Intersectional Education: Overcoming Book Bans
On this episode of The Joy Report, we’re discussing books and the ongoing fight for truth and inclusion in education, publishing, and storytelling.
Episode Transcript
“Welcome to The Joy Report, a podcast dedicated to sharing stories about climate solutions and environmental justice grounded in intersectionality and optimism. Tune in to hear updates on all things climate, social, and environmental justice explained in a succinct and accessible way by me, Arielle King, an environmental justice advocate and attorney passionate about environmental education. The goal of this podcast is to give you the tools you need to stay informed and take action to protect the planet.”
Episode Agenda:
In this special episode, we’re talking all about books and the ongoing fight for truth and inclusion in education, publishing, and storytelling.
Topic Background Info
Science fiction writer Isaac Asimov once said, “any book worth banning is a book worth reading.” So why have more than two thousand five hundred book bans been enacted from July 2021 to June 2022 in 138 school districts throughout 32 states? During this short timeframe more than sixteen hundred titles have been removed from school libraries and one clear theme and rationale has arisen: these books are predominantly written by and about the lives and experiences of diverse, but particularly historically marginalized, people. In fact, 4 out of 10 banned books analyzed by PEN America had LGBTQ+ characters or themes, and 4 out of 10 had protagonists or characters of color.
Unfortunately, this wave of limiting students’ ability to think critically, freely, and with a heart open to difference is not new. Book banning is the most widespread form of censorship in the United States, and the practice began in the 17th century.
Children’s literature is often the primary target of censorship, prompted by the fear that young people’s impressionable minds will be improperly influenced by a book’s contents. Today, many people opposing book bans believe that teaching a more inclusive history actually harms students.
Lately, much of the controversy has centered on a framework called Critical Race Theory, coined by the prolific legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, who also coined and popularized the term Intersectionality. Critical Race Theory has been used as a catch-all for wokeness, political correctness, and leftist-indoctrination. Some other prominent reasons for challenges and bans across the country include non-traditional values, LGBTQIA+ content, indoctrinating kids, anti-police sentiments, promoting a homosexual lifestyle, white privilege, and more.
So how does book banning actually work? Generally, a book must be challenged before it is considered for banning. The initiator of the challenge must read the whole book, fill out a challenge form and explain why, how, and where in the book the offensive material takes place, and finally present a case in a hearing. From there a decision will be made on what action should be taken, with options ranging from complete removal from the library, thus completely restricting access from students, or diminished access to a book through relocation of the book to a different section of the library or the requirement of a signed permission slip from a parent or guardian before a student can check a book out from the library.
However, many book challenges come from individuals who have never actually read the books they want to be removed. Often excerpts from these texts are taken out of context to villainize the authors who wrote them and the teachers and librarians who share the books with young people. According to Penn America, almost 40% of the time parents initiate book challenges, and only about 1 percent are initiated by students.
[Recording pulled from this clip at 00:35] “I think those books… I don’t want to even see them. I think they should be thrown in a fire.” “Just cooperate with me, I’m sure I’ve got other colleagues here, I’m sure we’ve got hundreds of people out there who would like to see those books before we burn ‘em. Just so we can identify within our community that we are eradicating this bad stuff.”
The voices you just heard were two members of the Spotsylvania, Virginia School Board discussing the removal, and even the potential burning, of any “sexually explicit” books from school libraries in the district. This uproar was spurred by a parent who was upset that her high school student was using their school library app to access and read what the parent called “LGBTQIA fiction”.
Some of you might be wondering why we’re talking about books on The Joy Report. What do books have to do with climate justice and sustaining movements? And to that questions, I would challenge: what don’t books have to do with these things?
[Recording pulled from this clip at 01:30] “It makes me furious that we, as a world, are prohibiting knowledge. How many of you have ever read the book The Giver before? It is a phenomenal book, but that is not why we are talking about it. If we continue to pull books off the shelves, we are going to end up in a world like that, where we can only see things in shades of white, gray, and black, where every single person is the same. I don’t know about you but I don’t want to live in a world like that.”
That was youth advocate McCartie McPadden during a youth TEDX talk in Fort Worth Texas, who makes abundantly clear that they do not want to live in a world with restrictions on knowledge.
Regardless of where you live book bans impact us all. Censoring what and how people can learn limits the ways that we can interact and connect with one another. It limits our ability to envision a future— or present— beyond a straight, white, middle-class America. Limiting access to media increases division among those with different lived experiences because often books are a powerful means of connection. As people working toward a better world, we must recognize, honor, and uplift the voices of those most marginalized by society. Books written by these voices being ripped from library shelves can limit the ability of the next generation to understand difference and contribute to a more inclusive world. Now more than ever we need books written by these authors because we as a society have so much to learn from the rich, diverse perspectives of BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, and other authors from from the global majority.
