How old were you when you first encountered an openly gay character in a fictional story?
How old were you when you finally encountered a main character who was a person of color? And I’m not talking about the main character from a book that was specifically selected as a part of a “nonwhite narrator/author” selection.
The first time I read a book with an openly gay character was my freshman year of college. My best friend lent me her “Carry On” series, a popular young adult trilogy that features a gay enemies-to-lovers storyline.
The first time I read a book that included a nonwhite main character was in eighth grade when my teacher had the class read an excerpt from “The House on Mango Street.” Before that, I had read selections by Black authors only in the context of a Civil Rights unit, but I had never encountered Latinx authors in any context prior to that reading.
There is a certain violence that comes with excluding literature produced by gay and nonwhite authors from grade school curriculum. By ignoring their voices, we erase those communities’ struggles and triumphs from our history and prevent significant numbers of students from seeing themselves represented.
It’s no wonder that disproportionate numbers of nonwhite readers are placed in the “nonreader” category, according to the National Council of Teachers of English. If I didn’t see my experiences reflected in the books I read, I wouldn’t want to read them either.
This week is Banned Books Week, an annual event that celebrates the freedom to read and brings awareness to the most frequently banned books of the year.
In 2019, the American Library Association’s Office of Intellectual Freedom listed “George” by Alex Gino, “Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out” by Susan Kuklin and “A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo” by Jill Twiss as the top three most contested books of 2019.
To be clear, one specific organization didn’t universally ban these books, but rather, this list is a compilation of the books most commonly banned by libraries and school districts across the country in 2019. I would also like to add that “The Hate U Give,” a novel turned into a major motion picture, was the fourth most contested book in America in 2018.
The top five books on 2019’s list were all banned in one way or another for their LGBT+ content.
According to the American Library Association (ALA), the reasoning behind these bans included the individual book’s, “effect on any young people who would read it,” attempts to “pollute the morals of its readers” and the “deliberate attempt to indoctrinate young children” with pro-gay ideology.
According to the ALA, “The Hate U Give” was most commonly banned in 2018 for being “anti-cop,” but ultimately, I think people’s real issue with the novel was that it’s pro-Black.
All the aforementioned novels include diverse character perspectives. And, surprise! Several school districts don’t think students should be reading them. At the end of the day, books that represent characters of various backgrounds have always been contested. There are people who would like to see those voices silenced and excluded from history altogether.
For that very reason, it is essential that these books be included in school curriculum. By teaching these texts, students become more empathetic, understanding and well-rounded individuals, and books with diverse characters counter many stigmas and stereotypes students have likely heard or may believe about individuals who don’t share the same racial or socio-economic background that they do.
In order for the world of tomorrow to be a place where gender and racial equality are upheld everywhere, we need to start by fighting book bans rooted in bigotry and by advocating for students’ right to see themselves represented in a text.
