Nearly 1,600 books facing school bans nationwide, dozens in Georgia

WASHINGTON — More states and school districts are challenging or banning certain books in schools and universities nationwide.

The American Library Association (ALA) says these books are typically about racial equity, have minorities as protagonists or address LGBTQ+ issues.

[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]

Some members of Congress are reviewing how this effort at the state level is impacting free speech in our schools.

Several high school students told lawmakers that the books being banned or challenged silences the perspective of minorities.

“I want to learn about my friends even if I disagree with them. I want us understand one another but right now my intellectual freedom and other students’ intellectual freedoms are not being supported or fought for,” said Shreya Mehta, high school student from Richland, Washington.

TRENDING STORIES:

• Amber Alert issued for Georgia infant in ‘extreme danger’
• Dekalb spa shut down, person arrested after reports of human trafficking,
• GBI identifies hiker found dead along Appalachian Trail

They believe these books can help students address diversity and even reduce bullying.

“A slideshow presentation at the beginning of the school year telling kids to be kind is not enough,” said Christina Ellis, high school student from York County, Pennsylvania. “These books can help educate kids on various cultures and ways of life and we need to rely on our trained educators to handle teaching these difficult and hard topics.”

The American Library Association recorded more than 700 challenges to remove nearly 1,600 books from public schools, libraries, and universities last year.

The organization says that was the highest number of attempted book bans in the 20 years that it’s been tracking this information.

In Georgia, Forsyth County banned 8 books this year. The superintendent of schools says the district removed eight books after determining they contain sexually explicit material.

“Administratively we reviewed the books and we have over 500 thousand books in our media centers in Forsyth County Schools, but there were 8 of them we determined were not appropriate to be in public schools,” Superintendent Dr. Jeff Bearden told Channel 2 Action News.

The books banned in Forsyth include:

• “All Boys Aren’t Blue” by George M. Johnson

• “Juliet Takes a Breath” by Gabby Rivera

• “L8r, g8r” by Lauren Myracle

• “Me Earl and the Dying Girl” by Jesse Andrews

• “Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult

• “Out of Darkness”” by Ashley Hope Perez

• “The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison

• “The Infinite Moment of Us” by Lauren Myracle

Parents in Cherokee County presented in February a list of 75 books they wanted banned.

School Superintendent Dr. Brian Hightower told parents that there is already a system in place to flag potentially inappropriate books, but many parents did not feel that was enough.

Some members of Congress say banning books is censoring First Amendment protections in schools, but others believe parents should have input on the type of books their children read.

Some panelists say a similar censorship issue is happening on college campuses with overly broad speech policies.

“Overly broad speech policies where basically offensive speech is forbidden and if offensive speech is forbidden, there’s a lot of things you can’t talk about basically anything that’s controversial in our social lives, so they use biased response teams to enforce this which allows any member of the campus community to file a complaint,” said Dr. Jonathan Pidluzny with the American Council of Trustees and Alumni.

[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]

The American Library Association said its list is just a snapshot of banned books because more 80 percent of book challenges aren’t reported or don’t make it onto the news.

You can find a list of the top 10 most challenged books here - https://www.ala.org/advocacy/bbooks/frequentlychallengedbooks/top10

RELATED:

Forsyth County Schools bans 8 books they say are inappropriate for students

©2022 Cox Media Group