Author Roxane Gay once said, “Salvation is certainly among the reasons I read. Reading and writing have always pulled me out of the darkest experiences in my life. Stories have given me a place in which to lose myself. They have allowed me to remember. They have allowed me to forget. They have allowed me to imagine different endings and better possible words.”
I’m not sure there’s any better way to explain the value of books. This quote really leans into the idea of radical imagination that our last special episode was all about. If you haven’t listened to that one yet, I’d definitely encourage you to do so.
Because we believe in radical imagination and ensuring that all voices are included in environmentalism, as an organization, Intersectional Environmentalist is continuing to amplify the voices of underrepresented voices in the environmental space and make environmental education more inclusive and accessible by gifting free books to our community. This year we launched a series of intimate music and educational events that serve as an entry point into the world of environmental justice called Earth Sessions. We had Earth Sessions shows in New York and California this year with more in the works for 2023 , and during these shows we started giving out free environmental and liberation-centered books by diverse authors to attendees.
Fortunately IE is nowhere alone in this fight to work against censorship. Organizations and institutions are working against book bans all over the country, including in states where censorship is steadily increasing:
Like the group of librarians in Texas, the state with the highest number of book bans nationally with over 800 bans in 22 different school districts from 2021-2022. These librarians invited families, authors, other librarians, teachers, students, and parents to come together to share and highlight the diverse books that bring them joy, and bring the support of readers to the attention of the Texas Legislature. The organization, called Freadom, now runs monthly campaigns to support the freedom of reading and resources for those interested in getting involved. In the show notes for this episode you can find the website they’ve created with templates and guides with resources for things like how to write a letter to the editor, how to speak at a school board meeting, how to start a local group to support school board races, and so much more.
Diverse books also provide opportunities for adequate representation for students. Did you know that in an average classroom of 20, there are likely at least two kids who are trying to figure out their gender identity or sexual orientation? Pride and Less Prejudice is an organization that provides LGBTQ-inclusive books to Pre-K through 3rd-grade classrooms in North America to help students and teachers “Read out loud, read out proud.”
In the three years that the organization has been around, they have helped educators create more inclusive learning environments by raising over one hundred thousand dollars to disseminate LGBTQ-inclusive books to over three thousand classrooms in the US and Canada. 44 different teaching guides to accompany the donated books have also been created, and the organization has held 10 professional development workshops to help more than 400 educators.
Unsurprisingly libraries have been the biggest advocates against book bans, and all over the country librarians are going to great lengths to ensure that banned books remain on their shelves. You might even remember your local librarian, whether at school or in a local library, excitedly putting together the banned book exhibit each year. Banned Book Week, created by the American Library Association, has been bringing attention to school censorship for over three decades.
Currently, over 25 organizations have partnered with the American Library Association for their Unite Against Book Bans campaign to empower individuals and communities to fight censorship and protect the freedom to read. This coalition of advocacy groups, education leaders, businesses, and civil rights groups all believe in the principles of reading as fundamental to learning, the right of leaders to access a variety of books, and the need to work together to protect that right.
Through their Books UnBanned initiative, The Brooklyn Public Library now offers anyone ages 13-21 across the country unlimited access to the libraries eBook and audiobook collections, including banned titles. As of April, Scholastic, Hachette Book Group, and Macmillan Publishers have partnered with the New York Public Library to offer anyone in the country access to commonly banned books through a free e-reading app called SimplyE.
And these aren’t the only places in New York where you can access to banned books and books from diverse authors.
Featured Story:
Did you know that during the 1970 and 80s there were woman-of-color-owned feminist bookstores and radical Black-owned bookstores throughout the United States? These bookstores not only served as places to preserve and support diverse literature, but they were also used as meeting places to host book clubs and discuss current events.
In a society where the things that make an individual or group unique are either tokenized, vilified, or poorly replicated, safe spaces to read, create, and just be are so crucial, especially when these spaces center the voices of historically marginalized people. That’s why projects like the Free Black Women’s Library in Brooklyn are so important. This nontraditional library is a social art project, interactive installation and book collection that celebrates the brilliance, diversity, and imagination of Black women and Black non-binary authors.
Since 2014, Brooklyn native OlaRonke Akinmowo has been setting up free installations with books written by Black women in places like art galleries, community centers, block parties, and churches throughout New York City, and in other cities like Baltimore and Philadelphia.
