- You know what book I loved in high school?

"Fahrenheit 451."

It was so fire to me.

Pun only partially intended.

I just remember inhaling it in the ninth grade.

I was like, "This dystopian book about burning banned books just seems so far from my reality."

And I just couldn't get enough of that.

But it turns out it was a lot closer than I thought.

What up, world?

Myles Bess here.

Journalist, host of "Above the Noise."

And we all know books can be powerful.

They can create whole fantasy worlds, or they can make us feel seen in this one.

And they can help us get through some tough times, like the awkwardness of puberty or your first heartbreak.

But a lot of books, especially those that feature LGBTQ youth or talk about the impact of racism, are getting banned.

Parents and politicians argue it's to protect their kids from content that they think is too mature or even harmful.

But what if you are LGBTQ or a person of color and these books reflect your lived experiences?

So what's more dangerous then?

The books themselves or banning them?

(record scratches) As it stands today, a bunch of states have introduced efforts to ban books.

An Oklahoma state Senator filed a bill to ban books that deal with really any aspect of sexuality.

All a parent has to do is just write to the superintendent to request a book be removed.

And if the employee who's supposed to get rid of the book doesn't, they can get fired.

And in Texas, state representative Matt Krause put over 800 books on a watch list.

And while the majority of them also deal with race and LGBTQ issues, there are also a lot of books out there that deal with students' legal rights.

I mean, who considers it dangerous for young people to know their rights?

And what are they so afraid of?

I mean, is it even ethical to deny students access to this information in the first place?

And it's not just politicians.

Book bans are often organized by local chapters of conservative parents groups, like Moms for Liberty and No Left Turn in Education.

Now, they argue that what students read about sexuality and race should be up to the parents.

It's their right to choose how they raise their kids.

But if you go to No Left Turn in Education's website and just look at some of the books that are being banned on there, it's really quite remarkable to see.

There's the critical race theory section, which deals with, as you can imagine, race.

There's a anti-policing section, so any book about teaching kids about police in America.

And then there's a comprehensive sexual education section.

So anything that teaches you about gender identity or sexual identity or anything like that, it's pretty much on this list.

And it's just a bunch of books.

I can just scroll for days.

Like, look.

A new American Library Association report says that there were more than 330 book challenges in the fall of 2021.

That's more than double the report from 2020.

Now, book challenges are basically when citizens, usually parents, request that a book be banned from libraries and schools.

And trying to ban books because people don't agree with them is as old as books themselves.

In the US, Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin," is probably the best known example.

It tells a story of Uncle Tom, a nice and slaved man who, while being transported to New Orleans, saves a little girl named Eva's life.

Eva's dad buys Tom.

Then a bunch of book happens.

And then spoiler alert, Eva gets sick and her dying wish is for her dad to free all of his slaves.

Now, the dad is killed before that can happen, and Tom's new owner is this brutal evil man who eventually kills Tom.

The book shows the horrors of slavery, so it's no surprise pro-slavery people were against the book and called it pro-abolitionist propaganda.

Some historians point to it as one of the most influential books banned in the United States.

This was a controversial book, y'all.

In the south, people even intimidated bookstore owners into not selling the books.

And Stowe herself received many threatening letters from Southerners.

One included the severed ear of someone enslaved.

Oh my gosh.

Could you imagine?

What?

And some historians think that the book was a catalyst for the Civil War.

Yes, a book helped start an entire war.

Like, just think about that for a second.

(fireworks explode) (Myles imitates explosion) Now, fast forward to the 1960s, folks were obsessed with banning what we now consider classics, like J.D.

Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye," for things like language, sex, violence, and drugs.

Or Harper Lee's "To kill a Mockingbird," for its depictions of rape and language.

Some even banned it for being immoral.

And even Maya Angelou's "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," which was banned for rape and molestation, but also for being anti-white.

Now, I'm not saying books are scary, but there sure has been a long history of people being afraid of how powerful they can be.

