What I love about this newsletter is knowing that all of you are spread around the world. I know sometimes my examples and commentary can feel America-centric, but that is the perspective I can best speak to. It is the social structure I navigate daily and I hope that through some of these anecdotes, you have the chance to reflect on how something similar may be occurring within the social constructs you are navigating too.
Book Bans
Within the Euro-American construct, when we reflect on the history of book bans, many think back to the book burnings that took place in Nazi Germany during the 1930s. Apart from books that challenged Nazi ideology, the most targeted books of the time touched on topics ranging from race to sexuality (sound familiar?). In fact, one of the first book burnings occurred in front of a clinic that researched and performed gender affirming surgery and housed a library of books on related topics.
Almost 100 years later, the desire to control what we read continues. This time, it has just gotten more politically sophisticated than literally burning a pile of books (which, unfortunately, is apparently still a thing).
Pushing Past Single Narratives
I often talk about the importance of authentic representation in storytelling - pushing the bounds past single narratives about communities and cultures. Instead, creating space for narratives that offer a richer and more complex understanding of how people see themselves, their experiences, and how they want to be seen. This allows us to move past a world in which we see “others” as static monoliths.
Storytelling shapes our perspectives and offers profound insight into experiences that are unfamiliar or distant — a power that often hinges on the authenticity of representation (whose story is being told and by whom). This takes on a new dimension when certain narratives, deemed uncomfortable by some, are forcibly withheld (aka banned).
Book bans not only curtail access to diverse voices, but also further reinforce the notion that difference is unacceptable.
Book bans epitomize power and control. By restricting diverse perspectives, those in power mold public discourse, shield their beliefs from scrutiny, and define societal norms. All too often, this results in the histories, experiences, and identities of marginalized people being misrepresented or quite frankly, blatantly denied. And so, in my humble opinion, the people who suffer the most are those who do not see themselves in the stories (books, movies, TV shows, plays, etc.) that are celebrated or considered “acceptable.”
My Journey with Reading
I always find sharing personal anecdotes helpful. And so, I want to share my own experience with books, and how finding books in which I could imagine myself changed my relationship with books.
Growing up, I found myself ensnared in a love-hate affair with books. I was raised in a home surrounded by books (I even volunteered every summer from middle school through high school at my local library - which reminds me: support your local public library!). My mom knew all the book lists and as an incredibly involved school-mom (as in, her photo hung in my elementary school office alongside all the school faculty) she had access to the local Scholastic publishing company warehouse. Trips to the Scholastic warehouse were my equivalent to a child in a candy shop. You could find everything there!
The very presence of books in my surroundings was (and still is) a comforting embrace, an avenue into realms unknown yet eagerly anticipated. My mom wanted to surround me with books because she hoped, one day, I would enjoy reading as much as she does. And as immigrants, both her and my dad would often say (in Punjabi of course) “our values and education are the only gifts we can give you.”
As a 30-something-year-old, I now realize two things: (1) my parents really undersold themselves and their (ongoing) contributions to my life, (2) there is a lot of privilege folded into my childhood, even as an immigrant - just the ability to have books at my fingertips was a privilege that I never fully appreciated.
My bookshelf grew in size, but quickly became a gallery of aspirational reading. My collection of Dear America books (remember those, anyone?) and Little House on the Prairie books (...and their problematic depictions of Indigenous and Black people) went skimmed at best. I loved the concept of reading, but most books just didn’t resonate. I would lose interest or, in some cases, just never develop it.
When reading becomes a chore…
Growing up, we are taught the importance of reading in school, but are never really taught to find books that move us, inspire us, and challenge us – relegating reading to the realm of obligation rather than exploration (anyone else remember required summer reading?). For any of that to happen, we have to recognize that so much of what we read as children is shaped by and centered around whiteness - white writers, characters, and experiences. All the lists of “top reads” as a child were filled with books that frankly didn’t really speak to me: an awkward brown girl, immigrant, first born, with a long oily braid who lived a life balancing two worlds + two cultures.
Nurturing a genuine appreciation for reading requires more than just exposure to words on a page. It necessitates a deliberate pursuit of narratives that speak to us, our experiences, and our interests. For individuals from underrepresented communities, we aren’t just seeking out books that are written by people who look like us, what we need more of is books by people like us with experiences that we can resonate with, to mix into our shelves of books that are currently predominantly white.
It wasn’t till my mom (she probably doesn’t even know this) left a copy of a book (I just spent the last hour trying to find it, but gosh I can’t) written by a South Asian author that my love for books turned into my love for reading. I still remember sitting in my freshman year Biology class, trying to hide my book under my notebook because I just couldn’t put it down. I had never experienced this much genuine joy from reading. Soon after, I immersed myself into the works of authors ranging from Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni to Jhumpa Lahiri. I had found myself in the books I read. Seeing myself, understanding references that felt culturally familiar for the first time!
We all deserve to see ourselves reflected in the books we read and the books that line the shelves of our classrooms, libraries, and book stores. The removal and prohibition of books from public libraries sets us down a dangerous path toward government censorship and undermines our dedication to the freedom of expression.
Where do we go from here?
Check Out + Share The Banned Book Club by Digital Public Library of America (DPLA)
The Banned Book Club is an effort to ensure all readers have access to all of the books they want to read. To that end, the Banned Book Club is making banned books available to readers in the locations across the United States where titles have been banned. The banned books are available to readers for free from the Palace e-reader app.
Download the app: https://thepalaceproject.org/app/
Report Censorship to the American Library Association
Reporting censorship and challenges to materials, resources, and services is vital to developing the best resources to defend library resources and to protect against challenges before they happen.
If you’d like, you can post your response in the comments section, or feel free to email me your thoughts directly - manpreet@artofcitizenry.com. Oh, and if you found this newsletter insightful, please share it forward! Thanks for reading.