[Recording pulled from this clip at 30:34] “I always call Toni Morrison like the gateway drug I don’t know if that’s disrespectful but I feel like if somebody reads one of her books it’ll kind of make them want to read more of them, or books like them, and it’ll cause like a tumbleweed, kind of domino effect because that’s what happened to me and that’s what happened to a lot of women I know. Like reading The Bluest Eye and then after that I think I read The Color Purple and I was like, oh my goodness, another girl like me, you know? And then I read I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings and it’s kind of dominoed into just reading those types of books all the time.”
According to a 2019 Teen Vogue article, one goal she has for this project is for it to help people realize that their high school and/or college reading curriculum likely excluded important names. Passionate about ensuring that the names of these Black woman literary heroes aren’t forgotten, the Library’s website even includes a tab that lists countless Black women writers in alphabetical order from all different genres. Throughout the website you’ll find images of different Black women writers throughout history in their element: reading, writing, resting, and taking up space.
Alice Walker’s The Color Purple. Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. These staples of Black women-authored literature are the same books being removed from both libraries and bookstores alike. However, they’re finding a new safeguard in The Free Black Women’s Libraries. Like the way Alice Walker made sure that the late Zora Neal Hurston’s writing was shared with the world, and that she had a proper headstone for the grave after Zora passed away, this library is safeguarding and uplifting literary works created by Black women that history might have forgotten, or that frequently end up on banned book lists and making sure that these authors’ legacies are as long-lasting as they deserve to be.
Science fiction author, the late Octavia E. Butler’s private journals were released in 2016 by The Huntington Library in California as part of a large exhibit in her honor. In 1988 some of the goals and affirmations written down in the journal of the now best-selling author who was first science-fiction writer to receive a MacArthur Fellowship included the following:
I will travel whenever and wherever in the world that I choose.
I will help poor Black youngsters broaden their horizons.
This is my life. I write bestselling novels.
My books will be read by millions of people.
I will find the way to do this.
So be it. See to it.
And so she did. Octavia would’ve turned 75 this year, and the New York Times has created an interactive article in her honor. If you haven’t done so already, I’d encourage everyone to read Octavia’s two-part “Parable” series because there are unprecedented parallels to what we’re witnessing today in our world. While Octavia has many critically claimed books, including Kindred, which is getting turned into a tv series on Hulu set to release on December 13th— both Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents remind readers of the value of community, resilience, and caring for the planet as a means for survival in a way that few other books can. Places like the Free Black Women’s Library help ensure that Octavia’s dreams remain realized, even in the midst of book bans.
[Recording pulled from this clip at 12:01] “Coming from a place of Black feminist praxis, that means that I am taking the theory that is Black feminism, the political-social-cultural theory, and I am putting it in practice through this work. And how am I doing that? I’m using books to build community.”
Since starting seven years ago, the Free Black Women’s Library now features over four thousand books, zines, journals, books on tape, and more. There’s also now a reading room located in the heart of the Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. The reading room is a literary hub, creative co-working space, and central location for the library’s book collection operating under the library’s take-a-book, leave-a-book model. The Reading Room is also a space for all of the library’s special events, which range from workshops, story circles, performances, film screenings, cultural conversations, monthly reading club, and so much more. The library provides an inclusive and loving space for reading, writing, rest, learning, creating, and connecting. The goal of the reading from is to dramatically increase the library’s impact and allow people to engage with its offerings on a deeper level. The founder considers it a community hub, a love letter, and a resource that welcomes people of all races to browse the stacks of Black, female authors from every genre for audiences of all ages.
They’re always looking for volunteers, so if you’re in New York City, consider donating a bit of your time to the library. I’ll definitely be taking a trip there next time I’m in the area, and we’ve put the address for the reading room in the show notes so you can also add it to your New York City visit itinerary. If you aren’t in New York, you can still support the library by subscribing to their work on patreon, donating to the gofundme, sharing about the library on social media, and by sending in your favorite Black women-authored books to ensure that the library can continue to grow, thrive, and support free access to Black literature. If you’re feeling extra inspired, you might even consider developing a branch of The Free Black Women’s Library near you. Right now, there are branches in Atlanta, Georgia; Detroit, Michigan; Houston, Texas; Los Angeles, California; and Richmond, Virginia. Soon you’ll also be able to shop their online store for bookmarks, mugs, tote bags, and so much more.
Topic related calls to action
I hope by now you’re feeling fired up and ready to fight against book bans no matter where you live. Here are some ways to support diverse authors and combat literary censorship:
First, find banned books and read them.
Everylibrary is the first and only national political action committee dedicated to building voter support for libraries. They help public, school, and college libraries ensure stable funding and access to libraries for generations to come, and in April they launched their online Banned Books Store. There’s also a page on their website with a list of petitions to support libraries across the United States.
