Book bans are increasing in classrooms and libraries across the United States.
According to the latest report by PEN America, an organization that advocates for the freedom to read, there were more than 10,000 cases of book bans nationwide in the 2023-24 school year. That’s more than double the previous school year.
About 8,000 were banned just in Florida and Iowa, where laws restricting the content of books have passed.
“Those bills have created this environment, this culture of fear,” said Katie Blankenship, inaugural director of PEN America’s Florida office.
READ MORE: Banned Books Week starts with mixed messages as reports show challenges both up and down
Katie Blankenship is the inaugural director of PEN America’s Florida office.
This week, there’s an effort to raise awareness about nationwide book restrictions. It’s called Banned Books Week and it runs through Saturday, Sept.28.
“Book bans are a direct threat to democracy,” Blankenship said.
“They do incredible harm to students, not only are they denying critical materials and books that shape lives, but they’re sending a very clear message of who they are targeting, again — LGBTQ, BIPOC individuals — their stories and perspectives.”
Blankenship recently spoke with WLRN producer Ammy Sanchez about banned books and the freedom to read. The conversation was edited for length and clarity.
WLRN:Can you explain what book bans are for listeners who perhaps aren’t as familiar with the term?
Blankenship: PEN America defines book bans as content, titles [and] materials that were previously available to students that have subsequently been pulled and removed from student access based on the content of that text.
WLRN: There also isn’t only ONE kind of censorship, walk us through the various book bans and what differentiates them from each other.
Blankenship: When this started around 2022, what was mostly happening was that parents and residents, and in many cases, people who were not even residents or parents of the school districts, were making objections to certain books claiming they were pornographic or had inappropriate sexual conduct. And they would … campaign to get these books removed. The problem is that many of these books were definitely not pornography … Instead, what they were really focusing on was targeting LGBTQ+ identities, authors and stories of Black, brown, indigenous, gender, women’s studies, women’s stories, perspectives and these sort of things. And so you saw a band of books disproportionately targeting diverse voices.
Now, the second form of censorship that happened after that is directly from the media. As the laws have developed in Florida, we saw a real rise of censorial legislation, meaning bills that are meant to censor us. But then we saw in 2023, this got even worse as the state passed additional legislation, specifically in Florida, it’s called [HB] 1069, that basically creates a statutory process to ban books. And that has resulted in thousands and thousands of titles being pulled and for very vague and over broad and confusing reasons.
WLRN: What is the impact of book bans?
Blankenship: A direct threat to democracy. They do incredible harm to students, not only are they denying critical materials and books that shape lives, but they’re sending a very clear message of who they are targeting, again — LGBTQ, BIPOC individuals — their stories and perspectives. That these identities are not welcome, that these identities are less than and it creates a very dangerous environment for our students.
WLRN:Why is it important for PEN America to help Floridians fight against censorship?
Blankenship: PEN America is an organization that sits at the intersection of literature and human rights. We’ve historically been an organization for authors. And so we understand and start with the impetus of the power of the written word, and the joy and the importance of the freedom to read. So, this is who we are and what we do. We’re here to protect authors, protect the written word, and advocate for these rights of free speech and expression. So, we feel a real responsibility. I will also tell you, though, outside of why PEN America is interested, is that … I’m a Floridian. I’m a parent. I have a child in the public education system and … for me, this is very personal and I have a real responsibility as a mother.
WLRN:What are the options for residents who want to support the fight against book bans?
Blankenship: So the options to get involved [are] one: Engage in your local government and your school board. There’s so much that happens on the local level. The other thing is we’re approaching an election season. So vote, vote, vote. Everybody needs to vote. This is how we participate in democracy. This is how democracy is held up.
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Publish date : 2024-09-26 05:59:00
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