This article, by Chinyere Olumba, was originally published in the Arizona Daily Star on November 17, 2024.
My life has come full circle as it has brought me back to the world of books. As a small child it was fun and invigorating, especially when making my book selections, which my mom never banned me from choosing.
Selecting books as a child turned into a job while attending high school as a student library assistant. Eventually, life moved on with college and different jobs, but then I found my way back to my first love, this time as a librarian, a gatekeeper of books and a fighter for literacy and justice for all. I guess you can say it’s in my DNA.
My first encounter with book censorship happened as I was making a display for Banned Books Week. A customer came to the circulation desk and demanded that the books be taken off display because they are not appropriate for children. I asked her why she found them inappropriate.
The customer replied, “These books are inappropriate for children because of the content.” I was reminded of my favorite quote from author Ida B. Wells, “One had better die fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or a rat in a trap” I replied, “Thank you for your opinion. We are a public library, and we do not censor books.” The customer slammed the books on the counter right before leaving.
Why does anyone want to censor books? They are education, they are an escape, they are enjoyment, yet book censorship has always been a part of human history. But how exactly did the practice of book banning begin? My definition of book censorship is the suppression of ideas and information within books that are judged to be inappropriate or dangerous for public access or use. Book censorship, according to Wikipedia, “is the removal, suppression, or restricted circulation of literary, artistic, or educational material–of images, ideas, and information–on the grounds that these are morally or otherwise objectionable in the light of standards applied by the censor.”
Book censorship dates to the Chinese Emperor Shih Huang Ti who is believed to have burned all books except one copy of each for his library so that he could start history with him. Book censorship in the United States dates to the 1600s when a book burning was held by the Puritan Government in the criticism of the pamphlet, The Meritorious Price of Our Redemption by William Pynchon.
A step in the wrong direction, book censorship restricts our ideas and the information that is available to us. It takes away our intellectual freedom and the right to find and receive information from all points of view without any limitation. Not having free access to all ideas cripples our very existence.
According to the American Library Association, the importance of intellectual freedom is in the encompassment of the “freedom to hold, receive, and disseminate ideas.” Our intellectual freedom is guaranteed through the United States Constitution under the First Amendment and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. These are the frameworks that allow us to make the decisions and choices that govern our everyday lives and our everyday choices for books. The Supreme Court has often validated our rights.
At one point in history the Supreme Court had to consider whether a local school board violated the Constitution by removing books from a school library. It held that “The right to receive ideas is a necessary predicate to the recipient’s meaningful exercise of his own rights of speech, press, and political freedom.”
Let us keep up the fight! The right to read is tied to our intellectual freedom and the need to make choices that will effectively lead us. Censorship hurts us by suppressing ideas and information. Suppressing ideas today will help suppress ideas tomorrow.
Chinyere Olumba has worked for Pima County Public Library since May 2023. She currently manages Woods Memorial Library. In her spare time, she enjoys baking, traveling, and painting.