Kimberlé Crenshaw’s organization, the African American Policy Forum, recently launched Books Unbanned: From Freedom Riders to Freedom Readers Book Club in the spirit of the 1960s Freedom School movement. You can attend or host Freedom Circles all over the country and receive updates by signing up for the group’s listserv.
You can also start your own banned book club. This can be done as formally or informally as you feel comfortable. Some convene online and others, like the Vandegrift High School Banned Book Club in Texas, become official student groups in order to be able to meet in school after hours.
Show up for librarians and educators during school and library board meetings as a concerned community member and protest when books are challenged or banned, like the student-led racial and social justice advocacy group, Panther Anti-Racist Union, did when their Pennsylvania high school’s all-white school board banned books by and about Black life, culture and history.
Support and utilize libraries and your local bookstores. They provide essential community services and resources, and there are few things better than receiving a book recommendation from someone who lights up when talking about books.
Oppose legislation in your state that would censor books, programs, or curriculum. Hold your elected officials accountable and communicate with them via email, phone, or social media to encourage them to oppose book bans.
Write an op-ed or letter to the editor for our local newspaper, community newsletter, or listserv. The American Library Association’s Unite Against Book Bans campaign team has created a toolkit with resources and tips on how to write these types of media.
If you’re able, create your own free library in your neighborhood. These stand-alone community-maintained lending library boxes have gained a lot of momentum over the last few years, and adding books to them, but especially banned books, is a great way to ensure that people can enjoy them for free.
If you learn about new challenges and book bans, you can contact the American Booksellers for Free Expression via email (abfe@bookweb.org) or by calling their hotline.
Finally, proudly display your support for inclusive education and access to literature. Personally, I have a “I read banned books” pin on my favorite jumpsuit and it’s a great conversation starter.
Conclusion
Positive News Stories
Here’s some other positive climate news you should know about
On Sunday, October 30th Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected president of Brazil, a win with HUGE implications for people and planet. In Lula’s words, “Brazil is ready to resume its leading role in the fight against the climate crisis, protecting all our biomes, especially the Amazon forest.” Lula will officially take office in January 2023.
In early November the French Senate approved new legislation that will require all parking lots with spaces for at least 80 vehicles – both existing and new – to be covered by solar panels. Starting July 1, 2023, smaller parking lots with between 80 and 400 spaces will have five years to be in compliance with the new measures, and those with spaces for 400 or more cars must comply within the next three years.
In the wake of plants facing more environmental stressors than ever, a recent study in the journal “Plant Science” shows that plants are not only rapidly adapting to the adverse effects of climate change, but they're also now transmitting these adaptations to their offspring.
In October the village of Modhera became India’s first solar-powered village, serving more than 1,300 residents (or about 30 acres of homes) with solar power every single day!
The Nature Conservancy has just purchased a first-of-its-kind insurance policy in Hawaii in an attempt to repair coral reefs impacted by Hurricanes.
IE + Community Updates
And in the world of Intersectional Environmentalist:
In 2023, IE wants to continue creating resources and empowering experiences that reach millions of people and help reshape environmental education to ensure it’s rooted in justice, equity, and inclusion. This means more Earthsessions and other in-person activations, more educational resources, and more book giveaways. In fact, our goal is to purchase and distribute 5,000 books written by BIPOC, LGBTQ+, disabled, and other authors of the global majority next year.
In order to do all of this, we need your help. We’re running a fundraiser campaign throughout this holiday season and here are a few ways you can support:
Share our campaign on social media to increase the fundraiser’s reach
Donate if you’re able to via Instagram (at intersectional environmentalist) or on our website (intersectional environmentalist dot com)
Recommend IE for your company’s match-back + grant programs
IE also wants to hear from you! We want to know what books broadened your horizons about the world, explained just how interconnected social movements are, or encouraged you to get involved and take action to protect people and the planet. For me, this answer evolves every time I read a new book that broadens my understanding of this work, but one of the first books that really opened my eyes to the ways we can make a change to protect the planet was Bill McKibben’s Oil and Honey: The Education of an Unlikely Activist, which was assigned to me during one of my freshman year environmental studies classes in college. I recently finished reading music artist Janelle Monae’s book of short stories called The Memory Librarian and Other Stories of Dirty Computer, which reignited in me a passion to create art and strive to build communities where all are welcome. What’s your book and how has it changed you? Make a post on social media and make sure to tag IE and use the hashtag #IEawakening for a chance to be featured on our Instagram.
Closing Statement + Reiteration of Calls to Action
As always, remember, fighting the climate crisis is a marathon, not a sprint. We need everyone to get involved in a way that feels right for them, now more than ever.
I’m your host, Arielle King, and thank you so much for listening to this special episode of The Joy Report.
