remove books written about or for Black, and Indigenous people, people of color, as well as the LGBTQ+ community. As a result, a campaign of fear and racial and religious intolerance has cast a dark cloud over the country. But these ideas have been with us all along. White men founded America, and everyone else has had to fight for their inclusion. So, it doesn't come as a surprise that some White men in positions of power are continuing the tradition of drowning out minority voices. Nevertheless, it is cause for concern.
In response to widespread censorship efforts, many publishers have encouraged readers to push back by buying banned books. Since banning books public schools and libraries carry hurts authors and limits options for book lovers, purchasing their books, sharing, and gifting them can help compensate for at least some of their loss of sales. And while supporting authors is an admirable endeavor, there are limits to how much buying banned books can fight social ills like racism or fascism, for that matter. While buying banned books feels good, it doesn't do anything to challenge the laws and…
