Banned Books Week: Banned Books Week 2024

Banned Books Week was launched in 1982 in response to a sudden surge in the number of challenges to books in libraries, bookstores, and schools (Banned Books Week, 2024). Typically (but not always) held during the last week of September, the annual event highlights the value of free and open access to information and brings together the entire book community — librarians, educators, authors, publishers, booksellers, and readers of all types — in shared support of the freedom to seek and to express ideas. 

Reference

Banned Books Week. (2024). Ala.org; American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/events/banned-books-week#:~:text=Banned%20Books%20Week%20was%20launched

Reference

American Library Association. (2023, April 20). Censorship by the numbers | banned books. www.ala.org; American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/bbooks/censorship-numbers

“Challenging” a book is the attempt to ban a book from a library, school district, institution, organization, government entity, retailer, or publisher based on its content. Challenges can either result in the book being banned or they can be overturned and the book remains in circulation at the organization (First Amendment Museum, 2024).

Reference

First Amendment Museum. (2024). How Do Books Get Banned? First Amendment Museum. https://firstamendmentmuseum.org/how-do-books-get-banned/#:~:text=offensive%20language%20(61.5%25)

Reference

American Library Association. (2023, April 20). Censorship by the numbers | banned books. www.ala.org; American Library Association. https://www.ala.org/bbooks/censorship-numbers

Each book that is banned or censored is done so for the content within the pages. There are a few common reasons that books have been banned or censored in schools, libraries, and books stores. These include: 

Racial Issues: About and/or encouraging racism towards one or more groups of people

Encouragement of "Damaging" Lifestyles: Content of book encourages lifestyle choices that are not the norm or could be considered dangerous or damaging. This could include drug use, co-habilitation without marriage, or homosexuality.

Blasphemous Dialog: The author of the book uses words such as "God" or "Jesus" as profanity. This could also include any use of profanity or swear words within the text that any reader might find offensive.

Sexual Situations or Dialog: Many books with content that include sexual situations or dialog are banned or censored. 

Violence or Negativity: Books with content that include violence are often banned or censored. Some books have also been deemed too negative or depressing and have been banned or censored as well.

Presence of Witchcraft: Books that include magic or witchcraft themes. A common example of these types of books ae J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter Series. 

Religious Affiliations (unpopular religions): Books have been banned or censored due to an unpopular religious views or opinions in the content of the book. This is most commonly related to satanic or witchcraft themes found in the book. Although, many books have also been banned or censored for any religious views in general that might not coincide with the public view. 

Political Bias: Most commonly occurs when books support or examine extreme political parties/philosophies such as: fascism, communism, anarchism, etc.

Age Inappropriate: These books have been banned or censored due to their content and the age level at which they are aimed. In some cases children's books are viewed to have "inappropriate" themes for the age level at which they are written for. 

Reference

"Common Reasons for Banning Books," Fort Lewis College, John F. Reed Library. Banned Books, Censorship & Free Speech. November 15, 2013. Web. March 19, 2014.

Reference

Leadingham, B. S. A. (2024, April 9). 15 of the Most Famous Banned Books in US History. Freedom Forum. https://www.freedomforum.org/famous-banned-books/

• Facts:
  • The Island Trees Union Free School District's Board of Education (the "Board"), acting contrary to the recommendations of a committee of parents and school staff, ordered that certain books be removed from its district's junior high and high school libraries.
  • In support of its actions, the Board said such books were: "anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, and just plain filthy."
  • Acting through his friend Francis Pico, and on behalf of several other students, Steven Pico brought suit in federal district court challenging the Board's decision to remove the books.
  • The Board won; the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit reversed.
  • The Board petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court, which granted certiorari.
• The big question:
  • Did the Board of Education's decision to ban certain books from its junior high and high school libraries, based on their content, violate the First Amendment's freedom of speech protections?
• Conclusion:
  • Long answer:
    • Although school boards have a vested interest in promoting respect for social, moral, and political community values, their discretionary power is secondary to the transcendent imperatives of the First Amendment.
    • The Court, in a 5-to-4 decision, held that as centers for voluntary inquiry and the dissemination of information and ideas, school libraries enjoy a special affinity with the rights of free speech and press.
  • Short answer:
    • The Board could not restrict the availability of books in its libraries simply because its members disagreed with their idea content.