A lot of these banned books are popular YA novels.

You know, YA stands for young adult.

And these are literally targeted at teens.

And that's just wild to think about.

"Hunger Games" trilogy, "The Perks of Being a Wallflower," a bunch of John Green books, and so many more.

But these books aren't pornographic or teaching people how to build bombs.

So what is it about these books that have book banners so worried?

- I really think it's a conservative political agenda.

You know, we've seen that happening over the past few years of what will happens if we start to give voices of people that have been marginalized?

What happens if we start talking directly around police brutality?

Or what happens if we start questioning, you know, this gender binary?

- [Myles] Meet Nicole Cardoza.

She's a writer, the founder of the Anti-Racist Daily, and she recently started banned books book club.

- It's a natural extension, I think, of a lot of fears and hesitations that some people in America feel.

And that stuff can directly or indirectly lead to, whether it's administrators or parents or other stakeholders in the schools, to say, "Ooh, if we're having this conversation over here in terms of legislation, maybe this book shouldn't be on shelves either.

Because for whatever reason, I believe or I've been told that this is a controversial subject."

- Some of these riled up parents are a part of orgs like Moms for Liberty, and they understand how powerful a tool parents' rights are.

I mean, they've put politicians in a position where they have to be heard, whether it's valid or not, as we've seen these last few years in the news with attempts to remove critical race theory, sex education, and now books and curriculums.

- It was pervasive throughout that whole book.

- [News Reporter] Tonight, parents in Katy ISD read aloud passages from books that are too graphic to air on local television.

- It is straight up porn.

- People who want these books gone continually point to explicit sexual content, language, or ideas that their kids can't handle because they're too young as the reason for trying to ban books.

But in practice, do banning these types of books just end up silencing non-white, non-heteronormative voices?

- So many of the marginalized books are also written by marginalized authors.

And I think sometimes it's easy to forget how White the publishing industry is and how necessary representation is.

And so I know another harm of book bans is that it might prevent or dissuade publishers from taking on stories like this, which we can't have.

So it's not just these books getting banned, it's also the potential to limit other marginalized people from having a platform to share their stories.

And we need to protect that because we need, you know, as many different diverse stories as we can, you know, for our curriculum, for our bookshelves, for our libraries.

We need to have these books available to us.

- I mean, if a queer-identifying student is being told a book about their experience is inappropriate or shouldn't be allowed in schools, how does that impact how they see themselves?

If a school district wants to ban a book like "The Hate U Give" because of how it talks about race and policing in America because they feel like kids can't handle that, even though these books are literally written for them, what are they telling students who experience racism every day?

Isn't that just invalidating their experiences?

- If there is a book that is being banned right now that reflects you in any way, shape, or form, know that it's not an attack or an invalidation of who you are.

You're perfect exactly the way you are.

And don't listen to any kind of book ban to define your place 'cause nobody can take that away from you, even if they try to ban a book.

- Okay, so we've talked a bunch about banning books, but there are a lot of folks out there fighting against it.

There's even the Annual Banned Books Week, a whole campaign promoted by the American Library Association and Amnesty International that raises awareness and celebrates the freedom to read that draws attention to banned and challenged books.

On the ground, there are also organizations like Pen America and NCAC that have been working with local activists, educators, and families around the country, helping them prepare for meetings to draft letters and to mobilize opposition.

Basically, as long as folks have been trying to ban books, there's been folks fighting against them.

And they'll continue to do so.

- Nothing gets me more excited about the fact that so many young people are creating their own book clubs or finding these books.

They're teaching each other.

They're reading these books because we know that that's how change happens.

It's so powerful because, you know, I feel like old folks tend to act like young people don't have a say or a voice in their own education.

And I love that so many students are reclaiming that.

And most importantly, this world will be shaped by students.

This world will be shaped by this generation.

- But what do you all think?

How do y'all feel about all these books being banned?

As always, I'm your host Myles Bess.

Peace out.

(upbeat music)