Freedom to read a right

The American Library Association’s 43rd annual Banned Books Week starts Sunday. It runs Sept. 22-28. This year’s theme is “Freed Between the Lines.” The ALA champions:

“We can find freedom in the pages of a book – but book bans and censorship threaten that freedom, along with many other rights and institutions. ... (L)let’s share our love of the right to read and the freedom found in books. Let’s be Freed Between the Lines!”

Opening a book, surfing the internet, even playing a video game offers all of us, children to elders, the opportunity to reflect on the words before us or to squint between the lines to seek where our thinking may take us. From there questions form, creativity blossoms and two of the most wonderful and dangerous thoughts to the status quo may form: “Why?” and, especially, “Why not?”

Some parents and specific national and local organizations want obedience and adherence to narrow strictures of right and wrong and good and bad. They seek safety and stability. Perhaps they want children’s futures to be like their own past.

Those adults have every right to impose their beliefs on their children and their members in their homes and meeting spaces. They have no right to charge into the public square – and among the most sacred spaces in American society – libraries in our communities and schools.

Our country was born with our Declaration of Independence heralding “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Thirteen years later, the First Amendment in our Constitution’s Bill of Rights enshrined the guarantee of freedom of religion and of speech. That enshrines as the law of the land that restricting words is not allowed.

Some calling themselves religious use scripture to say “No” to one thing after another. That is their private and their sect’s right. They can proclaim their beliefs, but they cannot make them society’s.

The ALA is right: Book bans and censorship threaten our freedom, along with many other rights and institutions.

Banned Books Week offers the opportunity for readers to voice censorship concerns, celebrate free expression and show our communities the importance of intellectual freedom.

Last year an unprecedented number of books were banned and challenged. A challenge is an attempt to remove or restrict materials, based upon the objections of a person or group. A banning is the removal of those materials.

These efforts are attacks on the most vulnerable and least powerful in our communities.

The ALA reported “titles representing the voices and lived experiences of LGBTQIA+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, questioning, intersex, asexual) and BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) individuals made up 47% of those targeted in censorship attempts.”

As much as everyone is lifted up and finds hope in seeing themselves in the pages of a book, perhaps those who most benefit are people – children or adults – who may be surprised and first exploring and learning about neighbors and strangers who are different from themselves.

The ALA makes the point that we find ourselves, each other and freedom in reading. The right to read is a shared value that we can all celebrate, but book bans threaten our rights and freedoms. Banned Books Week is also a celebration of the fact that, in a majority of cases, challenged books have remained available. This happens only because of the efforts of librarians, teachers, students and community members who stand up and speak out for the freedom to read.

Last year, the ALA started Unite Against Book Bans, a national initiative, to empower readers everywhere to stand together in the fight against censorship. Take a look and consider joining to defend the right to read for all Americans: uniteagainstbookbans.org/take-action/.