Protecting the rights of young people to engage in challenging texts like Saga is the purpose Banned Books Week now embodies. Image: http://goo.gl/1eXfVw

On September 28th, 2015, as Banned Books Week kicked off, Slate published this article, proclaiming that, now that both State and Federal governments no longer ban books outright, and that content removals from local libraries are at an all time low, the week is, as the author puts it, a “Crock.”

Now, as Banned Books Week draws to a close, I would like to step forward and say that such a claim isn’t just false, but is harmful to a nation that continues to create environments of creative suppression in insidious, unofficial ways.

T0 be fair, the author makes a decent point. Thanks to digital distribution methods, libraries (school and otherwise) are no longer the focal point of availability for literature. If a young person- or any person- is denied access to a book based on the ideologies of another person, there’s a lower barrier than ever before between them and the forbidden fruit that is something deemed inappropriate by someone other than themselves.

Raina Telgemeier’s Drama is among the most challenged books of the last year, according to the ALA. Image: http://goo.gl/gj7N0s

That said, perhaps there’s a deeper meaning to celebrating books that are publicly challenged, restricted, or banned, beyond stopping their removal from circulation. As the author of the Slate piece notes, there have been relatively few cases of books being banned outright in this country, pointing to a slow slide away from censorship. So why continue the tradition of publicizing what seem to be minor complaints from otherwise unimportant “concerned citizens?” Their ranting has fallen on increasingly critical ears, and their consistent failures to ban certain books in their communities points to a public distaste for the restriction of information.

In response, I would like to point to this list from the American Library Association’s website, which represents a collection of the most challenged books of the last year, along with the reasons given by the challengers for doing so.

Among the most frequently listed reasons, there are a number that clearly represent an agenda of repression, and in some cases outright bigotry: anti-family, sex education, homosexuality, contains controversial issues, gambling, drugs, nudity, masturbation, and depictions of bullying.

The frank and honest depiction of teenage romance in The Perks of Being a Wallflower has been challenged for, among other things, its depiction of homosexuality, alcohol consumption, and being otherwise “unsuited” for teens that- let’s be honest- need such depictions in order to compare their own experiences to fiction. Image: http://goo.gl/ZdFxuG

We have to acknowledge that, as a diverse and populous nation, there are a range of belief systems and moral directives that our citizens will practice, and that it is absolutely their right to do so as they choose. That’s not in question here. What ought to be in question, however, is the ability of a small minority of people to influence the publicly available or discussed texts in spheres beyond their personal lives.

The fact of the matter is, without depictions of controversial issues, or the normalization of things such as sex education and acceptance towards LGBTQ+ individuals, or honest discussions on drug use or bullying, our society is doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past. These challenged books represent leaps forward in representation, and are important, relevant pieces of cultural capital that deserve to be protected and celebrated.

We should live in a society in which the idea of two male penguins raising a chick is not considered subversive or anti-family. Image:http://goo.gl/NKUuT0

That some feel they have the right to complain that- heaven forbid- some texts may challenge their beliefs is the very reason a Banned Books week, which calls attention to the fact that there are voices out there trying to silence texts by complaining loudly about them, needs to continue to exist. We need to acknowledge that there are those who would limit the free exchange of ideas that this nation prides itself on. Even if it is to laugh at their ineffectual flailing, even if it is to rest upon our laurels, and proclaim in a unified voice that we, the “good guys,” the protectors of intellectual and creative rights, have won out in the hearts and minds of the majority.

I will go to the ends of the Earth to protect the right of every single human on this planet to read Saga, which is allegedly, “anti-family”. Image: http://goo.gl/ckQtwT

Banned Books Week is a reminder of the dangers of censorship, as much as it is a celebration of its victims. Banned Books Week is a call to vigilance, not a call to arms. Banned Books Week asks us to question the materials we disagree with, why we disagree with them, and whether or not we can ever justify denying others access to them- and reminds us that the answer is always no.