By Lukas Myers
Staff Writer
SPRINGFIELD –When Deborah Brothers was still in college, she was asked to take part in a banned book reading, to which she replied, “Nobody bans books anymore.”
It was later that she came to realize how wrong she was and how much going to the event would change her life.
The English professor at Lincoln Land read from often-banned book “An Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” and wore a pin that read, “I’ve Never Read a Banned Book I Didn’t Love,” at a banned book event on Oct. 2 in the A.Lincoln Commons.
The event was part of a national celebration that goes unnoticed by millions of American’s every year: Banned Books Week.
For the past 33 years, the American Library Association has been holding, “A celebration of the freedom to read” with the goal of spreading community awareness about the dangers of censorship and the fact of its existence in the United States.
The association maintains universal opposition to the banning of literature.
Jill Campbell, librarian at Lincoln Land Community College and advocate of Banned Book Week, detailed a banning battle of the book “Persepolis.”
“It happens in layers,” Campbell said, referring to how ‘Persepolis’ was banned in Chicago and then quickly in all of the schools around state of Illinois. She said the book was almost banned as close as Chatham, but the library association won out before that could happen.
Many of the readings focused on books banned because of what they were speaking out against.
“It was pretty easy to get when I read this book, and I was 14,” said Rebecca Evans, a Lincoln Land student. Her banned book was a book called “Looking for Alaska,” a coming of age book that outlines the perception of sexuality and mourning in society, but that was banned for those very same reasons.
Ashly Watkins-Burge read a section of “Kite Runner,” a story depicting a Middle Eastern man. The banning of this book raised questions of why people ban books. Suggesting, it might not be the content, but rather an effort to avoid seeing the characters as similar to ourselves.
People may prefer to keep the “Kite Runner” character as our enemy, Campbell said.
“The ease with which these books are banned is just shocking,” said Watkins-Burge.
The overall feel of the event melted down to this: Just because you do not like what something says, does not mean that you should be allowed to remove that thing from existence.
“I wouldn’t say the problem is ignorance,” Brothers said. “Rather, I think it just fear of the unknown.”
Brothers has been a passionate advocate for the banned books celebration and has been hosting the even here at Lincoln Land Community College since 2001, approximately two weeks after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
“We had something like two-hundred people there,” she said of the first reading.
Lukas Myers can be reached at [email protected].