Students share opinions on censorship

Sexual content. Violence. Racism. Drug use. Profanity. Pro-communism. Anti-family. These words are not referencing the latest national scandal but were used to challenge literature to get them banned from schools and libraries.

The 18th Annual Banned Books Reading, “Well, I’ll Be Banned!” included six LLCC students, faculty and staff reading passages from challenged or banned books.

The presenters consisted of Dawn Weller, sociology major, presented “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry” (1976) by Mildred D Taylor; Deanna Blackwell, Director of TRIOS Student Support Services, presented “Their Eyes Were Watching God” (1937) by Zora Neale Hurston; Lucy Carley, criminal justice major, presented “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” (2003) by J. K. Rowling; Tiffany Fenner, English major, presented “The Hate U Give” (2017) by Angie Thomas; Paul Watson, music major, presented “1984” by George Orwell, and Deborah Brothers, professor of English, presented “And Tango Makes Three” (2005) by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, illustrated by Henry Cole.

Each presenter selected a challenged or banned book to which they had a personal connection.  The presentations included an overview of the book, its importance to them, its reason for being challenged or banned and a passage from the book.

The event occurred September 26 in the Lincoln Land Community College A. Lincoln Commons from 11 a.m. to noon, Deborah Brothers facilitated the event.

Brothers told the audience that people make challenges to have books either removed from or access restricted to libraries and schools.  If the challenge is successful, then the book is banned and removed from the library or school, she said.

A local example occurred at in 2014 Glenwood High School in Chatham, Brothers said. A parent challenged “Persepolis,” a graphic novel.  The challenge was unsuccessful.

Weller first became interested in presenting when her English professor offered extra credit for participating.  She decided to present when she saw “Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry” on the banned book list.

“Basically, the book was my first real look at black history,” Weller said. “The first one that left an impression on me of where I came from in a world where black people are often portrayed as either victims or criminals.”

The book made a personal connection to Weller. “I finally got to see the world that created a man like my father,” she said.  “He encouraged proper use of the English language, read to us every day, even if it was only to read newspaper articles at breakfast.  He taught me morality and loyalty. … Dad taught me to do what’s right no matter what anyone else did.

“Also, I’m the daughter of a white woman and a black man,” Weller adds, “both of whom told me that there was a time when my dad would have been murdered for making me and my brother, and these books brought the reality of that truth home to me.”  Weller first read her selection when she was 7 years old.

Blackwell said she “noticed how a significant number of books that have been banned or challenged deal with issues of race, class, gender, sexuality and other means of social stratification. These are the kinds of issues that U.S. as a society struggles to address, and so desperately needs to address.”

The book Blackwell chose had been challenged for sexual explicitness.  She says today’s television programs, movies and music are more explicit than the book she presented.

“I think of the MLK, Jr. quote that an unjust law is a law that must be broken,” Blackwell said.  “I ask myself what makes a book dangerous? Is the danger that it disrupts social norms of silencing voices that speak to race, class, gender, sexual identity and other marginalized identities? These are important voices. Their narratives, our narratives, are woven into the fabric of who we are as a nation. I think the banning of books should not go uncontested.”

Carley said she began reading the Harry Potter series when she was 9 or 10 years old.  She had a friend in sixth grade who was not allowed to read them.  Her friend’s mother thought the books supported Wiccan religious beliefs, Carley said.

One of the themes, Carley said, is people in power try to stifle creativity.  “It is important to stand up to them even if you get hurt,” Carley said.

Fenner’s boss at LLCC Library, Scott Ebbing, suggested she attend the banned books reading and read “The Hate U Give.” She also participated in the event to show support for Brothers, who is one of her instructors.

The book deals with the lack of visibility of young women in the Afro-American culture, Fenner said, where men’s activities have more importance than women’s.  The main character has to deal with additional visibility issues, Fenner said, because she is a minority in a new community and school.

Fenner said the book also depicts police brutality which has been a topic in the black community for a long time and is now a mainstream topic.  She said we should not have to fear people who are charged with protecting us.  The story is about shining a light on painful situations in society and loss to gun violence, Fenner said.

Gun violence is a sensitive topic for Fenner.  When she concluded her presentation, she became emotional as she revealed her brother was a victim of gun violence.

In an email to the Lamp, Fenner elaborated about what happened to her brother. “A fight had broken out at an event he attended,” she wrote, “and he was mistaken for one of the people in the altercation, he was shot and killed due to mistaken identity by one of the people who were fighting. It was allegedly gang related. Thus, the reason why I wanted to cover the book ‘The Hate U Give.’”

Watson first read 1984 when he was 13 years old. Like Blackwell, he said the book was challenged for sexual content but it is mild compared to what is currently available on the internet.

Since Watson read the book 14 years before the fictitious events occurred, he says he uses it as a yardstick to compare how closely society has come to Orwell’s dystopian society.  After citing some correlations between the book and subsequent historical developments over the last 18 years, he concluded Orwell could have named his book “2018.”

Brothers concluded the event with a reading of “And Tango Makes Three,” a children’s picture book.  She showed the pictures to the audience.

She said she loves the book and it has been a fixture on banned books lists since 2006.  Brothers said the book teaches tolerance.

Brothers also introduced Jill Campbell, the LLCC Librarian, to the audience.

Alexis Thomas, 22, a freshman in psychology, attended the event to support her friend, Fenner.  She said she also attended because she loves books, but she was not familiar with banned or challenged books, which this event helped remedy.

Thomas said, “I liked both Tiffany and Deanna’s presentation because they both described books about young women trying to find their place in the world and their place in society. I can relate to both books because like most women my age, I’ve been trying to find confidence and love for myself and learn and appreciate who it is I am. And be unapologetically me.”

Zachary Skutt, 24, who is working towards an associate degree in secured software programming, heard of the banned books event from his English teacher, who offered extra credit for attendance.

“I chose to attend the banned books event because, while I believe in the right of an authority to ban books within certain parameters,” Skutt said, “I also believe that a healthy society allows every position to be debated with the utilization of reason.

Brothers had been involved with similar events as a graduate student at Illinois State University and enjoyed them.  After being a full-time LLCC faculty member for a year, Brothers said she thought about establishing an annual banned books reading event in 2001.

After 9/11 happened, Brothers said, political leaders were talking about cracking down on privacy and limiting access.  “Now more than ever,” Brothers said she thought at the time, “we needed to be talking about these issues about censorship and access as a censorship issue.”

Brothers began organizing the event. “Two weeks to the day after 9/11,” Brothers said, “we had a banned books reading here.”  It occurred during the evening in the Steven’s Room, Brothers remembers, with about 100 people in attendance.

During one of the early events at LLCC, Brothers remembers, a student thought the event advocated banning books.  Brothers learned of the misunderstanding when the student began her presentation to ban a specific book.  “I just was horrified,” Brothers said, “and I couldn’t do anything about it, because she was up there at the mic, and I’m anti-censorship. So, I guess, she has the right to her opinion, too.”

According to the American Library Association website, www.ala.org, “Banned Books Week was launched in the 1980s, a time of increased challenges, organized protests, and the Island Trees School District v. Pico(1982) Supreme Court case, which ruled that school officials can’t ban books in libraries simply because of their content.”

This year’s banned books reading occurred as part of LLCC’s Arts and Humanities Festival, which was held “Sept. 24-28 in conjunction with Banned Books Week, a national observance celebrating the freedom to read,” according to www.llcc.edu/all-lit-up.

Paul Watson can be reached at [email protected].