"A local school board in New York ordered books by celebrated authors including Kurt Vonnegut removed from the school library, saying the books were 'anti-American, anti-Christian, anti-Semitic, and just plain filthy.” As you read this quote you may think it's from today's headlines. Surprisingly, this statement refers to Island Trees School District, Long Island N.Y., and a 1982 Supreme Court case. The books in question, A Hero Ain't Nothin but a Sandwich, Go Ask Alice, Black Boy by Richard Wright, and others were removed from shelves in the junior and senior high school in 1976 culminating in the Supreme Court case Board of Education, Island Trees School District v. Pico. Forty years later here we are again, as school boards across the country are banning books like New Kid by Jerry Craft, which won the Newbery Award in 2020. The community also disinvited the author from a school visit. The reason; people in the community believe this semi-autobiographical graphic novel teaches critical race theory.
Lately, we've learned there can be no expectation that once a case is decided by the Court it is settled law. Still, once the determination is made that removing books from school library shelves is a violation of students' First Amendment rights to have access to a free and open exchange of ideas and information this should ensure that communities can not arbitrarily pull books from libraries without legal repercussions. Students do not leave their rights at the schoolhouse door!
The Court's finding was a narrow 5-4 decision, in favor of the plaintiff, Steven Pico, a student at the high school. Several of the dissenting justices wrote their own opinions because it was a divisive case. Even justices finding in the affirmative were not completely comfortable with limiting the rights of the School Board. Justice William Brennan expressed the desire to ensure the Board of Education's right to meet community standards for the school curriculum. He, however also recognized "that the Board should not be able to remove books simply because it does not agree with the ideas contained within them." The First Amendment guarantees students the right to "free choice discovery."
One might ask then how is it possible that "school districts in 26 states have banned or opened investigations into more than 1,100 books, according to an April report from PEN America, a literary and free expression advocacy organization that compiled data on such bans from July 2021 to March 2022."
This trimester in the 6th Grade Digital and Civic Literacy class we've explored two very interconnected ideas. First, we examined "Why We Need Diverse Books" and looked at the statistics from the Children's Book Publishing industry. Data gathered by the Cooperative Children's Book Center at the University of Wisconsin indicated that marginalized voices were significantly under-represented in the publishing industry. We then examined a suggested list for middle school readers to see if patterns in our own anecdotal research emerged. The students looked for the presence or absence of main characters and stories of marginalized communities and reflected on their findings. Our second goal has been to understand the importance of the Island Trees v Pico case as we continue to learn about the books being banned in these 26 states and how they are focused on marginalized populations.
How do we ensure that all voices and cultures are represented on recommended lists and on school library shelves while they are systematically being removed because of the voices and ideas contained within? What role has social media played in this current spate of banning books? What are the cultural implications of this current wave and more specifically the targeted books? I don't have the answer, but just maybe future generations will if we help them to think critically about their role as citizens and activists in the digital and real world. After all, it was the students of Island Trees School District who stood up for their First Amendment rights forty years ago.
"Board of Education, Island Trees Union Free School District No. 26 v. Pico." Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 9 Jul. 2014. school.eb.com/levels/high/article/Board-of-Education-Island-Trees-Union-Free-School-District-No-26-v-Pico/609523. Accessed 16 May. 2022.
More than half of states have banned books as anti-LGBTQ and anti-race education laws spread