“First is the worst, second is the best” is a childish chant that is often heard on a playground, yet it is also a reflection of the childish views the United States government has on those constitutional amendments.
Our First Amendment gives citizens the right to freedom of speech while the second gives citizens the right to bear arms. Why do we feel that the right to bear arms is not dangerous, but library bookshelves must be heavily censored? As a society, we need to reflect on this and adjust accordingly.
From 2001-2022, there were over 1,000 school shootings in the U.S. and this issue is not going away. In fact, according to a Clemson University study, U.S. school shootings have become deadlier in recent years.
This is a public health crisis and yet our country has deemed this problem as just part of life when this is not the case. The CNN headline “The US has had 57 times as many school shootings as the other major industrialized nations combined” paints a clear picture of just how apparent this problem is.
Those who argue against gun regulation say “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” But Leonard Berkowitz, a professor of psychology, disputes this.
“Guns not only permit violence, they can stimulate it as well. The finger pulls the trigger, but the trigger may also be pulling the finger,” he argued in an interview with Psychology Today.
Berkowitz said this because of a study he helped conduct that even just seeing or having a gun around made participants more aggressive than those who only saw sport items. This was dubbed the “weapons effect.”
And yet it is still controversial to believe we need more gun regulation or bans on some weapons.
Instead of focusing on how to keep these children alive, local governments have made more efforts to remove or limit access to certain books in schools and libraries more than guns.
September 22-28 is National Banned Book week, an annual awareness campaign promoted by the American Library Association and Amnesty International.
The week’s purpose is to draw attention to these efforts and raise awareness about the dangers of censorship.
PEN America found 3,362 instances of individual books banned in just 2022-2023. That is a 33% increase from the year prior.
This issue hits close for a lot of people, even here at Neumann. Tiffany McGregor and Maureen Williams, both NU librarians, do a weekly show for WNUW on Tuesdays at noon called Book Banter and devoted an episode to their favorite banned books.
The people who are for banning books say they are trying to protect children from the influence of these books, but this is simply not the case.
“Censoring the flow of information is often a response by a powerful or privileged group when they fear that their own control might be slipping. Throughout history, those with power have used censorship as a means to limit the spread of new ideas, prevent societal change, and maintain the status quo they have found to be comfortable,” said McGregor, director of library services.
Many of these books are being banned for religious reasons, which is strange since the U.S. claims to have a separation of church and state. These books also typically cover themes of LGBTQ+ issues and race.
Do we really view classic children’s books such as ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’ by A. A. Milne and ‘The Lorax’ by Dr. Suess, both banned books, as a danger to our youth?
Can children, who have the most empathy of us all, really not manage reading about same-sex penguins raising a baby penguin? Or are homophobic parents trying to control and limit their children’s worldview?
LGBTQ+ issues exist, racism unfortunately still exists, and local governments cannot just try to erase any stories that portray things that officials do not like.
If someone does not want a book in their own house, then they should not buy it. And if they are so against children ever reading it, then many public schools are often required to provide an alternate assignment for students whose parents request they do not read a particular book.
But People should not be able to have books completely removed from schools just because they cannot handle being inclusive. We all deserve to have the freedom to read what we want.