Reference

Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico by Pico. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved September 23, 2024, from https://www.oyez.org/cases/1981/80-2043

• Facts:
  • The Miami-Dade County Public School District has forty-nine copies of the book, A Visit to Cuba, and its Spanish-language counterpart, ¡Vamos a Cuba!, spread out among thirty-three of its elementary and middle schools. 
  • The thirty-two pages of Vamos a Cuba contain general statements about Cuba's geography (“Cuba is a country in the Caribbean Sea, south of Florida.”), people (“Most Cubans live in cities.”), customs (“Cubans dress to keep cool in the hot weather.”), language (“Most people in Cuba speak Spanish.”), and daily life (“People in Cuba eat, work, and go to school like you do.”).
  • On April 4, 2006, Juan Amador, the father of a young girl at Douglas Elementary, filed a “Citizen's Request for Reconsideration of Media” to have Vamos a Cuba removed from the library at his daughter's school. 
    • Amador identified himself as a former political prisoner and complained that the material in the book was not truthful and “portrays a life in Cuba that does not exist.” 
    • Amador also wrote that, “I believe [Vamos a Cuba] aims to create an illusion and distort reality.”
  • In this case Amador followed the administrative review process from start to finish.   Because he was not satisfied with the principal's explanation about Vamos a Cuba, he submitted a formal request to the School Committee to remove the book from the Douglas Elementary library. 
  • he School Committee considered the book in light of the district's fifteen written criteria for evaluating books for its school library collections. All eight members checked the “meets criteria” box for the categories of “educational significance” and “appropriateness.” They voted to retain the book. 
  • Amador appealed the School Committee's decision to retain the book in the Douglas Elementary library to the superintendent, who submitted the appeal to the District Committee. The District Committee, by a vote of 15 to 1, recommended that the superintendent retain Vamos a Cuba in the Douglas Elementary library.
    • The superintendent adopted the District Committee's recommendation and informed Amador of his decision to leave Vamos a Cuba on the library shelves.
  • Amador appealed the superintendent's decision to the School Board the same day and asked that the Board take up his appeal at its next meeting. In its June 14, 2006 meeting, Board members spoke about their views on the subject, and a majority of the Board voted for removal of Vamos a Cuba. 
• The big question:
  • The ACLU and the student government association raised concerns that the defendants had violated their members' First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and access to information as well as their Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process. 
• Conclusion:
  • A moment of thought:
    • The court found that:  
      • The plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their First and Fourteenth Amendment claims,
      • They would be irreparably harmed if the School Board's removal order were allowed to stand pending a trial on their complaint
      • This irreparable harm to the plaintiffs outweighed the harm to the defendants in keeping the “A Visit to” series books on the library shelves
      • It was in the public interest to protect the plaintiffs' constitutional rights to have access to the books.
      • The court issued a preliminary injunction enjoining the School Board from enforcing its removal order, and it also ordered that any of the books in the “A Visit to” series that had already been removed be returned to the libraries. 
  • The final answer:
    • The November 16, 2009, refusal of the Supreme Court to hear their appeal of ACLU of Florida v. Miami-Dade School Board allowed the ruling that permits the Miami-Dade School Board to keep Vamos a Cuba and its English-language translation A Visit to Cuba off media-center shelves districtwide (ALA Magazine, 2009).

References

ALA Magazine. (2009, November 18). Supreme Court Lets Miami-Dade’s Vamos Ban Stand | American Libraries Magazine. American Libraries Magazine; American Libraries. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2009/11/18/supreme-court-lets-miami-dades-vamos-ban-stand/

Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico by Pico. (n.d.). Oyez. Retrieved September 23, 2024, from https://www.oyez.org/cases/1981/80-2043