There is an easy way to avoid a book you do not like: do not read it. Do not try to ban the book for others.
This is the advice from the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois’ according to Ed Yohnka, director of communications and public policy.
“In 2021, what we started seeing was an organized effort targeting specific topics, particularly LGBTQ stories and stories by or about Black, Indigenous and people of color,” said Betsy Gomez, assistant director of communications and public outreach for the Office for Intellectual Freedom at the American Library Association.
“Almost 90 percent of the situations that we have tracked have targeted multiple titles,” said Gomez. “That means instead of just one book, one challenge, we’re seeing people challenging dozens, if not hundreds of books at the same time.”
According to Yohnka, book banning is the effort of an individual or group to deny an entire community access to literature or reading materials.
“[Book banning] really is an attempt to rein in or control the information that we can discuss, that we can have access to,” said Yohnka. “Not just in any setting but literally in the community at large.”
According to Suzanne Eckes, professor of education law at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s School of Education, book bans usually occur when a parent, a group of parents or a school board member is upset with a book in a library or classroom and takes action to get the book removed.
“It can be [that] a parent just disagrees with the content of the book,” said Eckes. “They think it’s not age appropriate, or they don’t like a rape scene in a book, or they don’t like … the swearing that’s in the book or the language that’s used in the book.”
According to Yohnka, one subtle derivative of book banning is shadow banning, where a library never approves the purchase of books that might be considered controversial to a group.
Shadow banning makes libraries purchase more marketable or easily-accessible materials to avoid fighting book bans, Yohnka said.
“To me, [book banning] goes a little further than just censorship, because I think it really does try to vandalize or control our entire [school or library] system in terms of our ability to think and talk about issues,” Yohnka said.
According to Gomez, if a book is banned, the ban is a limit on individual rights.
“Aside from the fact that a book ban is censorship, free speech is more than not being able to express yourself, but [it’s] also not being able to access information,” Gomez said.
According to Yohnka, book banning is vandalism of the First Amendment.
Yohnka believes that at the heart of the idea of free expression in the First Amendment is that we are going to have ideas and thoughts in the mainstream that we do not all agree with, he said.
According to Gomez, the nonprofit Unite Against Book Bans has found that 70 percent of Americans, regardless of political affiliation, do not support book bans.
“People don’t support book bans, but you need to be there to let [school boards] know you don’t support book bans, because if they don’t hear you, they’ll think that the only thing that the community wants is for the books to be removed,” Gomez said.
Gomez believes students should not underestimate their power, as they are one of the most effective voices in fighting a book ban, she said.
“Go to school board meetings, write letters, talk to your parents, tell them your concerns and let them know that … the decisions they’re making impact your rights,” said Gomez. “Just get out there and talk. Tell people how you feel. Tell your story.”