Just this past week, the American Library Association celebrated their 40th anniversary of Banned Books Week. According to the ALA, the purpose of Banned Books Week is to "celebrate the freedom to read and spotlight current and historical attempts to censor books in libraries and schools". Over the course of the past couple of years, we have seen a number of books banned from public school curriculum and school libraries, books that often deal with "controversial" topics. This year's theme for week was "Books Unite Us. Censorship Divides Us.". The theme's intention was to point out that books "reach across boundaries" while censorship creates them.
Opponents of Banned Books Week, such as Fox News have denied that books are being banned, arguing that we are nothing like "Communist Russia". In opposition Nicole Solas, from Fox News, says Banned Books Week is not about censorship, but about power, specifically power to "influence the values of an entire country". One could argue that any written article attempts to influence one's values or persuade them into a way of thinking.
This story may have gone overlooked due to the fact it's not necessarily "new" or "breaking", it has been going on for many years. Still, I think it remains just as important as the ALA is fighting towards the preservation of class literary pieces that are extremely educational. Censorship is a real issue in the media and plays a big role in what we do or don't read about. Books like The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas have been challenged due to it being thought to promote an anti-police message. Currently, we still see many issues with law enforcement and the killing of innocent people. I think it's important to keep books like this in the libraries so that we learn from our mistakes, rather than repeat them.
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