My high school librarian warned me about banning books way back in 1998

Mrs. Chen told me that the moment you start saying some people can't read certain ideas, you're on a slippery slope. She was right. I saw it happen with "The Color Purple" getting pulled from our school library in 2001 and now it's way worse with whole districts banning lists of books at once. Has anyone else had an old teacher's words stick with you like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

fiona_sullivan2920d ago

That part about "The Color Purple" getting pulled in 2001 actually isn't quite right. I remember because I was in that same district around then, and that book wasn't banned until like 2003 or 2004 at my school. It was a whole big deal with angry parents at a school board meeting, not just a quiet librarian decision. But yeah, Mrs. Chen was dead on about the slippery slope thing. We're seeing that same mindset just way bigger now with these huge banned book lists.

gavin_clark20d ago

Wait, it was 2003 or 2004? That's a good three or four years off from what I heard. I thought that whole thing started right after 9/11 when everybody was super tense about everything. I guess the timeline got all mixed up in my head. I remember hearing about a loud school board meeting in our town too, but I never linked it to that book. Makes you wonder how many other stories get twisted like that over time.